President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) received heightened attention amid the recent collapse of lawmakers’ initial government spending bill.
On Thursday, Republican lawmakers praised DOGE’s criticism of the bill, while Democrats expressed frustration with tech billionaire Elon Musk’s influence in interfering with the process of negotiating the 1,500-page funding bill.
This comes after Musk repeatedly called for lawmakers to “KILL [the] BILL” on his social media platform X. Musk said the proposed continuing resolution was filled with major spending increases and changes to the law.
Trump has tapped Musk, along with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, as outside advisers responsible for large scale structural reform and wasteful government spending.
On Thursday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has been chosen to lead the proposed DOGE House subcommittee, called the collapse of the funding bill “the most refreshing thing” she has witnessed during her time in Congress.
“The Uniparty got caught trying to pass ANOTHER ridiculous gov funding bill because the people read the bill and expressed massive outrage,” she wrote in a post on X. “And now the Uniparty is BIG MAD at Elon, Vivek, and ALL the American people who loudly objected yesterday.”
The bill is an example of why the federal government is $36 trillion in debt, according to Green.
She also said that Americans now understand why she rejected many bills in the past and also tried to vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson after he “passed the omnibus, reauthorized FISA, and funded all the foreign wars.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) blasted Republicans for allowing Musk to disrupt the bipartisan plan brokered by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), suggesting that it was “President Musk” running the show.
“For the Republicans, for President Musk to come in at the last moment and blow up the deal is just intolerable,” Nadler told reporters on Thursday. “You have to negotiate, and you have to be able to enforce what you’re negotiating, and what was negotiated was a very good deal for the American people.”
If a deal is not reached, the federal government would shut down this weekend. Government-run programs would stop operating or workers would go unpaid right before the holidays.
In a series of posts, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) accused Trump of being Musk’s “puppet.”
“As the shadow Pres-Elect, Elon Musk is now calling the shots for House [Republicans] on government funding while Trump hides in Mar-a-Lago behind his handlers,” Goldman wrote in one post on X. “It increasingly seems like we’re in for 4 years of an unelected oligarch running the country by pulling on his puppet’s strings.”
House Republicans later Thursday revealed that an agreement has been reached to keep the government open. Nonetheless, DOGE appears to have already accomplished its mission, according to some lawmakers.
“DOGE has been launched and the mission is successful,” Green said. “Now don’t stop!!