Washington — Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who was appointed by newly elected President Donald Trump to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency of DOGEare meeting with lawmakers Thursday as they try to build support for the cost-cutting initiative.
House Speaker Mike Johnson will host Musk and Ramaswamy on Capitol Hill to discuss reform ideas with lawmakers, after Trump announced last month that the Tesla CEO and entrepreneur would take the lead. The president-elect outlined that the two men would “pave the way for my administration to dismantle the government bureaucracy, eliminate redundant regulations, reduce wasteful spending and restructure federal agencies.”
Johnson told reporters ahead of the meeting that the two men, in a “historic moment” for the country, will “help navigate this exciting new day,” calling them “innovators” and “forward thinkers.”
“We have long complained about the size and scope of government, that it has become too big,” Johnson said. “Government is too big, does too many things and does almost nothing well. And taxpayers deserve better.”
The speaker outlined that Musk and Ramaswamy met for the first time for a “brainstorming session” with decision-makers in Congress, including chairmen of relevant committees and the leaders of the DOGE caucuses in the House and Senate. He said the two men would have a broader meeting with lawmakers later in the day.
“We need to make government more efficient and that’s what this whole objective is,” Johnson said, adding that it would be a bicameral effort with bipartisan support.
Last month, GOP Reps. Aaron Bean of Florida and Pete Sessions of Texas kicked off the DOGE caucus in the House of Representatives, while Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa launched his counterpart in the Senate. Ernst praised the efforts on Fox News last week, noting that she has a 10-year track record on waste projects that she brings to the initiative.
“We look forward to working with the caucus and ensuring DOGE is successful,” Ernst said.
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In recent days, some Democrats have said they will join the caucus or have also expressed interest in joining the caucus. Representative Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat, told reporters Wednesday that he is “not afraid to have the conversation,” saying that “staying in a safe space and not having the conversation is not going to help anyone.”
“I think Democrats need to embrace government efficiency,” Moskowitz said after becoming the first from his party to join the caucus. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to cut back on services, but I think it can be done more efficiently.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, told reporters on Thursday that she would be willing to work with Musk if he wants to “change government contracts to cut billions of dollars of waste from the Pentagon budget.”
“We are here to do work on behalf of the American people,” Warren said. “And if that means working with Elon Musk, I’m ready. And if that means fighting Elon Musk, then I’m ready for that too.”
Still, the DOGE initiative, with a meme-inspired acronym, has raised operational questions, including what authority it will have to make cuts, what has been approved by Congress, and what spending it would target.
Musk and Ramawsamy outlined that they aim to cut $500 billion annually. But about two-thirds of federal spending is mandatory, while much of discretionary spending goes to defense. Among the areas where the two men said they planned to make cuts are the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, international organizations that receive grants and entities such as Planned Parenthood. Musk and Ramaswamy have also outlined a plan to reduce the number of federal employees.
Ramaswamy initially found himself in Trump’s orbit bump into him in the presidential primaries. Meanwhile, Musk, the world’s richest person, became a key part of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, even offering ahead of the election give $1 million a day to sign his political action committee’s petition in support of the Constitution. He appeared with Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvaniaprior to the election and has been a frequent visitor to Mar-a-Lago ever since.
contributed to this report.
