How did Elon Musk go from being an Obama supporter to a self-described "dark MAGA" Trump ally? Here's a look at the relationship between two billionaires ahead of the second Trump presidency.
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images; iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI
The US is once again on the brink of a government shutdown following intense pressure from President-elect Donald Trump and his newly created DOGE commission.
It would mean federal workers are temporarily out of work, and Americans could experience slowdowns at airport security and customer-service delays for programs like Social Security. During the last government shutdown under Trump, national parks shuttered and flights were delayed or rerouted because of limited transportation staffing.
The possibility of a shutdown starting at 12:01 a.m. Saturday comes after the House of Representatives seemed poised this week to approve a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through March. However, following intense criticism on social media from Trump and the leaders of his new Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, House Republicans scrapped the bill.
They took issue with the inclusion of a range of items in the bill that they said were not relevant to government funding, including pandemic preparedness and a pay raise for lawmakers.
Ramaswamy posted on X on Wednesday morning that the bill is "full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics."
Musk also wrote on X on Wednesday that a government shutdown is "infinitely better than passing a horrible bill."
Trump and his vice president-elect, JD Vance, released a joint statement Wednesday saying the resolution would "give Congress a pay increase while many Americans are struggling this Christmas."
Now, Congress must find a new funding solution in just over 24 hours, leaving Americans on the brink of the first government shutdown since 2018. Here's what that could mean.
Every federal agency is required to prepare for a government shutdown by creating contingency plans to submit to the Office of Management and Budget. Each agency outlines how it will structure its workforce in a shutdown, including how many workers it will furlough and for how long.
This means federal workers would be affected first, with many finding themselves temporarily out of work. The longer the shutdown lasts, the more severe the consequences for Americans would be, but if federal workers are furloughed, agencies will be strained to carry out their usual daily functions.
For example, the Social Security Administration's latest contingency plan said it expects to furlough 8,103 of its 59,000 employees at the start of a shutdown. This means that while Social Security payments would still continue to reach Americans, customer service would be limited for beneficiaries dealing with payment issues.
During a government shutdown, active-duty military service members would remain on duty but may go unpaid until funding is restored. The Department of Education's latest contingency plan, from 2023, said that it would have to pause most of its grantmaking activities during a shutdown, including its review of grant applications from local school districts.
The Department of Transportation's contingency plan in 2024 said that while facility service inspections and air-traffic-controller training would cease, essential services like air travel would continue. The Department of Homeland Security's most recent contingency plan said that the Transportation Security Administration would furlough over 2,000 workers, likely resulting in longer wait times for travelers at airports.
The US Postal Service, however, would not be affected by a shutdown because it's an independent agency.
Additionally, a 2023 brief from the progressive think tank Center for American Progress said that a number of federal programs "immediately cease" during federal shutdowns, including the processing of new small business loan applications, workplace safety inspections, NASA research programs, and federal loans to farmers.
The collapse of the previous deal means the clock is ticking for both parties to come to an agreement on avoiding a government shutdown before the weekend.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, criticized the recent government shutdown threats in a statement Wednesday.
"Triggering a damaging government shutdown would hurt families who are gathering to meet with their loved ones and endanger the basic services Americans from veterans to Social Security recipients rely on," she said. "A deal is a deal. Republicans should keep their word."
Patrick Pleul / POOL / AFP via Getty; iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI
After a government funding bill went down in flames on Wednesday, lawmakers in both parties were in agreement about one thing: Elon Musk played a huge role in bringing Washington to the brink.
"Yesterday was DOGE in action and it was the most refreshing thing I've seen since I've been here for 4 years," Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wrote on X.
"The leader of the GOP is Elon Musk," Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania wrote. "He's now calling the shots."
President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance put the final nail in the coffin of the bill, but their joint statement trashing the continuing resolution — and issuing a new demand for Congress to raise the debt ceiling — came after several hours of silence on the matter.
That void was filled by Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency co-lead, Vivek Ramaswamy, who savaged the bill as an example of the wasteful spending that Trump has empowered them to target for elimination during his second term. Newly galvanized by DOGE and lacking any guidance from Trump, several Republican lawmakers publicly cited arguments put forward by the two leaders to justify their opposition to the bill.
"This omnibus is the very thing the incoming Department of Government Efficiency is trying to put an end to," Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri wrote on X. "A vote for this monstrosity is a vote against DOGE."
As Republican support for the bill dried up, passage through the GOP-controlled House became an impossibility, and the bill was scrapped.
Federal funding is set to run out at midnight on Friday. If lawmakers are unable to agree upon and pass a new bill by then, the government will shut down for the first time in six years, prompting flight delays, closures of national parks, and paycheck delays for federal workers.
In a statement to Business Insider, Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump-Vance transition, disputed the notion that Musk is the leader of the GOP.
"As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view," Leavitt said. "President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop."
Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
Over the past several weeks, Democrats and Republicans had been hammering out a compromise bill to fund the government through March 14. After significant delays, the bill's text was released on Tuesday night.
Aside from extending government funding at current levels for another three months, the bill also included language allowing the District of Columbia to take control of a stadium that the Washington Commanders have long sought to use, a modest pay increase for lawmakers, billions of dollars in disaster relief for states affected by recent hurricanes, and other provisions that Trump and Vance later characterized as "giveaways" to Democrats.
Musk first came out against the bill on Wednesday morning, writing on X: "This bill should not pass."
Over the course of several hours, what began as a simple statement of opposition turned into something much larger, including Musk endorsing shutting down the government until January 20 and saying that any Republican who voted for the bill would deserve to be voted out of office.
Along the way, Musk made and amplified false claims about the contents of the bill, including that it included a 40% pay raise for lawmakers (it was 3.8% maximum) and $3 billion for the Commanders' stadium.
By the time Trump and Vance weighed in on Wednesday afternoon, the bill already appeared dead, and the two men had a different demand: Lawmakers shouldn't simply shut down the government but pass a spending bill without "giveaways," while raising the debt ceiling.
It remains unclear what legislation will emerge. Democrats have insisted on moving forward with the deal they struck with Republicans, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries rejected in Thursday-morning a Bluesky post the idea of raising the debt ceiling.
The government spending bill's collapse was an early demonstration of Musk's newfound clout with Republicans on Capitol Hill, previewing how the mercurial billionaire might handle the role of DOGE co-lead under Trump.
Over the past two years, a pattern has emerged in government funding and other fiscal fights. Both parties work on compromise legislation, hard-line Republicans rail against it, and both the House and the Senate easily pass it with mostly Democratic votes.
On Wednesday, that pattern was broken, with a shutdown appearing imminent.
For hard-line Republicans who've typically opposed government funding bills, it marked a moment of elation and a sign that with the advent of DOGE, the balance of power is set to shift in their direction under Trump.
Some Democrats, meanwhile, have seized the moment as an opportunity to embarrass Trump, painting him as subordinate to Musk.
“Who’s a good boy? You’re a good boy. Go grab the deal to keep the government open. Fetch. Bring it to me. Good boy.” pic.twitter.com/hGwCohJKMZ
— Mark Pocan (@MarkPocan) December 19, 2024
In a steady drumbeat of social media posts and TV interviews, Democrats have begun referring to Musk as the "president-elect," the "shadow president," the "copresident," and even the "decider in chief" as they've attacked Republicans for opposing the bill.
It’s clear who’s in charge, and it’s not President-elect Donald Trump.
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) December 18, 2024
Shadow President Elon Musk spent all day railing against Republicans’ CR, succeeded in killing the bill, and then Trump decided to follow his lead. pic.twitter.com/feDiAXe8yp
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, released a fact sheet about "what Elon will cost your state" that said "President-Elect Musk's" opposition to the government funding bill had also derailed disaster-relief funds.
"It is dangerous for House Republicans to have folded to the demands of the richest man on the planet, who nobody elected, after leaders in both parties came to an agreement to fund the government and provide this disaster aid," DeLauro said in a statement. "There was no need for a government shutdown."
Musk, for his part, rejected the notion that he was the real leader of the GOP.
"All I can do is bring things to the attention of the people," he wrote on X, "so they may voice their support if they so choose."
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the leader of the Senate Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus, is hoping to take on the centralization of the federal workforce in the Washington, D.C., area with a new bill that would relocate nearly a third of workers.
Ernst is leading a bill, titled the "Decentralizing and Re-organizing Agency Infrastructure Nationwide To Harness Efficient Services, Workforce Administration, and Management Practices Act," or DRAIN THE SWAMP.
