Washingon — Entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have an ambitious agenda to cut federal spending with the help of their outside advisory council, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). On their first joint visit to Congress, the pair likely saw the limits of outside influence on the workings of the legislative branch.
Musk and Ramaswamy crisscrossed Capitol Hill, meeting with lawmakers, and their overall message was popular: a smaller federal government, looser regulations, and a private sector approach to the public sector. However, there was an elephant in the room: an unspoken understanding that Musk’s stated goal of slashing federal spending by $2 trillion is already dead on arrival.
The reason for this lies in the math. In fiscal 2023, the federal government spent $6.1 trillion, with $3.8 trillion already off-limits for cuts, obligated to go towards mandatory spending programs like Social Security, Medicare, and veterans benefits. Another $650 billion was set aside to pay the interest on the national debt, leaving only $1.7 trillion for discretionary funding.
Congressional Republicans, like House Appropriations Committee member Rep. Steve Womack, said that while some cuts were possible, the $2 trillion goal would be a bridge too far. He noted that even proposing small cuts or changes to mandatory programs like Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid could prove politically damaging for lawmakers.
Some Republicans are open to considering limited reforms to these programs, such as requiring work requirements for Medicaid recipients or stricter verification for Social Security benefits. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, for example, said he was open to exploring these options.
However, even small changes to mandatory programs would not come close to achieving the massive spending cuts Musk envisions. Additionally, there are rumors among Republicans of a different way to cut government costs: requiring federal employees to come back to the office five days a week. Some, like Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, support this idea, citing overspending on federal office space.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, led the first meeting of the Senate DOGE Caucus, highlighting the issue of underutilized federal office space, with an estimated annual waste of over $81 million. However, findings like these also underscore the limited impact of changes to federal office space on the massive spending cuts Musk seeks.
As the DOGE team continues to push their agenda, they may face new challenges, including battles with unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal workers nationwide.
