Elon Musk leaves after meeting with Senate Republicans, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo ) Billionaire Elon Musk visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a meeting with Republican senators, where he was introduced to budget rescissions—an obscure legislative tool that could help formalise his aggressive federal budget-cutting efforts. The meeting took place just hours after the Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration’s attempt to freeze $2 billion in foreign aid funds.During the lunch gathering, senators explained how the White House could package the billions in savings Musk has identified into a budget rescissions proposal and send it to Congress for a vote. The idea appeared to excite Musk.”He was so happy,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. “He didn’t know.”The discussion marked a potential next step for Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, as Republicans look to solidify the spending cuts and counter legal challenges. The Trump administration is currently battling in courts and public opinion over its cost-cutting measures, which have led to mass layoffs of federal workers.Republicans are eager to frame DOGE’s actions as more than just widespread job losses, instead portraying them as an effort to curb waste, fraud, and inefficiency in government spending. The administration is also seeking ways to navigate legal hurdles, as courts have shown skepticism toward its budget-cutting methods.Despite enthusiasm for budget reductions, some senators acknowledged concerns over how the cuts are being implemented. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., noted that lawmakers are looking for “just better communication, wanting to know what’s going to happen next.” However, he admitted that even the White House might not have clear answers, adding, “I don’t know that anyone at the White House knows what’s going to happen next.”Senate Majority Leader John Thune joked that Musk may have underestimated the flood of inquiries from lawmakers after sharing his personal cellphone number. “I thought, OK, his phone’s going to start blowing up,” Thune said on Fox News. “He might want to change his number.” To manage communication, Musk aide Katie Miller is expected to set up a direct line for senators to raise questions about the cuts.Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the one to introduce the idea of rescissions during the meeting, emphasizing the need for a formalized approach to make the budget cuts permanent.”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. “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.”Paul, a staunch fiscal conservative, suggested multiple rescission packages totaling at least $100 billion in federal cuts. He also advised Musk to abandon the administration’s approach of using impoundments to withhold funds, given the Supreme Court’s recent ruling. “My message to Elon was, let’s get over the impoundment idea and let’s send it back as a rescission.”While rescission packages could pass the Senate with a simple majority vote, bypassing a Democratic filibuster, the process faces political obstacles. Senators on the Appropriations Committee may resist cuts that override previously approved funding, and lawmakers representing key constituencies may push to protect federal programs tied to their home states. Even within the Republican Party, achieving unity on such votes could prove difficult.Despite these challenges, Graham framed the initiative as a way for the White House to regain control of the budget debate. “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.”Notably absent from much of the discussion was the impact of DOGE’s cuts on federal workers who have lost their jobs. Paul acknowledged the difficulty of transitions but emphasized that the focus should be on eliminating waste.”Any time there’s a transition, it’s difficult,” he said. However, he added that some lawmakers raised concerns to ensure “we’re not just getting rid of people that we actually need, and that we are not overdoing it.”Musk has previously estimated that DOGE could generate $1 trillion in savings for the federal government this year alone. While the path to turning those cuts into law remains uncertain, Tuesday’s meeting signaled an important step in the effort to formalize his budget-slashing agenda.
Elon Musk meets Republican senators to explore turning DOGE budget cuts into law
