House Energy and Commerce chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) said Elon Musk “never mentioned” his frustrations over the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act on the day it passed the House.

Guthrie said the billionaire, who publicly slammed the spending in the budget bill last week, instead focused on artificial intelligence and competing with China.

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“I went directly from that vote straight to a breakfast with Elon, and he never mentioned the bill that morning,” Guthrie said during Politico’s Energy Summit in Washington, D.C.

Musk had called the bill a “disgusting abomination,” and directed his ire at President Donald Trump, associating him with Jeffrey Epstein, saying his tariffs would cause a recession, and threatening to decommission his Dragon spacecraft after the president threatened his government contracts.

“He talked about AI, he talked about all this stuff that [was] energy,” Guthrie said. “Never mentioned the bill. And the bill had just been voted.”

When asked whether Musk could turn some Republicans from backing the bill because of his ability to fund primary challenges, as Musk has suggested, Guthrie said, “Hopefully not.”

“I hope that he doesn’t do that. I think President Trump wants to help people stay in line, and I assume that if he chooses somebody to primary, President Trump would probably take the opposite side,” he added.

Guthrie suggested that if Musk went after him, Trump’s backing would be important. “If I had that problem, I think that President Trump would be a good person to come campaign in my district,” he said.

Republicans have walked a thin line between siding with Trump or Musk in the feud. Several publicly wished the pair would make up. “Everyone who loves our country is cheering for Elon and President Trump to kiss and make up,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on his podcast.

It doesn’t appear they will, at least for now. Trump said last Saturday that he would “assume” their relationship has ended, and he doesn’t want to make up.

He also said there would be “serious consequences” if Musk funds Democratic candidates to run against Republicans who oppose the budget bill. Only one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), voted against the bill, though others expressed doubts after it passed the House.

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Musk has backtracked on his attacks on Trump, deleting several posts aimed at him. Guthrie said Musk, who no longer works for the administration, and Silicon Valley will still be needed for “good insights” on AI and technology.

“We’re going to have federal guardrails, and it’s good to have the input from those people, and we want that input, but we as members of Congress representing our districts have to take their input — what allows them to grow their companies, allows us to compete, allows us to win — [and] at the same time, protects the American people and their use of data and privacy,” he said.