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Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-leaders of DOGE, visited Capitol Hill on Thursday.
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Republican lawmakers were generally optimistic about the duo’s plan to cut spending.
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But the details about how they will do that remain vague.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy visited Capitol Hill on Thursday, where they met with Republican lawmakers in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to discuss their long-awaited Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE.
But while their visit generated all the excitement you’d expect from a chance to glimpse the world’s richest man, it left little clarity on what exactly newly elected President Donald Trump’s new efficiency efforts would deliver.
“There won’t be a lot of details for the press today, and that’s the idea,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters. “This is one brainstorming session.”
Musk and Ramaswamy had spent their mornings separately with a series of Republican senators discussing government efficiency. With Johnson in tow, they now met with members of the newly formed House and Senate DOGE caucus in the basement of the Capitol. Then they would speak to a larger group of Republicans in a nearby auditorium. The Democrats were apparently not invited to any of these meetings, despite a handful of them showing interest in the new project. “I would have loved to have attended the meeting,” Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York wrote on X, calling the one-party nature of the case “unfortunate.”
With all the attention DOGE generates (at least a hundred reporters and staffers had gathered outside the basement conference room to catch a glimpse of Musk, carrying his son X-Æ-12 on his shoulders), it still remains unclear how the initiative will achieve Musk’s goal of $2 trillion in cuts — and which programs could end up on the chopping block.
That’s despite the efforts of the Capitol Hill press corps, which bombarded North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis with several such questions Thursday morning as he left a meeting with Ramaswamy.
How would DOGE succeed when so many previous government reform initiatives have failed? “You are way too ahead of the curve, that question is way too early for this process,” Tillis replied.
Does Musk have too many conflicts of interest to run DOGE, given the dependence of some of his companies on government largesse? “You’re way too early, you’re already anticipating what the priorities will be,” Tillis replied.
Were any specific departments discussed during the meeting? “Way too early,” Tillis replied.
Despite the lack of overall clarity, Musk and Ramaswamy laid out some initial plans for DOGE, including using recent Supreme Court rulings to challenge and roll back existing regulations, reevaluating federal government contracts, reduce workforce and pursue financing of organizations. such as Planned Parenthood. Musk has also indicated he is interested in addressing wasteful spending in the military, drawing interest from progressives.
Johnson speaks to reporters before Musk and Ramaswamy meet with members of the DOGE caucus.Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Republicans also have their own long-standing pet projects that they would like to see DOGE take up. Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, chair of the Senate DOGE caucus, has already identified $2 trillion in cuts she would like to see. More broadly, Republicans are generally keen to cut government spending whenever they get the chance.
Rep. David Schweikert, a debt-obsessed Republican from Arizona, told BI that his initial skepticism about Musk and Ramaswamy was dispelled after attending the DOGE caucus meeting with the duo, which he said focused more on the mechanics of how cuts could be made than on specific line items to be targeted.
“There seemed to be a much deeper understanding of the structural issues and structural barriers than I expected,” Schweikert said. “I’m left really impressed.”
Johnson told reporters that Thursday’s meeting was the “beginning of a journey” for lawmakers, and he’s probably right.
It’s hard to imagine DOGE making even close to $2 trillion in cuts without sacrificing entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, which would likely become a major political headache for Republicans if they are pursued.
And the organization that Musk and Ramaswamy will lead will only be able to make recommendations. While Trump may attempt to tread into legally treacherous territory by asserting his authority to simply refuse to spend funds approved by Congress, any major reform proposals will likely require majority approval in both chambers – itself a treacherous task, given their small majorities.
But as long as DOGE remains a collection of platitudes, everyone involved will be on the same page – and eager to take a selfie with Musk.
“This is kind of the opening bell, I think, of something that’s going to be really great,” said Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri.
Read the original article on Business Insider
