Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has announced his departure from his role in the U.S. government, where he served as a Special Government Employee tasked with reducing federal spending.The move follows his first major public disagreement with President Donald Trump over the administration’s recently signed spending bill.In a statement posted Thursday on his social media platform, X, Musk said his tenure had come to a natural end but expressed gratitude for the opportunity.“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote.The South African-born tech mogul criticized the administration’s new budget, warning that it would balloon the national deficit and undermine the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a federal unit that had overseen mass layoffs aimed at curbing government expenses.Previously a visible supporter of President Trump, Musk had increasingly distanced himself in recent months to focus on his business ventures, including SpaceX and Tesla.In a separate interview with CBS News, Musk voiced disappointment over the direction of federal fiscal policy, stating:“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit—not just decreases it—and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.”He also lamented that DOGE had become, in his words, a “whipping boy” for public dissatisfaction with the Trump administration.Musk’s departure marks a significant development in the relationship between one of the world’s most influential business figures and the Trump White House, with analysts suggesting it could signal broader tensions between the administration and private sector advocates of fiscal restraint.