Elon Musk met with a small group of Home Republicans on Wednesday night the place he mentioned avenues for price financial savings in a quest to seek out as a lot as $1 trillion in authorities waste, folks accustomed to the dialogue instructed Fox Information Digital.
“The manager DOGE staff is assured, they suppose they will get $1 trillion,” one lawmaker accustomed to the assembly instructed Fox Information Digital. “Now, we’ll see, right? And the thing is, he acknowledged that we’re going to make mistakes, but we’re going to correct them very quickly.”
The GOP lawmaker mentioned some considerations had been raised about whether or not different authorities places of work just like the Treasury Division “have the bandwidth to do” what Musk is detailing. “And he says, ‘We’re gonna help them,'” the lawmaker mentioned.
A number of sources mentioned Musk met with the Home DOGE subcommittee led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., for about 45 minutes earlier than a wider assembly with the Home GOP Convention.
DOD TELLS CIVILIAN WORKFORCE TO IGNORE ELON MUSK’S REQUEST TO REPORT PRODUCTIVITY
Elon Musk spoke with Home Republicans on Wednesday evening
A number of folks mentioned Musk pointed to areas the place the federal government might be made extra environment friendly, together with an audit of what number of lifeless folks had been de-listed off some federal advantages like Social Safety however nonetheless had taxpayer {dollars} going into their accounts for unemployment or different packages.
“A lot of this is cross-referencing databases, making sure they’re talking to each other,” Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, a member of the subcommittee, instructed Fox Information Digital.
Two lawmakers current for the assembly additionally mentioned the thought of a congressional rescissions package deal was floated as one other strategy to claw again extreme authorities spending, as Republicans and Democrats battle over giving President Donald Trump leeway to spend much less cash than Congress appropriates.
Rescissions authority is granted to Congress to permit for the cancelation of some deliberate authorities spending.
It is also among the many particular circumstances the place the Senate solely wants 51 votes to move a invoice, slightly than 60 – that means Senate Republicans can move it with out Democratic assist.
Greene confirmed the sit-down to reporters however didn’t point out discuss of congressional spending authority.
“We had a very lengthy meeting, just my DOGE committee with Elon Musk and his team, and learned a lot of valuable information. The collaboration is going to be fantastic and it needs to happen,” Greene mentioned.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene leads the Home DOGE subcommittee (Kent Nishimura/Getty Photos)
Additionally current at each of Musk’s Home conferences was his adviser Steve Davis, folks instructed Fox Information Digital.
After the smaller-scale assembly, Musk had a wider dialogue with Home Republicans the place he spoke for roughly quarter-hour after which took questions.
“What we were doing was getting a deeper insight into what Elon Musk is doing and kind of being able to strategize with him, how we can coordinate what we’re doing,” Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, who can also be on the DOGE subcommittee, instructed reporters.
Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., instructed Fox Information Digital that “systematically there were no checks in order to make sure the taxpayer dollars were spent correctly.”
He mentioned Musk didn’t talk about different fiscal battles ongoing in Congress, and that Musk “was just trying to outline what they are finding in a very short period of time and how little accountability exists in the operating system of our government.”
“It made me laugh and it made me sick all at the same time,” Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., instructed Fox Information Digital. “The level of waste and what they are finding is mindblowing.”
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., mentioned Musk was “just getting started.”
“He just says, ‘I’m investigating and finding things that you really can’t argue with.’ He said he’s making mistakes, he’ll correct them, but his mission is to uncover where our tax money is. Let the chips fall where they may,” Norman mentioned.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden mentioned he raised considerations about veterans and farmers. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc by way of Getty Photos)
It comes as some Home Republicans have confronted contentious city halls or demonstrations associated to Musk and DOGE of their house districts. GOP lawmakers beforehand shared frustrations with Fox Information Digital that they had been typically left considerably in the dead of night on Musk’s work.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., instructed reporters he aired related considerations within the closed-door assembly. Musk was receptive to these situation, he added.
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“I spoke to Elon specifically about this. There are our veterans and our farmers. So there’s a lot of angst going right now because people don’t understand what’s going on,” Van Orden mentioned. “And I expressed very clearly the concerns of our veterans community. And Mr. Musk was explicitly clear that we will make sure that we have no degradation of the benefits for our veterans that they have earned.”
The back-to-back Home conferences for Musk got here after he spoke with Senate Republicans in an identical closed-door setting.
