DOGE told it will need GOP votes to make cuts

There is a lot of misinformation out there about DOGE, but I don’t think it is in purpose, so I am going to try to address that in this report.

Republican Senators are also trying to address this, informing Musk that his cuts can only take place, in most cases, if they pass through Congress.

DOGE

Trump established DOGE (actually renamed another agency) to cut government waste and fraud.

While the White House is claiming otherwise in legal suits (they are saying Musk is a special White House employee), Musk is clearly the leader of the advisory board or task force, whatever you want to call it.

Musk is considered an adviser, so he has no real authority to make cuts or implement policy. That should go through directors and secretaries, and that would include staffing cuts.

The primary purpose of DOGE is to evaluate line items and make efficiency recommendations, including proposed programs and budget cuts.

It Gets Confusing

Musk and company are not making this easier on people because Musk continues to post on X as if what he says is now policy or going to happen, such as considering a non-response to his initial email as a resignation, which is not what the OPM email said when it was sent out.

Trump has not helped this either, publicly backing Musk’s calls even though several directors and secretaries have told their personnel not to answer the email.

My position has been and will continue to be that as long as Musk is heading DOGE, the directors and secretaries of their respective departments should evaluate people and positions and then make the final call on what cuts can be made.

Musk’s real value is in highlighting possible fraud and waste in line items, bringing it to Trump or a respective department head, and providing his recommendation on what should be done.

Need the Votes

When DOGE was first implemented, in my very first report I stated that I would be surprised if Musk accomplished half the cuts he is touting, and that was mostly because I know this money was funded by Congress, and it can only be taken away by Congress, at least that is the way the law reads for now.

Musk can make recommendations, and some of these cuts may go through temporarily, but any real changes must come through an act of Congress, which is what he was just told by Senator Paul (R-KY) who stated, “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. I love all the stuff they’re doing, but we got to vote on it. My message to Elon was: Let’s get over the impoundment idea and let’s send it back as a rescission package.

“Then, what we have to do is get to 51 senators or 50 senators” to vote “to cut the spending. We talked a lot about, how do we make these things permanent? Rescission was a big part of the discussion.”

Republicans are about to ram through a spending package via reconciliation, and they may not get this chance again, so they have to make it count. These cuts are all budgetary measures, so there should be little problem adding them to the upcoming spending bill. So, as Paul stated, let’s forget about short-term wins and go for the long game here by getting these cuts into legislation and signed by the President of the United States.