Musk, Ramaswamy Discuss their DOGE Plans with Republicans in Congress

Technology entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy held initial talks with key Republicans in Congress on Thursday about the “Department of Government Efficiency,” the group they are heading up at the direction of President-elect Donald Trump, honing plans to shrink federal employment rolls and challenge the constitutional limits of Trump’s ability to control spending.

Musk, with his young son seated nearby, offered a stern warning to Republicans who stood in the way of the “DOGE.”

“They made it clear that if you’re not going to get on board with some of this, then we have no problem telling the public who’s an obstacle,” Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Missouri) told The Washington Post after a private meeting for lawmakers.

The whirlwind day on Capitol Hill appeared aimed at introducing slash-and-burn budget cuts to lawmakers, who sought basic answers about the group’s structure, floated ideas in an open forum and even learned – on the fly – basic details about its origins.

Musk and Ramaswamy’s tour was an implicit recognition of the broad support they may need from Congress for their broad re-envisioning of federal operations, especially targeting a bureaucratic structure that Ramaswamy has decried as a “fourth unelected branch of government.”

The ambitious scope of their efforts, in contrast with what many observers see as a limited grasp of the workings of the federal budget and understanding of the mechanisms of government, has attracted plenty of skepticism across Washington. Yet the early weeks of the initiative have also been met with enthusiasm among Trump’s most ardent backers – and even conditional support among some Democrats.

In the morning, Ramaswamy, a biotech investor who ran for president in the GOP primaries this year before endorsing Trump, met with the Senate DOGE Caucus, led by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX who put more than $100 million toward Trump’s election, met with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota), then had an hour-long huddle with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the incoming chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee, which writes government spending legislation.

In the afternoon, the pair met with the House DOGE caucus and key figures from the House’s tax and spending committees, then held a larger gathering for the full Republican conference.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) called the afternoon events a “brainstorming session.”

“There won’t be a lot of detail for the press today,” Johnson said. “And that’s by design.”

Musk, walking past the lectern with his 4-year-old son X on his shoulders moments earlier, declined to take questions, as Ramaswamy trailed behind him. Later, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) posted a photo of Musk’s son at the microphone in a conference-style setup in the meeting, appearing to sit on his father’s lap.

Musk and Ramaswamy began the meeting, attended by more than 200 members of the House and Senate, with a brief pep talk, lawmakers said, and made clear they sought drastic changes to government spending.

“Right now, they understand they want to start building a menu of options. It’s said, you campaign in poetry and you govern in prose,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-South Dakota) said. “ … What they’re focused on here is getting real cost-saving ideas and building from the ground up.”

Johnson then opened the gathering to questions and comments, and lawmakers queued behind two microphones.

“Frankly, you had two types of people go to the microphone: People that have been prepared. They’ve been fighting for some of the government cuts and waste for years, and now’s their chance, so they’re rattling legitimate policy things to make [Musk and Ramaswamy] aware of,” Burlison said. “And then you had some people that just wanted face time.”

Two ideas emerged with broad consensus, lawmakers said afterward. The session homed in on plans to severely curtail telework for federal workers, according to two members in attendance – and if employees quit, the government would consolidate its real estate and sell vacant buildings.

Republicans are also keen on expanding the president’s power to impound spending – or refuse to spend money Congress authorizes. Musk and Ramaswamy said they were eager to test the constitutional limits of Trump’s ability to unilaterally control spending decisions, the two lawmakers said.

“We’re going to have to have the backbone as Congress to make these tough, tough decisions, and I think the American people are at a point to understand this is in their best interest,” Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) told The Post.

Republicans largely left the more than two-hour meeting giddy. Well after Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) left, more than 100 members remained in the meeting room, talking with Musk and Ramaswamy.

But to many lawmakers, how the nongovernmental DOGE would function remained unclear.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) called the effort “enterprise transformation” that would “go on for four years.” Musk and Ramaswamy have pledged to end the DOGE – named for a popular meme of a smirking Shiba Inu and a cryptocurrency that Musk has backed – in 18 months.

Musk had previously outlined a goal to cut $2 trillion in spending, a figure that was met with skepticism in Washington for its scope – and questions over whether the target was annual or meant to cover a longer period of time. Lawmakers consistently said they still did not know, and the $2 trillion figure did not come up in the afternoon meeting with House and Senate members, Dusty Johnson said.

Some lawmakers appeared to grasp basic details about the DOGE on the fly.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri), one of the group’s biggest backers, said he was unaware of the origins of the moniker until a reporter showed him memes in a Senate hallway.

“It is the first of a long series of meetings that will be held as we’re laying the groundwork for the new year in the new Congress,” Schmitt said. “And you’re going to see a lot of change around here and in Washington and the way things are run.”

Still, Musk, Ramaswamy and DOGE-aligned lawmakers have shared some specific visions for budgets cuts in recent weeks. Ramaswamy called for cutting off funds to programs that Congress has appropriated money toward but not explicitly authorized – a strategy that would end funding for the State and Justice departments and veterans’ health care. Congress often funds programs without specific prior authorization to hasten the legislative process.

“They said that they would be looking into that, but the truth is, this is the failure of Congress,” Burlison said. “This is Congress not doing its job.”

Lawmakers have discussed using the DOGE imprimatur to make substantial changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other social safety net programs.

Across the aisle, Democrats approached the DOGE effort warily.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (Florida) on Tuesday became the first Democrat to join the caucus but said he was prepared to “throw down” if Republicans tried to cut key Democratic priorities such as Social Security. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California), whose district is in the heart of Silicon Valley, announced over X he was “ready to work with” DOGE, Musk and Ramaswamy to “slash waste,” pointing to defense spending as one potential area of reform.

Reps. Rosa DeLauro (Connecticut) and Brendan Boyle (Pennsylvania), the top Democrats on the Appropriations and Budget committees, respectively, presented to the House Democratic caucus about impoundment – Trump’s plan to withhold congressionally approved spending – as liberals sought to game plan around how to respond to Trump’s spending maneuvers next year when they’re in the minority in both chambers of Congress.

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-New York) wrote on social media that he was eager to attend the afternoon gathering, though Democrats were excluded. Long after the session’s formal program ended, Suozzi walked in uninvited.

(c) Washington Post