washington
CNN
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As Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami make sweeping promises to cut $2 trillion in federal spending, House Republican leaders say efforts to cut wasteful federal spending are putting the party on a collision course. He has expressed concern to Republican leaders that he may
Senate Republicans, including members of committees charged with diverting funds, are wondering how to implement conflicting parameters set by President-elect Donald Trump’s directives as excitement builds over the creation of the Treasury Department. have expressed concerns about this. Government efficiency is starting to settle down.
Republicans want to make a major move to fulfill Mr. Trump’s cost-cutting mandate, but they are mired in a contradiction that boils down to a math problem with political minefields. And Musk and Ramaswamy don’t have much time to solve this problem, as they hope to finish the study by 2026.
Government discretionary spending amounts to 30% of the federal budget, including defense spending, which Republicans don’t want cut, but falls short of the $2 trillion set by Musk and Ramaswamy. That means we need to consider mandatory spending, including popular safety net programs like Social Security, which even President Trump has said he won’t touch. In addition, Republicans want to spend more money to implement Trump’s strict border measures, fulfill Trump’s campaign promises, and continue supporting Israel as it continues to fight wars in the Middle East. are.
“This is not a private company. If it were, it would be a lot easier,” one Republican official told CNN, clarifying the conflicting factors. “What I’m hearing is great, ambitious talk, but what they’re talking about, the specifics, are small, low-hanging fruit.”
Despite concerns about future obstacles, despite signs that President Trump wants to test the country’s waters, Republican lawmakers urge Musk and Ramaswamy to work with Congress rather than with their own circle. multiple sources told CNN. He made a unilateral spending decision by bringing back a team that he had failed to support the first time.
Even Mr. Musk has so far privately acknowledged to lawmakers that some of his ideas may not be very popular or successful, people told CNN. However, he emphasized that he wanted the process to be collaborative. One proposal that is gaining traction is to eliminate all federal employees hired last year, two sources said. This has sparked a fierce internal backlash, with many warning that it is still too early to criticize the idea.
“They’ve been very thoughtful and deliberate in their discussions with key stakeholders. But they’re in information-gathering mode,” South Dakota Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson told CNN. spoke. “One of the important rules of brainstorming is to not criticize ideas while brainstorming.”
Republicans are using reconciliation, a process that fast-tracks their agenda by allowing lawmakers to bypass the 60-vote threshold typically required to pass legislation in the Senate, to cut some regulations, It raises the possibility of enacting administrative and cost reductions. Measures have been proposed. But it’s a messy process, and Republicans are already divided over how to use it.
Lawmakers are also prepared to deal with potential lawsuits if President Trump’s White House lawyers try to make cuts outside of Congress, such as by executive order, two people told CNN. warned DOGE leaders that they needed to stay in place. Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy have already consulted lawyers and private volunteers as they begin to scrutinize the government plan, one of the people added.
Complex realities create discomfort.
“I wish them the best of luck and I really hope so, but we have to think about how we build bridges within government to actually make that happen, because at this point So, the concept of ‘wow, wow’ is great, but what do we do about it, as many people rightly ask?” said Mark Amodei, a Republican from Nevada who serves on the House Appropriations Committee. told CNN.
Shortly after Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy made a splashy visit to Capitol Hill last week to preview the new initiative, a bipartisan group of lawmakers headed to a prestigious forum with defense leaders to find out the big cuts. It faced concerns that it could affect military capabilities.
“We were talking about it this weekend,” said Republican Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska, who was attending the Reagan Defense Forum. “We just want to make sure it doesn’t reduce our fighting ability. If you can show us what’s useless, I’m all for cutting it.”
Even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, who heads an oversight subcommittee that works with DOGE and met with Trump and others over the weekend, said the public should make the difficult cuts needed in a practical way. He said it was getting closer.
“Everyone is realistic,” Green told CNN. “It’s always hard at first, but once you get through it, everything becomes bigger and stronger.”
“It’s a huge possibility,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who is in regular contact with Trump, Musk and Ramaswamy, told CNN.
Meanwhile, President Trump is showing signs that he is laying the groundwork for a test drive through Congress to pass these cuts, a reality that Republicans seem unwilling to face.
The nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, which would make DOGE’s proposal a reality, is a noted believer that President Trump can veto spending of funds appropriated by Congress, a process known as foreclosure. Russell Vought, co-author of Project 2025, said foreclosures are a “necessary remedy for financial collapse.”
Mark Paoletta, President Trump’s pick for OMB’s general counsel, also writes about constitutional detention litigation.
Musk and Ramaswamy have also written op-eds supporting detention.
In his first term as president, Trump pressured President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to cooperate with an investigation into Joe Biden and tried to circumvent Congress by withholding funds from Ukraine. That pressure led to Trump’s first impeachment by Congressional Democrats. The funds were eventually released, and the Government Accountability Office argued that the Trump administration violated the law by withholding the aid.
But many members of Congress, who are still studying the detention laws, don’t think Trump will go there.
“We maintained a majority in Congress and worked hard to get a majority. ‘Thank you’ for that should not mean ‘we don’t need a stinking Congress,'” Amodei told CNN. told.
Representative Max Miller, Republican of Ohio, agreed that everyone involved wants the same thing: “They have no choice but to work with us, they have to.”
And Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who will chair the Senate Appropriations Committee in the next Congress, told CNN ahead of her one-on-one meeting with Musk, “For me, it’s about separation of powers.” It’s a violation,” he said.
Still, Collins said Thursday that he was “impressed” with Musk after meeting him last week.
“I had a great 70-minute meeting with Elon Musk about this new approach to government efficiency — I don’t even remember how that’s pronounced,” Collins said. He spoke in an interview at the 2016 bipartisan No Labels conference. Washington.
A new bipartisan caucus supporting DOGE, led by Republican Rep. Aaron Bean of Florida and Republican Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, has pledged to work with Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy, following a hearing last week. He said their efforts are just beginning. The caucus is working towards holding its first formal meeting next week.
But the pressure to act is growing, even if the next steps are uncertain.
“It’s incumbent upon us as Republicans to move the ball forward and reduce the size of government and actually reduce the size of government,” Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said on the floor Tuesday. “Don’t hide behind DOGE. Don’t hide behind Elon. Don’t hide behind Vivek.”
CNN’s David Wright and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.
