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Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy traveled to Capitol Hill where they met with GOP lawmakers to discuss their big plans for cutting wasteful spending when President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office.

Trump has tapped the dynamic duo to head up the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which he described as the “Manhattan Project of our time,” and they spent the day talking with members of Congress about the badly needed reforms that they will undertake come January 20, 2025.

Musk and Ramaswamy spent the morning meeting with members of the Senate DOGE Caucus before spending the second half of the day getting together with House Republican leaders and representatives of the House DOGE Caucus.

Details from the day of meetings soon emerged with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) who is set to head up the new DOGE House subcommittee, revealing that Musk said that there would be a “naughty list” and a “nice list” for lawmakers.

“There is so much waste, fraud, and abuse. There is so much inefficiency. Where do we begin?” Rep. Aaron Bean (R-FL), the DOGE Caucus co-chair said, suggesting that there was already some “low-hanging fruit” that GOP lawmakers could be in agreement on, including the federal workforce and education.

“There was a big discussion about education. There was a big discussion about redundancy of government workers as they exist in programs across the country. This was not a ‘pick your program and select it and get agreement.’ This was the idea forum,” Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), the committee’s co-chair said.

One GOP lawmaker, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) was fired up, telling reporters “We’re going to gut the fish,” as he left the meeting.

“The lowest-hanging fruit, one overall thing we need to do is eventually pass a balanced budget amendment,” said Rep-elect Mike Haridolopos (R-FL), according to Fox News. “I think the second one is that people have to show up to work. Everybody else in America, they don’t show up to work, they don’t get paid. And so these government employees need to show up to work.”

New Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) was also among those expressing optimism about Musk and the mission to make the government more efficient.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) seemed a bit more skeptical.

“It’s a little rich to go, ‘Oh DOGE, save us.’ What, from ourselves?” the Texas Republican told reporters. “What I told them is, their best role is to expose the absolute stupidity coming out of this body.”

There was also bellyaching and defeatism from naysayers, possibly from some of the same lawmakers who seem to think that Ukraine is the 51st state.

“These guys are going to get their eyes open,” one unnamed Republican groused, according to The Hill.

“They’re gonna offer a lot of solutions that are gonna roll off the tongue real easy but look at the margins. They’re just not gonna have the horsepower,” the lawmaker said of the DOGE duo.

“We are trying to trick ourselves into thinking that we’re not going to have to get into entitlements. But I got news for you: If that’s the answer, then it will be deficit spending for as far as you can see,” the lawmaker added, suggesting that Social Security should be on the table, but of course not more money for Ukraine.

“Under President Trump, we will take a blowtorch to the administrative state and reduce the size and scope of government,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said in a post to X before Musk and Ramaswamy’s visit.

Chris Donaldson
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