Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy met with Republican lawmakers this week. The meeting, fashioned after a Q&A panel, offered the two the opportunity to appeal to the GOP members as they attempt to make sweeping spending cuts. After the meeting, Republicans shared their enthusiasm over the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), affirming that the agency will address government “waste.”
Ahead of the meeting with Republican lawmakers, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R) criticized the Biden Administration, accusing it of recklessly spending in its final months in office.
This spending is what Musk and Ramaswamy are prepared to confront under the Trump Administration.
According to Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R), she was impressed with Musk and Ramaswamy, saying that “the meeting went fantastic,” and “it was exactly what we were looking for.”
Today's meeting was incredibly productive!@elonmusk has a great idea - a naughty and nice list for members of Congress based on their spending habits with their voting card.
The American people deserve to know which lawmakers are truly fighting for them, and lowering spending… pic.twitter.com/sN2gtqSizv
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) December 5, 2024
Rep. MTG shared that the biggest concern the two shared was the debt, adding that “as a country, it doesn’t matter where you fall on the political divide, this debt is going to crush every single one of us.”
In order to address this debt, Musk proposed that “every single payment that the federal government pays out, we need to be checking those payments to see if they’re legitimate.”
Florida Rep. Carlos Giménez (R) was also in attendance, and he shared with CNN that “we talked about those things that the government has to do, the things that we should do, and the things that are nice to do, and the things that we shouldn’t be doing at all,” adding that “those agencies that are doing things that we shouldn’t be doing at all, they probably need to be eliminated.”
One agency that appears to be on the chopping block is the Department of Education, which President Trump and numerous Republican lawmakers have said has overstayed its welcome.
🚨NEWS —> We had a great conversation with @elonmusk & @VivekGRamaswamy on how to streamline the federal government & make it more efficient for the American people! #DOGE🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/WuvbkV5DUe
— Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (@RepCarlos) December 6, 2024