The measure would authorize the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to relocate 30% of federal agency staff to places other than the metropolitan area surrounding Washington, D.C.
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Additionally, the rest of the federal workers remaining around the capital would be required to work in person 100% of the time.
Under her bill, the OMB would further be directed to work to sell the unnecessary office space created by the relocations.
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"My investigations have exposed how bureaucrats have been doing just about everything besides their job during the workday," Ernst said in a statement. "Federal employees have shown they don’t want to work in Washington, and in the Christmas spirit, I am making their wish come true. Instead of keeping them bogged down in the swamp, I’m working to get bureaucrats beyond the D.C. beltway to remind public servants who they work for."
"In addition to improving government service for all Americans, we can give taxpayers an extra Christmas gift by selling off unused and expensive office buildings."
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Ernst has long been investigating federal government agencies and programs and what she deems as waste. With Donald Trump's announcement of DOGE ahead of his second administration, the Iowa Republican appears ready to hit the ground running with specific ideas already laid out for the president-elect.
Companion legislation is being introduced in the House by Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., who is a co-leader of the lower chamber's DOGE caucus.
"The swamp is thick and deep here in Crazy Town, and I’m here to drain it. It is time to remind Washington that our duty is to serve the American people. I’m proud to join Senator Ernst to ensure the government works for the people, not the other way around," he said in a statement.
In November, Trump announced that billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would lead DOGE, a proposed advisory board tasked with eliminating government waste.
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"Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement," he wrote in a statement at the time.
Afterward, caucuses were formed in both the House and Senate, led by Reps. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., and Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Ernst and Blake Moore, R-Utah, respectively.
Republicans in both chambers have already started rolling out a slate of bills aimed at fulfilling the mission of DOGE.
Brandon Bell via Getty Images
Elon Musk is tapping a mix of old and new faces to meet DOGE's staffing needs.
Last month, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Musk would co-lead an advisory group called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.
DOGE, Trump said in his announcement, would be tasked with slashing excess regulations and trimming wasteful government spending. The commission is set to conclude its work by July 4, 2026.
On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that The Boring Company CEO Steve Davis and former US chief technology officer Michael Kratsios were interviewing potential hires. DOGE has hired about 10 people thus far, the outlet reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Musk's commission is also looking to recruit software engineers, including those with experience in artificial intelligence, per Bloomberg.
Much of the group's staffing is still unclear, including whether these are full-time roles, where they will be based, and how they will be paid.
According to a Bloomberg, DOGE is currently operating out of a SpaceX-leased office located near the White House.
In November, Musk said in an X post that DOGE employees will be involved in "tedious work" and draw zero compensation.
Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lots of enemies & compensation is zero.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2024
What a great deal! 😂 https://t.co/16e7EKRS6i
Davis is no stranger to Musk's enterprises.
The Boring Company chief holds a doctoral degree in economics from George Mason University and started out as a SpaceX engineer. Musk later handpicked Davis to run his tunneling company.
Davis was also involved in Musk's purchase of Twitter in 2022 and played a key role in Musk's pro-Trump super PAC, America PAC.
Joining Davis is Kratsios, who served as Trump's top technology advisor during his first administration. Prior to joining the Trump administration, Kratsios was tech billionaire Peter Thiel's chief of staff and a principal at Thiel Capital.
Kratsios is a managing director at Scale AI, a data labeling startup.
DOGE's first reported hire was announced by Trump — not Musk or Ramaswamy — earlier this month.
In a Truth Social post on December 4, Trump said that Republican lawyer William Joseph McGinley will serve as the commission's counsel.
McGinley, a former partner at the law firm Jones Day, served as Trump's White House cabinet secretary from 2017 to 2019.
Silicon Valley appears to have figured prominently in Musk's work on DOGE.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has reportedly been consulting Silicon Valley leaders, such as venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and Uber cofounder turned food tech entrepreneur Travis Kalanick, about his plans for the commission.
In November, the commission started an account on Musk's social network X and said that applicants could send in their CVs via direct message.
"We don't need more part-time idea generators. We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting," the post said.
Musk did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
President-elect Trump on Wednesday said he is "totally against" the continuing resolution (CR) being debated by the House to keep the government from shutting down through March.
Trump spoke with "FOX & Friends" co-host Lawrence Jones on Wednesday, telling him the "fight starts now."
"I just spoke with President-elect [Trump], and he is ‘totally against’ the proposed CR," Jones wrote in a post on X.
In another post, the morning show co-host wrote, "The President-elect [Trump] believes that the ‘fight starts now,’ rather than waiting until he is sworn in.
Jones later wrote, "The President-elect [Trump] acknowledged [House Speaker Mike Johnson’s] challenging situation but emphasized that this approach is not the appropriate course of action."
Congressional leaders in Washington, D.C., released the text of their 1,547-page CR on Tuesday evening after last-minute negotiations delayed its original planned release on Sunday. A source familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital more specifically that the deal was largely struck between the top two Democrats and Republicans in each chamber.
Since its release, the CR has seen strong opposition from conservatives and House GOP hardliners, many of whom are frustrated with unrelenting policy riders attached to the legislation, rather than a "clean" extension of government funding.
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While the bill would avert a partial government shutdown through March 14 if passed, it also includes provisions on health care and ethanol fuel, along with $100 billion in disaster aid funding and measures to fund the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The bill also includes the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009.
Republican congressional leaders have defended their plan for a stopgap spending bill, arguing it would allow Trump to have a greater influence on spending when the question comes up again in the spring.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance released a statement on the spending bill on Wednesday.
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"The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed," they wrote. "Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch.
"If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.
"Republicans want to support farmers and pay for disaster relief while setting the country up for success in 2025."
"The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country," they said. "Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH.
"If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief. THIS CHAOS WOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IF WE HAD A REAL PRESIDENT. WE WILL IN 32 DAYS!"
GOP SENATORS ‘VERY IMPRESSED’ WITH MUSK, RAMASWAMY DOGE FRAMEWORK AMID MEETINGS ON CAPITOL HILL
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who was appointed co-chair of Trump’s newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also came out in opposition to Johnson’s proposed bill to keep the government funded on Wednesday.
Musk turned to his social media platform X to argue that the 1,547-page document is full of "pork."
"This bill should not pass," he wrote.
MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT
The other co-chair of DOGE, Vivek Ramaswamy, expressed skepticism of the bill on Tuesday, though he did not outright oppose Johnson’s solution.
"Currently reading the 1,547-page bill to fund the government through mid-March. Expecting every U.S. Congressman & Senator to do the same," Ramaswamy wrote on X.
The GOP holds a one-seat majority in the House, meaning Johnson will likely have to rely on Democratic votes to pass the bill. The legislation must also pass the Senate by the Friday deadline to avoid a shutdown.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
The co-leaders of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have circled the wagons against a stopgap spending bill that has drawn the ire of conservatives in Congress.
"Unless @DOGE ends the careers of deceitful, pork-barrel politicians, the waste and corruption will never stop," Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk posted on X on Wednesday afternoon as Republican lawmakers mulled the best way forward for the CR to fund the government.
"Therefore, there is no choice but to do so. I wish there was another way, but there is not."
Former Republican presidential candidate and DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy has also been a vocal critic of the legislation and suggested in an X post on Wednesday that Republicans should put forward a simple 1-page resolution.
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"Yes, it *is* possible to enact a simple 1-page Continuing Resolution, instead of 1,500+ page omnibus pork-fest," Ramaswamy wrote. "Here it is.:"
Ramaswamy continued, "This is what a clean CR looks like. I still don’t love it because it permits the historical spending excesses to continue, but at bare minimum, we shouldn’t be stacking even more waste on top."
Musk, who posted a video of Ramaswamy railing against the bill urging Americans to call their representatives to "stop the steal of your tax dollars," spent part of the afternoon re-posting comments from elected Republicans who voiced their opposition to the bill.
"Thank you!" Musk posted in response to GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna saying she will not vote for the "Cramnibus bill" due to "billions to Ukraine, mask and vaccine mandates, Deep State immunity."
DOGE CAUCUS FOUNDING MEMBER DEBUTS 2 BILLS TO KICK-START WASTE CUTS IN TRUMP TERM
"I will still fight for a standalone disaster relief bill," Luna wrote.
In an earlier post on X, Musk wrote, "Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!" Musk wrote on X.
Congressional leaders released the text of their 1,547-page CR on Tuesday evening after last-minute negotiations delayed its original planned being release Sunday. Since then, it's seen fierce pushback from conservatives and House GOP hardliners, many of whom are frustrated at the unrelated policy riders attached to the legislation – rather than a "clean" extension of government funding.
