Washington
CNN
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Congressional Republicans have publicly predicted that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are taking a lockstep on the way they are trying to cut the federal workforce.
But beneath the surface, some GOP lawmakers are concerned about their efforts to take the federal wallet strings out of Congressional control. And they deal with a flood of calls from concern members and federal workers seeking answers from elected officials.
Several have taken action and tested the water for what a new pushback era in the second Trump terminology looks like.
Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, who supports the idea of auditing the federal government, urges the Trump administration to line up around institutions for US international development funding, and programs that will help the country’s national security interests. They promoted to preserve.
“Instead of removing everything, let’s look at it selectively,” Bacon said. “Don’t throw away your baby in the bath water.”
Bacon supports the idea of shutting down the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, but the latest institution that the administration has unilaterally shut down, claims that Trump cannot ultimately take Congress away.
“Congress needs to either catch up with the plan or amend the president’s plan, because the law is law,” Bacon said. “We have to follow the law. If there is something we have to redirect, let’s do it in a constitutional way.”
Congressional approvers see the government funding deadline next month as an important opportunity to advocate for programs they want to continue to be funded, while enforcing the cuts being made by the administration. . Mario Diaz Barato, a Florida GOP Rep., who chairs the House Subcommittee that oversees USAID funding, argued that Congress still plays a key role.
“We still have the power of our wallets and we are enthusiastically protecting the power of our wallets,” he told CNN.
Iowa Rep. Zach Nun, who has heard from several federal workers in his district, has opened a case file and contacted the White House and related agencies to advocate on their behalf. Masu.
“It was very clear that headaches with the federal bureaucracy existed primarily within the metropolitan area,” Nun said of his conversation with the Trump administration. “Most of the people we have in Iowa are frontline workers serving the people in our community.”
Some Republicans have been having problems sitting personally with representatives from the biggest federal employee union this week, including Minnesota GOP officials and Pete Sessions in Texas.
Former police officer Stauber told CNN he supports making the government more efficient, but he admitted there is a bright spot in the workforce.
“We don’t see this member demonizing federal workers. I was one of them,” he said. “My wife was one of them. I know a lot of good, solid workers. But you can’t tell me that we can’t be more efficient. It’s a goal.”
The sessions are jointly leading the Caucus, supporting Elon Musk’s Ministry of Government Efficiency efforts and significantly supporting the cuts that are being made. But he said the message to federal workers he was meeting on Tuesday was “I might have done that differently.”
Utah GOP Rep. Blake Moore has also connected with federal workers and informed CNN that he has listened to their concerns at his district’s recent town hall.
“We need to do a better job, not slander them,” Moore said of his message to his constituents.
Former doctor Louisiana GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy has been in communication with his state university about how cuts to the National Health Institute could undermine research capabilities. He said.
“I’m actively talking to people who are back home, and that’s a problem,” Cassidy said.
Stopping to explain the next step, he added: “As a general rule, I try to understand the problem before I recommend it.”
Many Republicans are still in the dark about what changes and cuts are happening, using backchannels to make clear before they take action.
“We’re just trying to get the answers for the people. We’re trying to get the answers ourselves,” GOP MP Andrew Garbarino told CNN.
Meanwhile, Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins was opposed to the various cuts Trump and Musk tried to make. She publicly criticized the administration’s mandate to freeze federal aid that was eventually withdrawn, and she issued a statement advocating against the NIH Cut on Monday. Collins said he spoke to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
As lawmakers take individual actions, Republican leaders continue to align with the president. House Speaker Mike Johnson last week declined to question whether Trump could close federal agencies without Congress, and whether Trump should ignore the judge’s orders. And Senate majority leader John Toon said the courts play a “critical role” in resolving differences between comparable executives and legislative departments, rather than directly measuring them.
And most Republicans reflect the leadership of Trump and Musk’s efforts. This is the latest example of how the party fell along Trump, even when the president’s actions directly challenged Congressional authority.
“I’m not a lawyer. Michigan GOP Rep. Jack Bergman said when asked if Trump had the authority to unilaterally shut down agencies. “So if you’re an aviation If you want to talk to me about it, I’ll tell you about it. But once it gets into the legal side of things, let the lawyer discuss it.”
Still, large concentrations of federal workforce live in the Columbia district, Maryland, Maryland and Virginia, but at least 80% of federal employees are elsewhere in the country, according to the Human Resources Administration. I work at.
That is, letters to federal employees will urge them to resign now and be paid until September, and the Trump administration’s freeze of federal funds or restructuring of government agencies will have a clear impact beyond the Beltway alone. I’ll give it.
“If this is a democratic government where the same thing is going on, people will be illuminated about it,” a GOP lawmaker told CNN. “So I think we need to be careful about the precedents they’re setting.”
The president has campaigned to cut the size of the federal government, and Republicans say the actions taken now are merely fulfilling his campaign promises.
GOP MP Jen Kiggans, who has more than 30,000 civilian workers in the Virginia area, said that he has never seen CNN postponed offers to resign, but has urged her members to be patient. He spoke.
“I think everyone needs to take a deep breath. I know there are a lot of changes right now. This is the change that Americans voted in November. So we’re talking about the transition. If we are in the age and people have specific questions, please contact us,” Kigans said.
Darrell Issa, a GOP lawmaker with nearly 15,000 civilian workers in his district in California, told CNN he hopes to assign Republicans $35 trillion in debt.
“They want us to deal with it, and that’s what we’re doing and the main thing that the president does,” Issa said. “My federal workers are taxpayers too, and even if they might want to keep their jobs, they’re tired of going to the post office where they don’t act, bad delivery, and show nothing. Tell me what you’re doing would tell me first.
A representative from a federal workers’ union said he was urging Republican lawmakers to act behind the scenes. I think they’ll work behind the scenes with us and convince Johnson not to do certain things. ”
Luak Hatpupu, the US Vice President of the United States Federation of Government Employees, has directed members of federal workers to contact all congressional offices in the Midwest region he represents. Hotopp, who organized members to meet with various lawmakers this week, explained that the Republican office they call is sympathetic to a certain point.
“Our question to them is, what are you going to do about it? And now there seems to be no answer at first glance,” Hotopp said.
CNN’s Morgan Rimmer and Haley Talbot contributed to this report.
