Elon Musk comes to Capitol Hill to meet with Republicans who discuss
turning DOGE cuts into law
[March 06, 2025]
By LISA MASCARO
WASHINGTON (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday
and learned about something new — budget rescissions, an obscure
legislative tool that could bring legal heft to his federal budget
slashing effort and enshrine the cuts into law.
Musk joined a lunch meeting with Republican senators just hours after
the Supreme Court issued a setback to the Trump administration's efforts
to freeze some $2 billion in foreign aid funds as part of its sweeping
shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development. As he opened
the private session, Musk led with a message urging Congress to act.
Over plates of fried catfish, senators explained how the White House
could put the billions of dollars of savings he has amassed into what’s
called a budget rescissions package, and send it to Congress for a vote
to rescind the funding. Musk seemed thrilled, they said.
“He was so happy,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the
Republican chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, who is among those
championing the effort. “He didn’t know.”
Later, Musk met with House Republicans at dinnertime in the Capitol
basement.
“You know, there’s a lot of room — a lot of opportunity — to improve
expenditures in the government,” Musk said after the closed-door
session. “And then we’re making good progress.”
The proposal from senators to consider the budget rescission tool
introduced a potential next phase of his Musk's Department of Government
Efficiency efforts and comes at an important time. The Trump
administration is fighting in court — and in the court of public opinion
— over the budget cuts tearing through the federal government.
The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are eager to show
voters that DOGE’s actions are more than headlines of job losses and
disruptions, but real savings as Musk’s team roots out waste, fraud and
abuse to help reduce the nation’s staggering $2 trillion annual deficit.
It also comes as the courts are looking skeptically at the legality of
the Trump administration’s actions and as lawmakers’ town halls are
being overrun by protesters pushing for answers as tens of thousands of
federal workers are being fired.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune half-joked that he was a little
worried after Musk gave out his cellphone number for senators to call
with any concerns.
“I thought, OK, his phone’s going to start blowing up,” Thune said on
Fox News. “He might want to change his number.”
Senators said Musk aide Katie Miller would be setting up a direct line
they can also call with any questions or problems about the cuts.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said senators seemed to be asking for “just
better communication, wanting to know what’s going to happen next.”
But Hawley said, "I don’t know that anyone at the White House knows
what’s going to happen next." He said Musk's team seems to “just kind of
go from one thing to the next.”
It was Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who introduced the idea of using budget
rescissions during the lunch meeting.
“I love what Elon is doing. I love the cutting into waste. I love
finding all the crazy crap that we’re spending overseas,” Paul said
afterward.
“But to make it real, to make it go beyond the moment of the day, it
needs to come back in the form of a rescission package,” he said.
The libertarian-leaning senator has long stood as among the most
persistent budget hawks in the Senate, one who routinely votes against
federal spending bills. He said he's planning to oppose the federal
funding package that's expected next week, which is needed to prevent a
federal government shutdown when money expires March 14.
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Elon Musk leaves after meeting with Senate Republicans, at the
Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben
Curtis)
Paul said he explained to Musk that after the morning Supreme Court
ruling, the administration should drop its plans to claw back
federal funds through what’s called impoundments. The courts do not
seem inclined to accept the legal arguments being presented
challenging the Nixon-era Impoundment Control Act.
Instead, Paul said, “My message to Elon was, let’s get over the
impoundment idea and let’s send it back as a rescission.”
Senators said it was unclear how big the rescission packages could
be — Paul suggested several packages of at least $100 billion in
federal cuts — or how soon they might push ahead with any voting if
the White House sends them to Capitol Hill.
Musk has previously told lawmakers he envisions DOGE can save some
$1 trillion in the federal government this year alone.
Thune and other GOP leaders did not immediately make any comments on
the rescission plans.
The idea was only mentioned briefly at the meeting with House
Republicans, who said Musk mainly provided examples of specific
problems he was finding.
Musk also told House Republicans he was not responsible for the
firings of Department of Veterans Affairs workers or others, and
said those decisions are being made by the specific agencies.
“Elon doesn’t fire people,” Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., said
afterward. “It's the agencies.”
While a rescission package can be approved in the Senate by a simple
majority vote with an expedited process that would enable the
Republican majority to maneuver around a potential filibuster by
Democrats, it may be easier said then done.
Senators on the Appropriations Committee are likely to pan the idea
of spending cuts that would essentially go against legislation they
had already approved to fund the government, as would those who may
want to preserve federal funding for certain home-state industries
or programs that are important to constituents.
Even with a GOP majority, it could be difficult to keep all
Republicans unified on a vote, especially if all Democrats are
opposed.
Graham, the Budget chairman, sees the process as a way “for the
White House to go on offense.”
“We’re losing altitude,” he said. “We need to get back in the game,
on offense, and the way you can regain altitude is to take the work
product — get away from the personalities and the drama — take the
work product and vote on it.”
Absent from the lunch meeting with Musk was much discussion about
the federal workers who are now out of work after the DOGE cuts.
“Any time there’s a transition, it’s difficult,” Paul said.
The senator said several people spoke up to make sure “we’re not
just getting rid of people that we actually need, and that we are
not overdoing it.”
Still, Paul said: “We do need a smaller government. We do need less
federal workers.”
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Associated Press reporter Leah Askarinam contributed to this report.
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