The final package extends existing government programs and services at their current operating levels for a few more months, through March 14, 2025.
The stopgap measure is needed because Congress has failed to pass its annual appropriations bills to fund all the various agencies in the federal government, from the Pentagon and national security apparatus, to the health, welfare, transportation and other routine domestic services. When the fiscal year ended on Sept. 30, Congress simply punted the problem by passing a temporary funding bill that expires Friday.
Fox News Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram reported on Wednesday afternoon that there is "talk now of pulling the CR and trying to do a 'clean' bill. but it is "unclear if that also means no disaster aid."
Stopping the 1,500 page spending package and forcing a vote on a clean bill would mark a significant victory for DOGE and its supporters, who have been vocally pushing for changes in the way that government spending bills are handled.
"This bill is contrary to the very existence of @DOGE," GOP Rep. Chip Roy's press office posted on X. "The @HouseGOP should vote NO. Miss Christmas if we must."
Pergram posted on X on Wednesday after that the bill was "bleeding support from Republicans."
"As to Elon Musk weighing in, telling lawmakers that all should be voted out in two years, a member of the House Republican leadership told Fox that Musk ‘is not helping. He has bigger fish to fry than picking a fight with House Republicans,'" Pergram wrote.
Johnson's difficulty coming to an agreement with his razor-thin majority in the House has resulted in names being floated to possibly replace him in the next Congress, Fox News Digital reported.
Fox News anchor Lawrence Jones reported late Wednesday afternoon that President-elect Trump is "totally against" the CR although he "acknowledged" that Johnson is in a precarious position.
During an appearance on Fox & Friends on Wednesday morning, Johnson shared that while government debt and deficits are a concern, Republicans must approve "short-term stopgap funding measures" while Democrats still control the White House and Senate.
"We've got it in our central focus and when we start the new Congress in January, when Republicans are in control and DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) is working on all six cylinders, we're going to be able to scale back the size and scope of government," he said.
Johnson also said the move would ensure Republicans can control spending for 2025, describing it as an "impossible position."
"This is the sausage-making process," he added.
The House Speaker also revealed that he has been on a text chain with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who will helm DOGE.
"Remember, guys, we still have just a razor-thin margin of Republicans. So, any bill has to have Democrat votes. They understand the situation." Johnson said, referencing the text exchange.
If Republicans are unable to rally the necessary votes or receive enough support from Democrats to push it through despite the vocal opponents within the party, the country would face a government shutdown on Friday night.
"What does President Trump want Republicans to do: vote for the CR or shut down government? Absent direction, confusion reigns," said retiring Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, in a sly post on X.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Trump said in a statement, "If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF."
Musk addressed the shutdown possibility on X writing that "shutting down the government (which doesn't actually shut down critical functions btw) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill."
Fox News Digital's Anders Hagstrom, Liz Elkind, Nikolas Lanum and the Associated Press contributed to this report
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Hours after lawmakers released an eleventh-hour bill to fund the government through the middle of March, Elon Musk weighed in on the proposal.
"Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?" he asked in a post on X above a photo of the 1,547-page bill.
Musk is set to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget by July 4, 2026, alongside the biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.
In his own post late on Tuesday, Ramaswamy urged every representative and senator to read the bill. Musk minced no words when he reposted his cohead's statement.
"This bill should not pass," Musk wrote.
This bill should not pass https://t.co/eccQ6COZJ4
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024
If passed, the stop-gap spending bill will fund the government through March 14 and avert a government shutdown, leaving Congress to deal with major spending choices after President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The bill includes $100 billion in disaster relief, $10 billion in economic aid for farmers, and the first pay raise for members of Congress since 2009.
Ramaswamy issued a scathing rejection of the bill in a six-paragraph X post on Wednesday, writing: "It's full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics."
Among other provisions, Ramaswamy criticized the stimulus for farmers, disaster relief, and pay raise for members of Congress and compared the additional "feel good" spending to "showering cocaine on an addict." He also said that the bill could have been fewer than 20 pages.
How members of Congress vote will, he said at the end of his post, show how serious they are about working with DOGE. "This is an early test," he wrote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a press release that he had spoken with Musk and Ramaswamy in a text chain on Tuesday night. The two "understand the situation," the speaker said in the release.
"They said, it's not directed to you, Mr. Speaker, but we don't like the spending," Johnson said. "I said, guess what, fellas, I don't either."
Musk and Ramaswamy have already begun publicizing prospective targets for cuts, including scaling back the federal workforce and slashing departments. The two have met with GOP lawmakers to discuss their goals, though details of the meeting remain scarce.
Representatives for Johnson and Ramaswamy declined to comment further for this article, and Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
FIRST ON FOX: One of the founding Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus members, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., is leading the introduction of a legislative package targeting government waste related to the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's next term.
The Oklahoma Republican gave Fox News Digital an exclusive first look at two bills he will introduce Tuesday, one to address cases of unemployment fraud and another to extend the statute of limitations to prosecute COVID-19 recovery fund fraud.
"Making the government more efficient isn’t a partisan issue—it’s an American issue. Loopholes in the law let fraudsters get away with billions in COVID recovery and Unemployment Insurance payouts while forcing taxpayers to foot the bill. The decades of government waste must come to an end," Lankford said in a statement.
The first measure would allow states to halt unemployment payments to claimants if they are deemed fraudulent, getting rid of a requirement for unemployment agencies to restart payments within two weeks if they are appealed, despite potential fraud.
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The latter bill would expand the extended statute of limitations for certain pandemic-era programs to all of them, including large and costly ones such as the Coronavirus Relief Fund, Economic Impact Payments and Unemployment insurance.
According to Lankford's office, Government Accountability Office Comptroller Eugene Dodaro endorsed the bill addressing COVID relief fraud.
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"I am very pleased that this bill addresses the Inspector General community’s request to extend the statute of limitations for pandemic unemployment insurance program fraud," he said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital by Lankford's office.
"If enacted, this bill would give our oversight partners and law enforcement additional time to pursue federal fraud-related investigations in these programs and hold individuals accountable to the American people."
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In November, Trump announced that billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would lead DOGE, a proposed advisory board tasked with eliminating government waste.
"Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies - Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement," he wrote in a statement at the time.
Afterward, caucuses were formed in both the House and Senate, led by Reps. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., and Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Blake Moore, R-Utah, and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, respectively.
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Ernst is a co-sponsor of Lankford's COVID fraud bill.
Before Trump officially announced DOGE and his choice of Musk and Ramaswamy to lead it, the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO said at an October rally that he believed it could cut trillions in government spending.
"I think we could do at least $2 trillion," Musk said at the time.
Allison Robbert/Pool via AP; AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.; CMS; Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have an opportunity to take on fraud in government programs once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Musk and Ramaswamy are tasked with leading the new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which seeks to reduce government waste and slash spending. Musk set a goal of cutting $2 trillion in annual outlays.
One of Musk and Ramaswamy's aims for DOGE could lead to a relatively early win with bipartisan support: eliminating fraud in federal programs like Medicare. In a recent interview, Ramaswamy told CNBC that "the dirty little secret is that many of those entitlement dollars aren't even going to people who they were supposed to be going to in the first place."
"There are hundreds of billions of dollars of savings to extract" through basic fraud prevention measures, he said.
Musk shared that sentiment, posting on X in November: "The sheer magnitude & audacity of government fraud is mind-blowing!"
Data from the Government Accountability Office showed that government agencies have made about $2.7 trillion in improper payments since 2003, and in fiscal year 2023, the GAO estimated agencies made $236 billion in improper payments. Notably, those improper payments include other categories than intentional fraud, like administrative errors, Orice Williams Brown, the GAO's chief operating officer, said in a September testimony to Congress.
"While all fraudulent payments are considered improper, not all improper payments are due to fraud," Brown said.
The top impacted agencies were Medicare and Medicaid, which the GAO said had $51 billion and $50 billion in improper payments, respectively, followed by pandemic programs, including the Paycheck Protection Program.
Experts told Business Insider that there's potential for DOGE to make progress on the issue if they focus on effective solutions like system modernization and improved data analysis, an area where Ramaswamy and Musk could leverage their Silicon Valley tech experience.
Both fraud and improper payments have been difficult for the government to address because of "outdated technology and a limited focus on program integrity," Linda Miller, cofounder of the Program Integrity Alliance — a group that focuses on fraud prevention in the government — told BI.
"You need to use advanced technology and data in order to really move the needle," Miller said. "And the government is not using advanced technology and data to solve this problem."
