Republican senators are cautiously optimistic that the services of billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to make sweeping federal workforce firings that have put many GOP lawmakers on edge may no longer be required.
With nearly all of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees confirmed, GOP senators are eyeing personnel decisions to be placed under the guise of Cabinet secretaries that would largely bring an end to DOGE’s gutting of government agencies.
“I think that’s why we work so hard to get these folks confirmed, and they’re now in a position to make those decisions,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters Tuesday. “I think some of them already asserted that right to make those decisions.”
The desire to limit the day-to-day roles of Musk and DOGE is the latest iteration from congressional Republicans of the mounting heartburn over the far-reaching mission to root out alleged waste, fraud, and abuse that has sparked chaos across the federal government.
Senate-confirmed agency heads, including at the Pentagon, Department of Health and Human Services, and FBI, revolted over the weekend when Musk directed employees government-wide to justify their jobs in a bulleted email list or face termination. Employees at some agencies were told by department superiors to delay any response until further information was provided or to ignore the message entirely.
Thune described the Cabinet secretaries as “very capable people that are going to be responsible for running big departments and agencies and overseeing thousands of employees,” adding that they should be the ones responsible to “try and make their departments work more efficiently and to find savings.”
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY), an orthopedic surgeon prior to joining Congress, stated that “as a surgeon, I’m always for taking a scalpel approach.”
“There is massive amount of waste in government,” Barrasso added. “I think that’s the next step, is the Cabinet doing it.”
The White House conceded as much on Tuesday, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt walking back the weekend email from Musk demanding a list of recent on-the-job accomplishments.
“Agency heads with determine the best practices for the employees at their specific agencies,” Leavitt told reporters. “This was an idea that Elon came up with, DOGE worked with [the Office of Personnel and Management] to actually implement the idea, and secretaries are responsible for their specific workforce, and this is true of the hirings and the firings that have taken place.”
Republicans’ frustration with DOGE’s sweeping federal spending freezes, cuts, and layoffs has been heightened by a lack of answers. Still, the trepidation has not pushed key senators as far as to threaten to compel Musk or DOGE officials to appear for congressional hearings, a frequent recourse lawmakers rely upon for information gathering.
“I think that Secretary of the Treasury [Scott Bessent] has been very clear about what he’s allowed [Musk] to do at the IRS and with other things,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) told the Washington Examiner. “I don’t see a need to bring him in right now.”
But there remains an openness to hearing from Musk directly, even with senators predicting the power shift away from DOGE.
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), a leadership member who’s expressed concerns about layoffs at the Federal Aviation Administration, said he would not “mind Musk being able to come in and talk about it or any of his staff.” But he foreshadowed the first 30 days of Trump’s second term compared to the next four years “will be very, very different.”
“I’m sure it would be helpful because it would help to be able to explain some of the tactics that are being used,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said of Musk providing testimony. “More information is probably better. Otherwise, rumors get going around, and that sometimes makes it more difficult to find out exactly what the plan is.”
The Washington Examiner on Tuesday was first to identify Amy Gleason, a senior advisor at the U.S. Digital Service, as the DOGE administrator amid White House insistence it was not Musk due to an ongoing court battle. But by all indications, Musk continues to unofficially head the cost-cutting agency that was newly created under Trump.
HILL REPUBLICANS GET TO KNOW DOGE — AND THE BUSINESS TITANS RUNNING IT
The ambiguity has added to the confusion among lawmakers on Capitol Hill over the role and reach of DOGE and Musk. Leavitt repeatedly declined to say earlier Tuesday who the administrator was, noting that Musk was technically only a special government employee.
“The president tasked Elon Musk to oversee the DOGE effort. There are career officials and there are political appointees who are helping run DOGE on a day-to-day basis,” Leavitt said in one exchange. “There are also individuals who have onboarded as political appointees at every agency across the board to work alongside President Trump’s Cabinet to find and identify waste, fraud, and abuse, and they are working on that effort every day.”
Naomi Lim and Christian Datoc contributed to this report.
