Trump admin live updates: Trump says Musk will 'pay the consequences' if he funds Democrats

Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Wednesday morning that he had nothing but respect and praise for Elon Musk for his work "reducing waste, fraud and abuse," and said he has talked to Musk about his criticisms of the big, beautiful bill.

"We've laughed about our difference on policy before," he said. "I'm not upset about this."

Johnson however said Musk was "flat wrong" about his criticisms on the spending bill and its effect on the deficit. The speaker said that Trump was also upset with Musk's scathing appraisal of the bill,

"He's not delighted that Elon did a 180 on that," Johnson said of Trump.

Johson said he called Musk last night, but he didn't answer.

"I hope to talk to him today," Johnson said.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise criticized the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's report that said the spending bill would add to the national deficit.

Scalise claimed that the report did not "recognize the economic growth" that would reportedly come with cuts to spending and other changes.

"I get we have to play by the rules of the referee, but the referee is wrong. The referee is trying to sack our quarterback," he said.

Prior to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's report on Trump's spending bill, one of its staunchest supporters sounded off in an X post Wednesday for its passage.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller claimed that the extension of the 2017 tax rates "has zero deficit impact which is why the bill, because of its spending cuts, reduces the deficit."

The argument comes as the CBO and other experts project that it will add to the deficit.

Miller called out Sen. Rand Paul by name after Paul vocally criticized the fact that the bill does not reduce the deficit. Miller said that libertarians like Paul are "attacking the tax cut."

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart

President Donald Trump reaffirmed early Wednesday his respect for China's President Xi Jinping, saying, "I like President XI of China, always have, and always will."

However, Trump in a post to Truth Social said he finds Xi "very tough, and extremely hard to make a deal with."

Tariffs for Chinese steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. were set at 50% at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian was asked Wednesday about Trump's post during the ministry's daily press conference.

"China's principles and position on developing Sino-US relations are consistent," the spokesperson said. "Next Question."

-ABC News' Alex Ederson and Karson Yiu