Jetson Leder-Luis, an assistant professor at Boston University and researcher on government fraud, told BI that DOGE could pursue "a lot of low-hanging fruit ideas" to combat fraud in big industries like healthcare.
"I think DOGE has the opportunity to make big strides on fraud," Leder-Luis said, adding that if they boost enforcement funding and create enhanced data pipelines, "they have a major opportunity to save tens of billions of dollars."
The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
The government has been unable to implement widescale fraud intervention in recent decades because of a lack of resources and staff to investigate fraud, and a failure to modernize data and technology systems, according to Miller and Leder-Luis.
The GAO found that the government's annual financial losses from fraud were between $233 billion and $521 billion, based on data from fiscal years 2018 through 2022.
Miller pointed to the pandemic as the "perfect storm" for fraud, with the Paycheck Protection Program and disaster loan programs as key examples. Miller said that all that aid being available, coupled with limited oversight at the government level during a national emergency, made it easier for fraud to go undetected; some of the programs allowed individuals to self-certify their loan applications, paving the way for misrepresentations.
"The lack of modernization of our digital technology at the state government level was a real hindrance to fraud prevention during the pandemic," Leder-Luis said.
There have been a number of instances where individuals attempt, and sometimes succeed, to game the system and score welfare benefits that they're not entitled to. But, Miller said, the bigger concern is beyond the individual circumstances; it's the "large-scale fraud schemes" that have taken millions of dollars from the government. For example, the FBI opened an investigation into a scheme that Medicare officials said defrauded the program out of $3 billion after some companies billed the program for catheters patients never requested or used.
Lawmakers and the Department of Justice have worked to take action over the past years to address fraud, including with the federal Pandemic Response Accountability Committee that oversaw pandemic-era programs. Still, Miller said that while agencies are focused on getting benefits to the beneficiary, there still isn't enough attention on ensuring benefits are going to the right person.
"That's the kind of thing that I think really angers Americans," Miller said. "You wonder, 'What are your tax dollars going to if they're not stopping that kind of fraud?'"
Miller said she expects DOGE to look for "quick wins" soon after Trump takes office. These could include modernizing IT systems and investing more resources into fraud detection. A critical point DOGE will have to contend with is that cracking down on the cost of fraud would require some upfront investments.
"It can be very helpful to have a private sector lens come in and look at this," Miller said, which is why Musk and Ramaswamy's backgrounds could be useful in introducing new technology to government systems. However, she said, the two DOGE leaders have to be willing to invest in new fraud detection systems because, even amid their goals to slash spending, modernizing technology is not going to be free.
The GAO's Brown also outlined recommendations for federal agencies to better prevent fraud, including using external data from third parties to verify information Americans provide on loan and insurance applications.
With Republicans soon holding control of both Congress and the White House, DOGE's recommendations to Trump and lawmakers would likely see an easier path to passage. Addressing fraud has also seen Democratic support; Rep. Jamie Raskin introduced the Government Spending Oversight Committee Act in April, which would give federal inspectors general tools to combat fraud across major funding bills.
To be sure, some lawmakers and experts are skeptical of DOGE's approach. The US spent $6.75 trillion in fiscal year 2024, data from the Treasury Department showed, and it wouldn't be as simple as the DOGE leaders have said to ax that spending, lawyers told BI.
While administrative law requires a lengthy process to rescind regulations in federal agencies, Musk and Ramaswamy previously said they would recommend a list of regulations that Trump could "immediately pause." Some lawyers previously said the process is a lot more complicated, and the DOGE leaders would likely face legal hurdles if they pursued that route.
Musk and Ramaswamy also aren't the first to suggest cuts to government spending. Former President Ronald Reagan's Grace Commission, aimed at eliminating waste and inefficiency in the federal government, eliminated $22 billion in social welfare programs that ended up being offset by his tax cuts and defense spending.
Still, Leder-Luis said, what DOGE determines as "waste" is up for interpretation, whereas fraud is illegal, and there's support across the aisle to take that on.
"If we lose $50 billion a year to fraud in just the healthcare system alone, that's ultimately paid for by us," Leder-Luis said. "There are so many things that people want the government to be able to pay for that we all think are good and valuable, like better roads and schools. And when we say, 'I'm sorry, we can't afford that,' well, we are affording healthcare fraud instead."
A top New Jersey lawmaker is proposing legislation to form a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Garden State, modeling it after the one Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are forming at the federal level.
"We need it more" than Washington, Senate Minority Whip Joe Pennacchio, R-Boonton, said.
"We're mirroring what the federal government and what those two gentlemen are doing."
Pennacchio, who also previously worked under former Republican Gov. Donald DiFrancesco on economic development, said NJDOGE would take on a state budget that has increased 60% in the past seven fiscal years.
DRONE ACTIVITY NEAR TRUMP-BEDMINSTER, PICATINNY ARSENAL SPURS NJ FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS
"A lot of those increases were one-shots, when they borrowed money during the period of COVID. You're not going to get that back. … They haven’t even spent it all. Those one-shots, they’re all gone.
"I’ve seen estimates of a budget deficit next year of maybe $4 billion. Next year is the governor’s race. We will have a new governor, and regardless of who comes in — Republican or Democrat — it would be nice to have a committee together to give them a blueprint of what we can or should not do."
He said the state does have a "red tape" commission set up by former Gov. Chris Christie to trim regulations, adding it hasn’t borne results.
"Every dollar we save is $1 less that [Trenton] has to raise taxes," Pennacchio said.
Pennacchio’s committee, if approved, would consist of one member from the state Treasury, one from the Chamber of Commerce, the top Republican and Democrat from the Senate and General Assembly and one public member appointed by the governor.
DOGE-MEETS-CONGRESS: GOP LAWMAKER LAUNCHES CAUCUS TO HELP MUSK ‘TAKE ON CRAZYTOWN’
"[N]ot only can we start to chip away at our exacerbated affordability crisis by cutting wasteful spending and ensuring efficiency, we can also ease the financial burden for our constituents across the Garden State by lowering the onslaught of taxes and fees," Pennacchio said.
At least one other state senator is planning to endorse the idea but has not yet done so publicly. Fox News Digital also reached out to representatives of the General Assembly for their reaction to the senator’s legislation.
Despite being long viewed as a reliably "blue" state, New Jersey came within about four points of electing Donald Trump instead of Vice President Kamala Harris. Political analysts pointed to the results as evidence of a tidal shift in public opinion toward government spending, among other subjects.
GOP LAWMAKER TORCHES OFFSHORE NJ WIND PROJECTS AS MD MAYOR BLASTS ‘STAR WARS’ BACKDROPS
Trump twice won Morris County and flipped Passaic County in 2024, parts of which Pennacchio represents. The lawmaker said his constituents are on board with his NJDOGE proposal and that they’ve similarly recognized disparities in the funding support they receive from Trenton.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump Transition for comment on the plan.
"My district is a district that is getting the bills. Schools in my district are seeing cuts while schools in other districts are not seeing cuts," Pennacchio said.
"It is stuff like this that we should look at. … If the legislature sees fit that they still want to subsidize this nonsense, then that's fine. They’ll be on record.
"Let's greet the next new governor with outlines of what they can do, where there are cost savings, where things can be eliminated; that will stimulate the economy, maybe decrease taxes on the people."
The 2025 field for that governor’s race is packed, with several top names in both partisan primaries.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, former Senate Leader Steve Sweeney and representatives Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer round out the Democratic choices.
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Truck driver and former state Sen. Ed Durr, Sen. Jon Bramnick, conservative journalist Bill Spadea and 2021 gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli are the top names on the Republican side.
State Sen. Robert Singer, R-Lakewood, also joined Pennacchio's call for a NJDOGE.
"With President Trump's plan to bring business back to the U.S., New Jersey has the chance to lead the charge. It's time to restore our state's manufacturing glory with high-paying jobs," Singer said.
"Let's make New Jersey the blueprint for the Make America Work Again movement, starting with a statewide DOGE."
Recently, large drones have been spotted across Pennacchio’s district, making nationwide news.
Pennacchio slammed the feds for offering Jerseyans few answers on the aircraft, saying that when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in 2001, government officials knew right away who orchestrated it.
"We even had some face time with the Department of Homeland Security (about the drones). They were useless. … They should be ashamed of themselves. The FBI director, he checked out. [Christopher Wray] already announced that he's leaving. … So who's minding the store here?"
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; iStock; Natalie Ammari/BI
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have big plans for the Department of Government Efficiency.
