Republicans warn Elon Musk DOGE cuts at risk without US Congress

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., center left, and Senator Rick Scott, a Republican from Florida, right, at the US Capitol on Wednesday. Bloomberg

The differences between Elon Musk’s fast-acting efforts to reshape the federal government and congressional Republicans’ desire for process and professional courtesies played out behind closed doors in the US Capitol, the latest sign of brewing tension among factions of President Donald Trump’s allies.

In a series of meetings Wednesday with Musk, House and Senate Republicans sought to impress upon the billionaire that Congress has a central role in enacting controversial spending cuts that don’t run the risk of being overturned in court.

Lawmakers also implored Musk for more communication — and warning — from his Department of Government Efficiency about looming cuts that could affect jobs and programs in their districts, according to a person familiar with the discussion.

Still, in public the lawmakers were largely complimentary of Musk, urging him to move more quickly to slash federal programs. Many Republican lawmakers are reluctant to criticize Musk even in closed-door, members-only sessions, the person said, who requested anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

The meetings come as Congress grapples with the implications of DOGE, whose sweeping, lightning-fast cuts to the federal workforce have sparked blowback in lawmakers’ districts and states.

Among the controversial DOGE-inspired changes discussed Wednesday was a Veterans Affairs announcement to cut about 80,000 employees, a proposal that alarmed some Republicans because of the potential to hamper health care access for millions of veterans nationwide.

Representative Derrick Van Orden, a retired Navy Seal, said he asked Musk about the cuts, who assured the group that there would be “no degradation of the benefits for our veterans,” the Wisconsin Republican said. Musk in the meeting, however, distanced DOGE — the White House office directing federal cost-cutting efforts — from the VA’s plans to terminate staff.

Senator Jerry Moran, a Republican from Kansas, also criticized the cuts on Wednesday, calling for any changes at the VA to be done in a “more responsible manner.”

In a meeting earlier in the day, Senate Republicans said they warned Musk that simply slashing government funding without congressional approval was “ephemeral” and risked being struck down by the Supreme Court, which dealt a blow Wednesday to Trump’s unilateral foreign-aid freeze.

Instead, senators pushed Musk to send a package of cuts to Congress for approval through a process that requires only a simple majority in both chambers.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, suggested the administration’s proposal could amount to tens of billions in spending cuts. “Politically now is the time,” he added.

Graham and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said Musk seemed receptive to the idea. Musk, Graham said, pumped his fists during the discussion.

It’s unclear exactly what would be included in the list of so-called rescissions. But Graham said cuts to veterans’ services, for instance, would be “political malpractice.”

Other cuts — particularly those that affect federal and contracting jobs in lawmakers’ districts — could make passage difficult given the GOP’s narrow and fractious majorities in both chambers.

Communications

Several Republicans have expressed frustrations that Musk, a special government employee, isn’t communicating with Congress on his team’s plans.

“If you are doing something that impacts somebody in their district, it would be nice if gave them a heads up before you did it,” Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said. “Give courtesy to members. Give them a heads up because they are the ones who have to go home and defend these things.”

Cole’s counterpart in the Senate, Susan Collins of Maine, did not attend the meeting with Musk because she was meeting with some House Republicans.

Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia echoed Cole’s sentiment Wednesday.

“I think there’s not enough advanced notice. There’s not enough clarity,” she said. “We’re having trouble getting information.”

Trump during his joint address to Congress on Tuesday evening touted Musk’s work with DOGE, claiming the group has found significant “fraud, waste and theft.” DOGE on its website claims it has saved $105 billion by canceling government contracts, but independent analyses have found that total is likely significantly lower due to accounting errors and misreadings of contract filings.

Democrats have argued DOGE and the Trump administration are illegally revoking spending ordered in congressionally approved legislation and intruding on Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.