Billionaire tech giant Elon Musk met with House Republicans Wednesday night to update work done by the Government's Department of Efficiency (DOGE) as the newly created group takes important steps to reduce the size and scope of the federal government.
The conversation followed a decision by House Republicans (led by speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to punt codification of Doge Cuts until September and beyond, delaying the process to give lawmakers more time to parse the details.
However, Republicans ruled out measures that incorporate measures to reflect Doge's cuts in future stop-gap measures to keep the government open after March 14, but Johnson said he spoke about the possibility that some of the funds could be repaid in a separate package at a later date, even if they hand over a “clean” continuous solution.
“We talked about it,” Johnson said when asked about the recession. “If there is something related to savings and 25 years and you already pass the CR, of course, you want to save taxpayer dollars, so Congress will act on that.
Despite the punt about immediate action to codify Doge's cuts, Republican lawmakers are investing in the work the group is doing, with Johnson saying Musk and Congress “coordinating efforts.”
“This extraordinary work Elon Musk is doing with Doge is transformative what he explains to our Republicans tonight,” Johnson said. “The way we budget is really innovative and limits the size and scope of the federal government. We are far more responsible for taxpayers in this country. It's been a long time late.”
“So I'm very grateful that he's doing it and sharing updates and latest insights with his members,” Johnson added. “And I think there will be a lot of good work to come.”
Rep. Brian Mast (R-FLA.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the rally was “exceptional.”
“It was an explanation of how they find things, how they find things, how these scams are happening in multiple government agencies,” Mast added. “It was great to hear him really explain the methodology behind everything that's going on.”
The tone of the conference and tenor marked contrasts with the mask herd early on the day Republicans told the billionaires that his efforts to rebuild and size the federal government would need to vote for Capitol Hill.
Musk received several pushbacks from House Republicans. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) said he sought Musk on how Doge's efforts had an impact on veterans and farmers.
Veterans Secretary Doug Collins confirmed Wednesday that the agency plans to cut 72,000 jobs and return to staffing levels in 2019. The latest cut comes after more than 2,000 VA employees were fired last month.
“I have expressed my concerns in the veteran community very clearly. Musk made it clear that we are making sure there is no deterioration in the interests of veterans,” Van Olden said.
“It doesn't have to be a fierce relationship,” he added. “He's a very sophisticated guy and I know there's some things that need to be done at the 30,000-foot level.”
However, Mast told reporters that Musk was not involved in the Virginia cut, “Dorge was not in charge of firing, out of my understanding.. ”
However, the meeting was largely positive and complemented the efforts, members said.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), chairing the House Doge subcommittee, erupted on how Musk's efforts discovered “thousands of billions of dollars in savings.”
Doge's efforts have saved billions of dollars by cancelling federal contracts, dealing with reported savings in accounting errors and erasing or altering more than 1,000 contracts that claimed to be cancelled, but the New York Times reported this week that claimed that projects to modify or erase billions of dollars have been saved and dramatal to exclude them.Decreased Predicted savings.
Greene was asked about the accounting errors by Doge: “You haven't shown me evidence, so I can't really comment on it. I have to look at it on paper and look at it in detail.”