The two have promised to significantly reduce the federal budget, with a goal of cutting $2 trillion in spending. In 2024, federal spending reached $6.75 trillion, with nine-tenths going to federal programs. President-elect Donald Trump has long sworn not to touch Social Security or Medicare benefits, which comprise a significant chunk of the budget.
Here's a running list of things Musk and Ramaswamy have said they will do as they gear up to take on this new role.
Representatives for Musk and Trump did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment. A representative for Ramaswamy declined to comment.
Musk and Ramaswamy plan to suggest regulations to cut to Trump, whom they said could then use executive actions to pause the regulations and begin the removal process.
The co-heads outlined their ideas in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal and explained that they plan to lean on two recent SCOTUS rulings, West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. The cases, they said, "suggest that a plethora of current federal regulations exceed the authority Congress has granted under the law."
Some legal experts previously told BI that the DOGE leaders are misinterpreting the lawsuits, which they said do not add to the executive branch's ability to curb regulations. Under the rulings, agencies still need to comply with a lengthy administrative process to change or overturn rules, the experts said.
A key part of DOGE's cost-cutting agenda has to do with scaling back government agencies — Ramaswamy promised that the group will "delete" entire departments. Political scientists and fellows at Washington think tanks previously told BI that deleting departments outright almost always requires congressional approval, making DOGE's goal seem unrealistic to some. There are more than 440 government agencies; Musk has said he wants to trim that down to no more than 99.
Here are some of the agencies DOGE plans to target:
Musk and Ramaswamy criticized the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and "progressive groups like Planned Parenthood" in their op-ed. They said that DOGE will try to curb federal spending "by taking aim" at the funds appropriated for those services, among others.
The CPB is the largest funding source for public radio, television, and online services, primarily for local public media — in fiscal year 2024, it had a budget of $535 million. Congress created the CPB and authorizes the budget. Between 2019 and 2021, American affiliates of Planned Parenthood received approximately $148 million in federal grants, according to the Government Accounting Office.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Musk and Ramaswamy said in their op-ed that they plan to go after expired federal expenditures. According to the Congressional Budget Office, $516 billion worth of federal appropriations in 2024 have expired, with the largest programs in terms of spending relating to veterans' healthcare, drug development, and NASA. Neither Musk nor Ramaswamy have specified which expired authorizations they'll target.
Musk and Ramaswamy said they want to significantly reduce the size of the federal workforce, though haven't specified precisely how many employees should be cut. There were more than 2 million federal employees as of 2023, according to the nonpartisan group the Partnership for Public Service.
Civil service workers benefit from job protections that make it difficult to fire them, but the DOGE co-leaders said in their Journal article that Trump could implement "reductions in force" that aren't directed at individual employees.
In the op-ed, Musk and Ramaswamy said that after eliminating federal regulations, "mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy" will follow. They plan to determine the minimum number of employees needed at each department and said they might enact policies that lead some staffers to voluntarily resign, like return-to-office mandates, early retirement offers, and severance packages.
Federal employee salaries don't comprise a big chunk of the budget — not including military personnel, their annual salaries and benefits total approximately $305 billion, or 4% of spending, per the Washington Post. If Musk and Ramaswamy got rid of 25% of the federal workforce, government spending would fall by around 1%.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Musk and Ramaswamy raised the possibility of relocating federal agencies outside Washington in their op-ed, a point that Ramaswamy has spoken more about online and in interviews. When talking to Fox News in November, he said he "absolutely" wants to move agencies elsewhere and called the fact that some employees don't go into the office a "dirty little secret."
In a post on X from late November, Ramaswamy said addressing the cost of maintaining federal buildings "sounds like a job for DOGE." According to a 2023 report from the Government Accountability Office, 17 of the agencies reviewed use about 25% or less of their buildings' space. The federal government spends around $2 billion each year to maintain federal office buildings and $5 billion to lease space to agencies, the report found.
In their opinion piece, Musk and Ramaswamy said that audits conducted during temporary payment suspensions could bring big savings. They called out the Pentagon and wrote that the agency failed its seventh consecutive audit. Support for the proposal came from an unlikely place: progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders. In a post on X, Sanders said that "Elon Musk is right," pointing out that the Pentagon has "lost track of billions."
ANGELA WEISS / AFP
Musk said he will publish all of DOGE's actions online for "maximum transparency" in a post on X.
"Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!" he wrote. In the same post, he said DOGE will create a "leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending." Ramaswamy promised in a post that DOGE will start "crowdsourcing" for sources of waste and fraud.
When Trump announced the creation of DOGE, he said the committee would disband by July 4, 2026. The committee's leaders, though, have said they think their work will be done earlier.
Musk said on X that DOGE will complete its goals "much faster," and Ramaswamy told Fox News that "people will be surprised by, I think, how quickly we're able to move with some of those changes." To complete its work, DOGE plans to employ "a lean team of small-government minded crusaders" that works closely with the Office of Management and Budget, according to the leaders' opinion piece.
Though posts on X don't equate to an official DOGE plan, Musk and Ramaswamy have both posted about other things they might tackle in their roles, some of which would require Congressional approval.
Musk has posted about abolishing Daylight Savings Time, continued spending in Afghanistan, and "fake jobs" in the government.
Ramaswamy said in his own posts that DOGE could be used to address subsidies from the CHIPS Act, DEI efforts at universities, and how the federal government buys technology services.
Every Member of Congress will have a DOGE in the fight.
As in DOGE, the incipient but still unofficial "Department of Government Efficiency." Congress hasn’t voted to create such a department. There’s been no presidential executive order. But quasi-President Trump-elect advisers Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are spearheading the enterprise.
"It's unclear to me what exactly the objective is related to this so-called DOGE initiative," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Incoming President Trump, Musk and Ramaswamy say the goal is to cut spending. Perhaps by as much as $2 trillion in the next two and a half years. Slates of congressional Republicans met with Musk and Ramaswamy on Capitol Hill late last week. The message? ‘Tis the season to be frugal.
"Elon and Vivek talked about having a naughty list and a nice list for members of Congress and senators and how we vote and how we're spending the American people's money," said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.
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Republican expectations for DOGE are stratospheric.
"We need to start cutting our budget and cutting it soon," said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla.
"Every single Republican wants to get about the business of cutting fraud, waste and abuse," said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
"We can't just continue to do everything for everyone," said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.
But Republican political aspirations for DOGE and spending cuts could soon slam into legislative reality.
"It’s going to require not only statutory authority to do it, which means it'll have to go to the committees of jurisdiction. But then it has to go to where everything gets funded," said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. "And how we can get enough votes to actually put it into force."
Cuts don’t just happen magically in Congress. There’s no magic wand. Implementation of everything requires votes on the floor. And Republicans barely control the House.
"It's clear that the incoming House Republican majority will not be able to do much without us," said Jeffries.
House Republicans begin the new Congress in January with a 219-215 advantage over the Democrats. But that slips to a margin of one vote in late January after Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., leaves to become National Security Adviser. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., will depart after the Senate confirms her for United Nations Ambassador. So Republicans have no votes to spare to do things on their own.
Plus, many Democrats aren’t enamored with Elon Musk.
"Elon Musk has largely proved himself to be an efficient liar and self-serving plutocrat. And so I don't have high hopes for him having anything other than pretty awful ideas," said Rep. Greg Casar, D-Tex., the incoming chairman of the House Progressive Caucus.
Musk and Ramaswamy are political icons. But this is not the first ambitious effort to slice substantial federal spending. Some "blue ribbon" commissions lacked the star power wattage of the dynamic duo of Musk and Ramaswamy.
One of the most ballyhooed – and successful – efforts to pare the federal government came in 1993. President Clinton and Vice President Gore promised they were "reinventing government" and planned to change things in Washington. Their initiative wasn’t focused so much on debt reduction – but reducing the size and scope of federal influence.
"At the end of six months, we will have real results and real proposals to offer," said Gore in March, 1993. "Write it down. Check back with us. We'll be checking back with you. We don't need another report to put on the shelf to collect dust. We do need a real plan for action."
In the end, the Clinton-Gore approach sliced more than 400,000 federal jobs and shrank the size of 13 of 14 federal departments. But over time, those jobs crept back up to where they are today. The federal government currently employs about three million workers.
In 2010, late Sen. and Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and late Clinton Budget Director Alice Rivlin assembled a budget plan known as "Domenici-Rivlin" in the Washington vernacular. The package was designed to help the U.S. recover from the 2008 recession and curb the debt. They tried to address exploding health care costs. Lawmakers adopted a few components of their recommendations over the years, but the impact was minimal.
