House Republicans meet with Musk, Ramaswamy over DOGE

House Republicans leaving a closed-door meeting with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on Thursday afternoon expressed excitement at the idea of trimming government inefficiencies in the next Congress. At the same time, they revealed few details about how the two billionaires would go about coordinating their efforts with lawmakers.

The meeting, which lasted roughly 90 minutes, allowed the lawmakers and the two entrepreneurs to compare notes on some of their top-line ideas, members told WORLD. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said Musk and Ramaswamy had each spoken for about one minute and then opened up the floor for remarks from lawmakers.

Congress needs government outsiders, specifically people who have had to run companies in a way that's lean and efficient, said Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas. She added that the federal government is anything but lean and efficient, and the American people are tired of seeing their tax dollars wasted.

Arrington is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, the group in charge of drafting tax and spending legislation, and chairman of the House Budget Committee.

What do Musk and Ramaswamy have to do with Congress? While both are private persons, President-elect Donald Trump tapped the pair to head the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The group has been charged with finding new ways to cut government spending. Musk said he believes the government can trim its spending by as much as $2 trillion—roughly a third of total federal government spending in 2023.

But it's ultimately up to Congress to pass spending legislation.

Several lawmakers have already joined DOGE-related groups that will tackle that effort from inside Congress. In the House of Representatives, for instance, there is already a DOGE Caucus that any member can join. There is also a separate, newly formed DOGE subcommittee panel on the House Oversight Committee that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., will chair.

How will they trim government inefficiencies? The meeting didn’t set a specific course of action. Instead, it provided a forum for members of Congress to articulate areas that might be ripe for examination.

Johnson estimated that eight or nine different ideas had been discussed throughout the course of the meeting. One of them focused on updating the government’s use of technology. Johnson noted that had been a particular area of emphasis for Ramaswamy.

When asked if non-discretionary spending was mentioned, including entitlements through programs like Medicare and Medicaid, lawmakers said that was not a focus.

What now? Members declined to clearly articulate the next steps for Musk, Ramaswamy, and Congress to coordinate government spending cuts.

Dig deeper: This isn’t the first time a new administration has promised to trim government inefficiencies. Does the DOGE imitative stand a chance? Here’s what WORLD Opinion writers have to say about what makes this time different.