WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s DOGE time at the U.S. Capitol.
Billionaire Elon Musk arrived on Capitol Hill on Thursday alongside fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to speak behind closed doors with lawmakers about President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to “dismantle” the federal government.
Trump named the two business giants to head his Department of Government Efficiency, which is tasked with laying off federal workers, cutting government programs and slashing federal regulations – all part of what he calls a “Save America” agenda for a second term in the White House .
“I think this will be a great start to the whole process,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who will chair a House oversight subcommittee in the novel year to “build the bridge between Congress and to beat DOGE”. .”
Washington has seen this before, with ambitious efforts to reduce the size and scope of the federal government that have faced resistance in the past when the public has faced cuts to trusted programs that millions of Americans rely on for jobs, Health care, military security, etc. are everyday needs.
But this time, Trump is staffing his administration with battle-tested architects of sweeping proposals, some of which are laid out in Project 2025, to sharply reduce and reshape government. Musk and Ramaswamy said they plan to work with the White House Office of Management and Budget, which is led by Trump nominee Russ Vought, a mastermind of previous cuts.
“DOGE presents a historic opportunity for structural cuts in the federal government,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. “We are prepared for the onslaught.”
The duo was invited by House Speaker Mike Johnson to visit Capitol Hill and face their first private test with House and Senate lawmakers – some are excited to see what they’ll be up to.
“I’m excited to get out there and do something,” said Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., who along with Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, launched what they call the DOGE Caucus in the House more than 50 Republicans and two Democratic members.
Bean said the DOGE Caucus will launch an email tip hotline for people to report wasteful spending. He also envisions a kind of scoreboard that people can view on a website that shows “how many jobs we’ve cut, which agencies we’ve cut, and what the actual number is.”
In the Senate, Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Rick Scott, R-Florida, have launched a similar caucus.
Although neither Musk nor Ramaswamy have much experience in public service, they bring successes in the private sector – Musk has huge government contracts – and enthusiasm for Trump’s agenda, having fought alongside him in the last election campaign.
Musk, the world’s richest man, poured millions into a campaign to facilitate the former president return to the White House. He is known politically for transforming the popular social media site formerly known as Twitter into X, a platform prized by Trump’s MAGA enthusiasts.
Despite its name, the Department of Government Efficiency is neither a department nor part of the government, which exempts Musk and Ramaswamy from undergoing the typical ethics and background checks required for federal employment. They said they were not paid for their work.
A good government group has said that as a presidential advisory body, DOGE should be expected to adhere to conventional practices of transparency, equal representation and public participation – as was the case with similar advisory bodies from the Reagan to Obama administrations .
The Federal Advisory Committee Act “is expressly designed for situations like this,” Lisa Gilbert and Robert Weissman, co-chairs of Public Citizen, wrote in a letter to the Trump transition team.
“If the government wants to turn to unelected and politically unaccountable people to recommend up to $2 trillion in budget cuts, it must ensure that those recommendations come from a balanced and transparent process and are not manipulated into doing so , to benefit insiders.”
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the country’s $6 trillion federal budget regularly runs a deficit, which this year was $1.8 trillion, a historic high. It hasn’t been balanced since the Clinton administration more than two decades ago.
Republicans generally blame what they see as exorbitant spending for the deficit, while Democrats point to tax cuts under Republican Presidents Trump and George W. Bush as the main cause.
Last year’s revenue as a share of gross domestic product was just below the 50-year average, while spending was 23.4% of GDP, compared with the 50-year average of 21.1%.
Some of the biggest spending increases last year were on politically popular programs that lawmakers were reluctant to address. For example, according to the Congressional Budget Office, spending on Social Security benefits increased 8%, Medicare spending increased 9%, defense spending increased 7%, and veterans health care spending increased 14%.
Rep. Ro Khanna of California said he would like to see Musk testify before the House Armed Services Committee on the “bloated defense budget.”
“I would like to see Elon recommend some cuts. Let’s let him testify,” Khanna said.
He said he was open to proposals on non-defense spending but was skeptical.
“If they find rubbish, perhaps, but when it comes to big numbers, then no one will allow a cut in education funding for children with special needs and for low-income schools, or a cut in Social Security and health insurance,” Khanna said. “If they want to do that, they will give us a landslide in 2026.”