In 2011, the U.S. faced a debt ceiling crisis. Congress created a "supercommittee" comprised of bipartisan, bicameral lawmakers to concoct a plan to reduce spending – or force a set of Draconian, mandatory cuts known as "sequestration." It would chop about $1 trillion in federal spending each year. Well, the committee failed to forge an agreement. Thus, the panel became "the committee, formerly known as super." The automatic sequestration spending cuts then set in.
President Obama signed an executive order to establish the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Former Senate Majority Whip Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles co-chaired the commission. Its proposals were known simply as "Simpson-Bowles." The panel recommended a host of cuts, including a reduction in military spending and tax hikes – plus a levy on gasoline. Congress later adopted a few individual recommendations from Simpson-Bowles. The House even soundly defeated a budget modeled on Simpson-Bowles in 2012.
But what about cutting actual spending? Expect some lawmakers to attempt to dodge the DOGE. Denting the debt could mean trimming popular programs. On Meet the Press, NBC’s Kristen Welker asked President-elect Trump about his plans for the most expensive government programs: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
"We’re not touching Social other than we make it more efficient. But the people are going to get what they're getting," said the next president.
"So the entitlement's off the table?" asked Welker.
"And we're not raising ages or any of that," replied Mr. Trump.
"Off the table?" followed up Welker.
"I won't do it," said the President-elect.
THE SPEAKER'S LOBBY: THERMONUCLEAR FRACAS
Entitlements consume more than 60% of all federal spending. And despite what Trump says, multiple congressional Republicans have called for altering the retirement age for eligibility for programs. It’s believed that such an approach would stabilize entitlements, making them more solvent.
"There is some waste, abuse and fraud in Medicare," said Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo. "And on the front end on Social Security, I think there's a way when people are living longer, they're retiring later that on the front end, we can move that retirement age back a little bit." said Alford.
Half of all money Congress allocates annually goes to the Pentagon. Congressional Republicans want to even boost military funding next year.
Democrats say there’s not enough money available to cut from other areas to make up the difference.
"You're not going to be able to extract the kind of savings that you need to actually balance the budget just from government efficiency," said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., on Fox.
Still, the GOP says it must get serious about spending cuts and not just talk about it.
"You can't campaign on freedom and limited government and low taxes and low spending and cutting the deficit and then not do it," said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Tex.
That’s why congressional budget cutters face tough challenges. Voters will watch what lawmakers keep. And what they eliminate. And there could be political consequences for cutting too much. Or not keeping promises.
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Americans who spend more than they have in their bank accounts won't be burdened with hefty fees come October next year.
On Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it finalized a rule that would limit overdraft fees at the bank. Overdraft fees are charged when customers make a withdrawal that results in a negative account balance. However, the CFPB found that some banks charged higher fees than they needed to cover their losses, leaving consumers in a financial bind.
The new rule updates federal regulations for banks with more than $10 billion in assets. It provides those banks with options for lowering overdraft fees, including capping them at $5. For banks that choose to offer overdraft as a service for their customers, the rule allows banks to set their fee at an amount that covers costs and losses. If banks do want to keep making profits off of overdraft fees, they'll have to disclose the terms of it like they do with credit cards and other loans.
These changes are expected to save Americans up to $5 billion each year, or $225 per household, the CFPB said.
"For far too long, the largest banks have exploited a legal loophole that has drained billions of dollars from Americans' deposit accounts," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. "The CFPB is cracking down on these excessive junk fees and requiring big banks to come clean about the interest rate they're charging on overdraft loans."
Lower-earning Americans are disproportionately impacted by overdraft fees, per a previous report from the CFPB. The agency found that around a third of households with income below $65,000 were charged with an overdraft or a non-sufficient fee, compared to just 10% of consumers in households earning over $175,000. Americans of color and those without a college degree were also more likely to live in households affected by those fees.
The CFPB's finalization of the overdraft rule comes as the future of the agency is unclear. President-elect Donald Trump tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which aims to get rid of government waste. The two DOGE leaders said they would accomplish that goal, in part, by eliminating some federal agencies, including the CFPB.
"Delete CFPB," Musk wrote in a late November post on X. "There are too many duplicative regulatory agencies."
Chopra responded to Musk's remarks during an MSNBC interview on December 7, saying that getting rid of the CFPB would be "mayhem" and "begging for a financial crisis."
"I don't understand why people would want financial crime," Chopra said, "and if they say it's duplicative, who else will do it?"
Have you paid overdraft fees or struggled with banking fees? Contact these reporters at [email protected] and [email protected].
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Good news for BuzzFeed: It no longer has a huge debt problem looming over its head.
Slightly less good news for BuzzFeed: Solving the debt problem means the company needed to sell one of its buzziest assets — First We Feast, the production company that owns the "Hot Ones" interview show.
And now Hot Ones — the show where celebrities answer questions while eating increasingly spicy chicken wings — is going to be owned by … investor George Soros and his family.
There's a bit going on here. We can break it down in a minute. But the big picture is that BuzzFeed, once considered a world-beating digital publisher, has staved off a potential extinction event (and, for what it's worth, has likely extinguished a threat posed by investor and political player Vivek Ramaswamy). And in addition, George Soros has added another asset to an interesting collection of media investments he has assembled in the past few years.
OK. Here are the details: As I've noted before, BuzzFeed was on the hook for $124 million in debt and interest payments and was facing the prospect of having to pay it back this month.
But now BuzzFeed has sold First We Feast/Hot Ones to what it's calling a consortium "led by an affiliate of Soros Fund Management LLC" for $82.5 million in cash. Then it took the proceeds from that sale, threw in some cash it already had on hand, and paid back some $90 million of its debt obligations. BuzzFeed says it has $30 million in debt remaining, and that money is due in a year.
"BuzzFeed says its remaining businesses — BuzzFeed, the pop culture site best known for listicles, quizzes, and celebrity news; Huffington Post, the left-leaning news site; and Tasty, its food vertical — will power the company in the future, along with what CEO Jonah Peretti calls "new AI-powered interactive experiences."
First We Feast, meanwhile, says it will now operate as a standalone company. It says the deal and its new ownership structure will let it "fuel existing and new content franchises" and fund "future partnerships and acquisitions with other creators." A press release from the company says "Hot Ones" host Sean Evans is one of the investors in the new company, which suggests he's going to be sticking around for a while.
And while it might seem weird for Soros, who is worth a reported $7.2 billion and whose funding of liberal causes has made him a bogeyman for some US conservatives, to own a celebrity interview show, it's not a total shocker, for a couple of reasons.
For starters, Soros' empire — now run by his son Alex — has been making movies into media over the last few years. In 2022, it acquired a minority stake in Crooked Media, the podcast company best known for its "Pod Save America" show. And earlier this year, Soros acquired a controlling stake in Audacy, a bankrupt radio company with more than 200 stations in the US — a deal that incensed some Republicans.
There's also some connective tissue between Soros and BuzzFeed at play here via media executive Michael Del Nin. Back in 2021, Del Nin put together the deal that allowed BuzzFeed to go public, and he was set to become one of BuzzFeed's top executives in 2022. Instead, Del Nin went to Soros, where he leads the investment company's media unit.
The deal also means that BuzzFeed has reduced its risk that Ramaswamy, an investor and soon-to-be DOGE cochair advising the next Trump administration, will have meaningful influence in its future.
Earlier this year, Ramaswamy bought up a 9% stake in BuzzFeed and told Peretti he should bring a group of conservative media types onto BuzzFeed's board and turn BuzzFeed into a Twitter-style platform. Then he suggested that when BuzzFeed's debt came due this month, the company would be unable to pay it back and that somehow Ramaswamy would end up controlling the company. That doesn't seem like an option anymore.
EXCLUSIVE: A top U.S. senator is expected to demand that Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo explain her reported plans to exhaust the remainder of the CHIPs and Science Act’s multibillion-dollar appropriations before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
"Your recent mandate to the Department of Commerce staff to work overtime–including weekends–spending billions of dollars in funding provided by the CHIPs and Science Act as quickly as possible before President-elect Trump takes office in January is extremely concerning," Senate DOGE Caucus leader Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, writes in a letter that's to be given to Raimondo on Wednesday.
Ernst called on Raimondo, the previous Rhode Island governor, to immediately halt all last-minute spending plans.
Raimondo recently told Politico she’d "like to have really almost all of the money obligated" from what is one of President Biden’s major government spending initiatives "by the time we leave."
‘DOGE’-MEETS-CONGRESS: GOP LAWMAKER AARON BEAN LAUNCHES CAUCUS TO HELP MUSK ‘TAKE ON CRAZYTOWN’
The CHIPs Act, sponsored by then-Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, sought to invest in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, research, development and other related endeavors.
