Gop Lawmakers Try To Draft Doge Leaders To Their Side Of The Spending War

Factions of Republican lawmakers at war over how to slash federal spending are scrambling to recruit Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to their cause.

The tug-of-war continued Thursday as Musk and Ramaswamy made the rounds on Capitol Hill in one of their first big moves as President-elect Donald Trump’s key deputies on downsizing government. The leaders of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, met with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, lead Senate GOP appropriator Susan Collins, and a wide array of rank-and-file Republicans on both sides of the Capitol.

The meetings come as Republican lawmakers lobby Musk and Ramaswamy on clashing approaches over how to trim Washington spending. One camp, including hard-line conservatives and House Freedom Caucus members like Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, want to cut funding for federal agencies and the Pentagon — the same fight that culminated in Kevin McCarthy’s ouster from the speakership last year. The other camp, led by senior GOP lawmakers who have the task of drafting spending legislation, such as House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole of Oklahoma and Rep. David Joyce of Ohio, want the duo to look for big savings in mandatory programs like Medicaid and food stamps.

“They're just gonna have to shame my colleagues into cutting spending,” Massie said of Musk and Ramaswamy.

Roy said he told the duo during the GOP’s widely attended meeting Thursday afternoon that “you're looking for the problem, and the problem’s in that room.”

The competing campaigns to win over the two DOGE leaders are the latest indicator that Republicans are poised to struggle next year to unite around plans to deliver on campaign promises and Trump initiatives, not only on spending cuts, but also on policies such as sweeping tax reform and immigration. And both sides will repeatedly endeavor to earn Trump’s favor, knowing that could be the deciding factor in who wins the battle.

The two DOGE leaders have a broad mandate to, in their own words, “cut the federal government down to size,” with no power to actually slash funding, since that power constitutionally resides with Congress.

“We need to make sure we’re spending public money well," Musk said after meeting with senators on Thursday.

Republican appropriators argue that Musk and Ramaswamy need to realize that the $1.7 trillion total in discretionary funding for the military and federal agencies is piddling in comparison with the other side of the ledger — $3.8 trillion a year in spending on “mandatory” programs like Medicare, Social Security, food stamps and Medicaid health coverage for low-income households.

“Somebody of their stature, if they really want to attack the problems in this country, you’ve got to go after the mandatory spending,” Joyce said as he left a Thursday meeting with Musk and Ramaswamy.

Joyce added that House conservatives “don't seem to get it through their rock head” that discretionary spending is not the main driver of the nation’s more than $36 trillion debt.

Cole said there was “of course” no consensus on cuts to mandatory spending programs during the Thursday gathering, given that it was the first meeting. But he added that “there was at least some recognition of how significant that is.”

How the Trump administration could use “impoundment” power to block funding that Congress has approved — something Trump allies and conservatives have pushed for but could easily run into constitutional issues — was discussed during the meeting. But Cole said he isn’t worried that changes to the law forcing presidents to spend money as directed by Congress will infringe on lawmakers’ power of the purse.

“I think there's more broad presidential powers in this than generally recognized,” Cole said as he exited the meeting.

Democrats are, of course, sounding more alarmed about Trump’s dreams of using impoundment power to shirk the will of Congress and grant the funding cuts Musk and Ramaswamy might seek.

“They want [to cut] $2 trillion a year, every year. Think about the discretionary budget. It's $1.7 trillion. Where are they going for the money? Where are they going?” said the House’s top Democratic appropriator, Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro.

“They have no authority. Does anybody get that?” DeLauro said.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who will chair the new House panel intended to work in tandem with the department Musk and Ramaswamy head, predicts discord next year between the newly empowered duo and the appropriators who control annual funding.

“I think there probably will be some friction,” Greene said. “You know, some appropriators really want to continue funding. But I honestly think that there's been a serious mandate from the American people, and I think that will give, hopefully, our side of the aisle tremendous courage to do the right thing.”

Across the Capitol, Collins, the Senate’s top Republican appropriator, said this week that Musk and Ramaswamy “have to recognize that the private sector is different from government.” Still, she expressed only praise for Musk after their hourlong, one-on-one meeting.

“I was very impressed with his energy and dedication,” said Collins, who will chair the Senate’s funding panel next year.

While the two “did not go through any kind of list of cuts or anything like that," according to Collins, she and Musk did discuss broadly “how we could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government to better serve the American people and to save taxpayer dollars.”