When the budget cutting team of billionaire Elon Musk started slashing its way through various federal departments and agencies in late January, Republicans in Congress were elated.
This finally seemed like the chance to make deep cuts in the bureaucracy and achieve large savings for Uncle Sam.
Four months later, Musk is leaving the political stage amid frustration in GOP ranks.
The claims of savings from DOGE — Musks’ Department of Government Efficiency initiative — have dwindled dramatically, leaving congressional Republicans feeling like they haven’t capitalized on the opportunity to cut the size of government.
“We should be voting on DOGE cuts every day, every week,” Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome said. “Voting to cut waste, fraud and abuse should be a top priority.”
Greene and other Republicans want to use a special budget process — called recission — to trim back spending that’s already been approved by Congress. The expedited rules don’t allow a filibuster in the Senate, making it appealing to them. The process could allow Congress to formalize cuts made by DOGE and make additional spending reductions.
But so far that hasn’t happened.
Back in April, the White House said it would ask Congress to use recission to cancel more than $9 billion in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, which would let GOP lawmakers take a first crack at putting DOGE-type savings into law.
The weeks went by. There were no votes, which led Greene and other Republicans to blame GOP leaders in Congress.
But they soon found out their anger was misdirected, because these rescission packages must be officially submitted to Congress by President Donald Trump.
When will the White House send up a plan? No one on Capitol Hill seems to know.
“We’re ready to act whenever we get something,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, who heads the House Appropriations Committee. Cole is also waiting on the Trump 2026 budget.
It’s a reminder that it’s easy to talk. It’s harder to govern.
“We’ve got to get into overdrive to pass DOGE cuts,” said Georgia U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson.
As for Musk, after months of high-profile work at the White House, he doesn’t seem so interested in being a major political player.
“In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Musk said this week.
Musk initially claimed his DOGE efforts would save the feds as much as $2 trillion. Then it was $1 trillion. Now it’s $170 billion, though many in Congress aren’t sure it will be anywhere near that amount.
It’s left Republicans wondering how DOGE could sound so good — and not produce for lawmakers.
“Congress is like a wedge salad,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn. “Less work to produce yet it costs more money.”
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and Congress from Washington since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at http://jamiedupree.substack.com
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