In her letter, Ernst said microchips and other "essential goods" strengthen the U.S. economy and supply chain.
She said that the success of the CHIPs Act hinges on careful planning and execution, which, according to her interpretation, are not reflected in Raimondo's remarks regarding the upcoming final rounds of spending.
"[B]inge buying shopping sprees by bureaucrats shoveling billions out the door before your term expires" are unwise, she said.
"This is not a time to let the CHIPs fall where they may," she said, pointing to reports that nearly $280 billion in COVID-19 response funding was wasted or subject to fraud.
RAMASWAMY OUTLINES DOGE'S VISION
"Shoveling out heaps of taxpayer dollars as fast as possible, with little to no oversight, is part of the reason the United States government is nearly $36 trillion in debt today," Ernst wrote.
In exclusive comments to Fox News Digital, Ernst quipped that while "Black Friday might have come-and-gone, the Biden administration is on a spending spree, convinced every tax dollar must go."
"We’ve never seen bureaucrats work this hard, and you can be sure they made a list and aren’t checking it twice to find out who is naughty and nice. This is backwards and underscores the need for DOGE to shake up Washington and bring some much-needed Iowa common sense to the capital," she said.
In her letter, Ernst wrote that with $25 billion of $53 billion in available appropriations already earmarked, it is difficult to believe the same level of oversight will be given to the last-minute expenditures as there likely was for the first two years’ worth.
In addition to her criticisms and demands that the spending be halted, Ernst asked Raimondo to inform her on several related fronts before the day the new Congress is seated next year.
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Ernst is requesting the total number of ongoing negotiations between Commerce and CHIPs Act fund applicants, the duration of planned CHIPs projects and the amount of money spent via the CHIPs Act both prior to and after Trump’s election win.
She will also ask Raimondo how her team is coordinating with the Trump transition on this matter.
Trump has chosen Cantor-Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to succeed Raimondo on Jan. 20.
Fox News Digital reached out to Raimondo on the general subject of her remarks to Politico. A Raimondo representative directed Fox News Digital to a portion of her interview: "You know, there's a deadline, there's a clear deadline with a change of administration. So, certainly, a deadline focuses the mind. But this was the plan we were on all along to complete this mission. I don't worry terribly about any of the CHIPs money being rolled back, as you say. I mean, the Commerce Department is somewhat unique in so far as everything we've done and are doing is bipartisan," Raimondo said.
Billionaire business tycoon Elon Musk, who President-elect Donald Trump tapped to lead the new cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), agreed with former Rep. Ron Paul's suggestion that the U.S. should end foreign aid.
"Here’s an easy one for @DOGE !" Paul declared in a post on X. "ELIMINATE foreign aid!"
"It’s taking money from the poor and middle class in the US and giving it to the rich in poor countries - with a cut to the facilitators in between! Americans don’t want their government to borrow more money to spend on foreign aid. Besides, it is the immoral transfer of wealth and is unconstitutional," Paul asserted.
"@DOGE will address this with full transparency for the American people," Musk replied.
ELON MUSK AND VIVEK RAMASWAMY AGREE ON ‘NEED TO SCRUTINIZE’ US FUNDING FOR NGOS
Responding to someone else who posted about Paul's call to eliminate foreign aid, Musk declared, "Ron is not wrong."
Vivek Ramaswamy, another DOGE leader, responded to Paul's post, writing, "Much of U.S. foreign aid *isn’t even authorized* by Congress."
DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER OPEN TO ‘BIPARTISAN COOPERATION’ IN ELON MUSK'S DOGE PLANS
Musk and Ramaswamy were both tapped by Trump to work together on DOGE, which the president-elect said in a statement last month "will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before."
Musk and Ramaswamy have indicated that they believe funding for non-governmental organizations should be examined.
GOP SENATOR ANNOUNCES ‘DOGE ACTS’ TO BACK MUSK, RAMASWAMY GOVERNMENT COST-CUTTING OBJECTIVES
"We need to scrutinize U.S. government funding of 'non-government organizations,'" Ramaswamy noted in a post on X. "It's an oxymoron that represents a waste of taxpayer dollars, but the real problem runs deeper: Americans deserve transparency on opaque foreign aid & nonprofit groups abetting our own border crisis."
"Absolutely," Musk agreed.
Samuel Corum/Getty
Disrupting the federal government might be harder than Elon Musk thought.
President-elect Donald Trump appointed Musk and former 2024 challenger Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the sweeping "Department of Government Efficiency," which aims to cut $2 trillion out of the federal budget.
According to legal experts, Musk and Ramaswamy's work may be complicated by a decades-old government transparency law — the exact type of bureaucracy the world's richest man has chafed against when his companies have tangled with the Securities and Exchange Commission or the FAA.
Congress wrote the Federal Advisory Committee Act in 1972 to rein in the larger number of outside advisors who weighed in on policy matters either at the president's or a specific Cabinet agency's behest. It is designed for panels like DOGE, which are led by people outside the federal government. Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that they would not officially join the Trump administration.
"Though not much information has come out yet about DOGE, it certainly looks like it is not going to be a department or government agency, it will be an advisory commission, and for that reason, it will fall under FACA's purview," Jason Arnold, an associate professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University, told Business Insider.
Musk wrote on X last month that DOGE would post its "all actions" publicly online, but it's unclear if that means the billionaires will fully comply with the law.
The advisory act would affect DOGE's operations almost immediately. The law requires that panels that fall under its definition be comprised of a balanced membership in terms of "the points of view represented."
If Trump formally authorizes DOGE after he is sworn in next month, his initial order would need to take this into account. For example, when President Obama created the Bowles-Simpson commission in 2010, his executive order required the 18-member panel to include Republicans and Democrats. The commission, tasked with getting the nation's finances in order, was also co-chaired by a Democrat, former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, and a Republican, former Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming.
So far, Trump has named William Joseph McGinley, a long-time attorney for Republican causes, to be DOGE's general counsel. Musk has already said that DOGE is looking for staffers willing to work 80-plus hours a week for no money.
"Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lots of enemies & compensation is zero. What a great deal!" Musk wrote on X.
If DOGE complies with the act, it would also have to try to hold public meetings.
Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, Bowles-Simpson's actual name, held six public hearings and culminated its work with a final report that caused a political uproar over its recommendations to raise the Social Security retirement age, increase the federal gas tax, and cut Pentagon spending. The act requires at least 15 days of formal notice before a meeting and for explanations to be provided if the panel moves to conduct a private session.
It's not hard to see how the public disclosure requirements could become a political headache for Trump's White House, especially if DOGE considers changes to Social Security and Medicare. Unlike most traditional Republicans, Trump has shied away from embracing major reforms to the popular programs. Ramaswamy told Axios that DOGE would look elsewhere for cuts.
Trump and his two advisors have already sparked the ire of some Republicans on Capitol Hill by promising they may try to unilaterally cancel spending, a process known as impoundment that Congress made mostly illegal in 1974.
Just because DOGE looks to fit the definition of the advisory act, doesn't mean the law's application is a simple business. In describing the law, the Congressional Research Service, lawmakers' nonpartisan research arm, concluded that it may ultimately fall to the courts to determine if FACA applies.
Arnold said if Trump and Musk go this route, it may take years to resolve the dispute. This, along with some of the act's vagueness in areas like what constitutes balanced membership, leaves some loopholes.
"There are a lot of flaws with the law, one of them is that there are no penalties for violations," said Arnold, who researched FACA for his book "Secrecy in the Sunshine Era." "It's almost up to the goodwill or the legal concerns of the administration to follow through."
The Trump transition team and McGinley did not respond to Business Insider's requests for comment. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for Ramaswamy, told USA Today everyone around DOGE "is committed to making sure all DOGE activities are conducted properly and in full compliance with ethical and legal requirements."
Past White Houses have tried to argue they could do business behind closed doors. President Clinton fought off attempts to argue that then-first lady Hillary Clinton's participation in closed-door discussions over the administration's healthcare plan ran afoul of the act. President George W. Bush's White House engaged in a years-long legal fight over whether it needed to disclose details from his energy task force which Vice President Dick Cheney chaired. It was later revealed that then-Enron CEO Ken Lay was among a host of fossil fuel executives who met with the secretive panel.
When Obama formed the Bowles-Simpson commission, then-House Minority Leader John Boehner called on the White House to make sure the panel didn't try to do its work behind closed doors.
"If it is your intent to have all proceedings of the Commission adhere to FACA, will the Commission notice all meetings in the Federal Register 15 days in advance, open all meetings to the public, and make all meeting minutes available for public inspection?" Boehner wrote to Simpson and Bowles in 2010.
Musk is already getting to work on DOGE. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa are expected to lead their respective chambers' work with the panel. Musk was on Capitol Hill this week to discuss what his department will do — those talks were behind closed doors.
"There won't be a lot of detail for the press today, and that's by design," House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters. "This is a brainstorming session."
Anna Moneymaker/Getty, Louis Kengi Carr/Getty, Anna Kim/Getty, Tyler Le/BI
The Supreme Court might not help Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's spending cut goals as much as they might think.
President-elect Donald Trump tapped Musk and Ramaswamy to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, aimed at reducing government waste. Since then, both have said a recent Supreme Court decision that restricts the ability of federal agencies to enact regulations would empower their plans to reduce head count at those agencies and cut unauthorized government programs.
This summer, the Supreme Court overturned the Chevron doctrine, which was established in 1984 and allowed federal agencies to interpret ambiguously worded laws while writing regulations as long as they did not counter Congress' language. Instead, courts themselves are obligated to resolve those ambiguities, rather than executive-branch agency experts.
Ramaswamy, a former GOP presidential candidate, wrote in a December 1 post on X that overturning Chevron "paves the way for not a slight but a drastic reduction in the scope of the federal regulatory state. It's coming." Musk responded to the post, saying: "We are going to use this ruling to gut the federal government."
Some legal experts said that's likely not the case, telling Business Insider that the Supreme Court's overturning of Chevron could actually constrain DOGE because it takes away an agency's power to interpret rules and make decisions independently.
Gillian Metzger, a constitutional law professor at Columbia Law School, told Business Insider that Musk and Ramaswamy's argument is "somewhat puzzling" because the Chevron decision "is about pulling back on executive and agency power."
"Chevron deference gave an agency room to change its interpretation of a statute, provided the statute was ambiguous, and the agency reasonably offered a permissible interpretation," Metzger said. "Without that precedent, it's going to be harder for them to change interpretations of statutes in ways that justify repealing regulations."
Still, Republican control of Congress and the White House could mean that DOGE's goals have a better chance of being implemented with lawmaker support.
Musk, Ramaswamy, and the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
The Supreme Court overturned the Chevron doctrine in June 2024 in a ruling on the case Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. The case was brought on by a group of fisheries that disagreed with the National Marine Fisheries Service's interpretation of a law.
Nicholas Bagley, an administrative law professor at the University of Michigan, wrote in The Atlantic that following the ruling, "an agency that has already adopted the soundest interpretation of a law can't change its mind."
"If the agency were to try to adopt a new reading of the law—perhaps one that DOGE prefers—and to use that to justify rescinding the rule, the courts would stop the agency," Bagley wrote. "Saying that Loper Bright gives DOGE flexibility is about as sensible as saying that handcuffs help when throwing a baseball."
The Administrative Procedure Act, a federal statute that outlines how agencies must enact and revoke regulations, would also complicate matters. Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in The Wall Street Journal that DOGE would offer Trump a list of regulations they recommend rescinding, and Trump could then "immediately pause the enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission." They wrote that doing so would "liberate" Americans and businesses from complying with regulations Congress never passed.
However, to actually rescind a regulation, the APA requires a lengthy rulemaking process that includes seeking public comment and providing justification for the reasoning to rescind a rule. The Biden administration went through that process to craft its second student-loan forgiveness plan after the Supreme Court struck down the first one. Metzger said that rescinding a rule would require agency workers with expertise in the area to help conduct that analysis, something that would be difficult if DOGE fulfills its aim of cutting the federal workforce.
Cary Coglianese, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said he could see why Musk and Ramaswamy are depending on Chevron's overruling to help them slash regulations. If DOGE begins the process of rescinding existing federal regulations, there is likely to be litigation, and Coglianese said that the two DOGE leaders might be banking on courts looking at a regulation afresh and deciding that "the rule was too adventurous and acting well beyond their statutory authority."
Still, Coglianese said, that won't be easy to do — an agency has to provide extensive justification for implementing a new rule, and Musk and Ramaswamy would then be tasked with proving why the original justifications should be undone.
"There's a wild card about how much courts will be willing to reopen old precedents that were decided on Chevron grounds," Coglianese said. "They're banking on some ability to kind of be able to revisit some old statutory interpretations. It's not clear that the Supreme Court had that in mind when it overruled Chevron."
Recent Supreme Court rulings might not help DOGE achieve its goals, but a Republican trifecta in Congress would. Since many of the changes Musk and Ramaswamy are seeking to make are unlikely to be accomplished by executive power alone, Congress would need to approve legislation to enact those changes.
Already, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is on board with advancing some of DOGE's spending cut proposals. Rep. Jared Moskowitz recently became the first Democratic lawmaker to officially join the DOGE caucus alongside dozens of Republicans, saying in a December 3 statement, "I believe that streamlining government processes and reducing ineffective government spending should not be a partisan issue."
Moskowitz pointed to the Department of Homeland Security as a specific agency for which he would support investigating spending cuts. Rep. Ro Khanna, another Democratic lawmaker, wrote in a December 5 post on X that he's ready to work with DOGE to "slash waste" in the Department of Defense, and Sen. Bernie Sanders recently told BI that Musk "is absolutely right" to call for defense spending cuts.
Data from the Treasury Department shows that the US spent $6.75 trillion in fiscal year 2024, with the highest amounts of spending coming from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Social Security Administration, and the Treasury Department. National defense spending also ranked high on the list, coming in at $874 billion.
With a glimmer of bipartisan support emerging for some of DOGE's goals, spending cuts could be facilitated through legislation. Musk and Ramaswamy met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on December 5, during which GOP Sen. Joni Ernst presented a proposal to enact existing legislation to cut spending by cracking down on teleworking and getting rid of unused federal office space.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn also posted on X that she will be introducing legislation — the DOGE Act — that "will freeze federal hiring, begin the process to relocate agencies out of the D.C. swamp, and establish a merit-based salary system for the federal workforce."
Both Metzger and Coglianese said DOGE's proposals could happen through legislation, and the assumption that Musk and Ramaswamy can act on spending cuts alone — using Chevron as a backup — will likely face legal hurdles.
"If you just came along and said, 'We've got a new sheriff in town, a new president, and we don't like that rule,' that's not enough," Coglianese said. "You've got to be able to essentially rebut all that prior cases and explain why, in the face of all that you said just a couple of years ago, now, you want to get rid of a rule. That's not easy to do."
Sen. Marsha Blackburn will roll out a package of legislation backing up Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) objectives, as Republican lawmakers launch legislative efforts to rally behind the cost-cutting efforts.
The Tennessee Republican announced her plans to unveil the "DOGE Acts" in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. They would seek to move federal agencies out of Washington, D.C., freeze federal hiring and salaries for one year, and get federal workers back in the office.
The GOP senator will reportedly unveil a series of measures that will mirror more of the framework being pushed by the new agency to cut government spending, according to the senators' spokesperson.
"I will be introducing legislation that coincides with @DOGE’s plan to make the federal government more efficient," Blackburn said in a post on X.
"My DOGE Act will freeze federal hiring, begin the process to relocate agencies out of the D.C. swamp, and establish a merit-based salary system for the federal workforce," Blackburn said.
A spokesperson for the senator later revealed that she plans to announce several of these bills.
REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ FIRST DEMOCRAT TO JOIN CONGRESSIONAL DOGE CAUCUS
"Senator Blackburn is planning to introduce a package of bills – known as the DOGE Acts – aimed at holding the federal government more accountable for managing taxpayer dollars next week," Blackburn’s spokesperson said in a statement, the Hill reported. "The DOGE Acts coincides with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan to make the federal government more efficient."
Musk responded to the senator's tweet, writing "thank you" in a post.
The announcement came after Musk and Ramaswamy, the pair appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the efforts, spent the day meeting with lawmakers to discuss cost-cutting opportunities and objectives.
Lawmakers told Fox News Digital that they were "very impressed" with the DOGE framework following their meetings with the duo.
Along with Blackburn's legislative plans, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate's DOGE Caucus, unveiled a 60-page cost-cutting proposal during a meeting with GOP senators and Ramaswamy on Thursday.
The DOGE efforts have already gained bipartisan support from Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., joining the House's GOP-led congressional caucus. Ahead of the meeting with Congress, Musk was asked whether he wanted Democratic members to be part of DOGE conversations, to which he was heard answering, "Yes."
