GOP greets DOGE with excitement but expects ‘friction’

Capitol Hill Republicans are clamoring to get in on the “DOGE” action after President-elect Trump put Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in charge of his administration’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) — even as there is not yet consensus on how, exactly, they will help channel that energy into lasting and tangible change.

A Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency Caucus — or DOGE Caucus — in the House already has several dozen members, and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is leading a Senate DOGE Caucus. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is set to chair a subcommittee also related to DOGE and its efforts. 

Musk and Ramaswamy are set to speak to House and Senate Republicans on Thursday about DOGE, at the invitation of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Johnson told The Hill that the meeting will be a “brainstorming session” — one that some GOP lawmakers hope results in more clarity.

And as Musk, Ramaswamy and the lawmakers aim to take DOGE “to the moon” — as the saying for the meme cryptocurrency of the same name that inspired the backronym goes — lawmakers are already anticipating difficulties in channeling that energy into anything tangible.

“I think there probably will be some friction,” Greene said. “Some appropriators really want to continue funding.”

“But I honestly think that there’s been a serious mandate from the American people, and I think that will give, hopefully our side of the aisle, tremendous courage to do the right thing,” said Greene, whose subcommittee will be within the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and will explore ways to reduce spending and reduce red tape.

The DOGE buzz is so intense that even Democrats are jumping on board: Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) have said they will join the DOGE Caucus. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) told The Hill he was thinking of joining as well.

Democrats are not invited to Thursday’s meeting on conservative reforms, however. Johnson told The Hill there will be a bipartisan meeting at a later date.

While lawmakers widely expect Musk and Ramaswamy’s DOGE to take the lead on executive actions, they hope to create some lasting change through legislation.

“We all know the executive orders are temporary. That just will change with the next president. So Congress has the ability to make some things permanent, and we want to light a fire under every member,” said Rep. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.), a co-chair of the DOGE Caucus in the House.

But then there is the issue of narrowing DOGE’s focus in Congress. There is no shortage of ideas on government cuts or reforms in the Republican Party — and they vary widely.

“It can’t just be about efficiency. It has to be about understanding you have to reduce the size, and you have to turn a lot of this back to the states,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who introduced more than 500 spending cut bills last year, in a statement on government spending.

Johnson said Wednesday on Fox News that he’d like to axe funding that flows to Planned Parenthood and to PBS.

But it will be tough to get any legislation passed, given the razor-thin Republican majority in the House and the filibuster in the Senate.

“Where Congress is involved. That’s where it takes the hard work of legislating and getting everybody on the same page,” Johnson said on Fox News. “There will be lots of ideas that come out. We don’t want to put too many of it out right now, OK, but this is part of that — preparing the playbook to unleash and unroll in January.”

Ernst, as leader of the Senate DOGE Caucus, already has some ideas in the works. She previously sent Musk and Ramaswamy a list of “ideas for trimming the fat and reducing red ink.”

And at Thursday’s meeting with Musk and Ramaswamy, Ernst plans to present a report on reform for the federal workforce, highlighting problems with remote work.

Ernst’s leadership in the caucus, which comes as she will no longer be part of the Senate GOP leadership team, hearkens back to her campaign roots: In a memorable “make ‘em squeal” ad from her first senatorial run in 2014, Ernst flaunted growing up “castrating pigs on a farm” while promising to “cut pork” in Washington.

“Iowans sent me to D.C. with a mandate to make the porkers squeal, and for a decade it has been a lonely fight,” Ernst said in a statement. “But it is a new day in Washington, and I am thrilled there is finally an appetite to put my work into action. I am going to partner with the Trump administration and DOGE to put the federal government on a permanent diet and turn the bloated bureaucracy into a lean machine of efficiency that serves the taxpayers.”

The DOGE Caucus co-chairs in the House, Bean and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), are only just starting the work to make the caucus itself efficient before trying to tackle the whole federal government.

“Our window is narrow. President Trump feels it. So do we. There’s breathing room, but there’s not room for fumbling the ball,” Sessions told The Hill. “We’re going to have to be very disciplined about understanding, is it ready, aim, fire — or is it ready, fire, aim?”

And Sessions recognized that “there is not unanimity” even among Republicans on how to handle spending cuts and government reforms.

Sessions floated the idea of the caucus coming up with a list of areas that it wants to focus on, and then taking input from the public and delegating out work. 

Bean said he hopes that the caucus will “keep score” of the DOGE cuts and efficiency.

“We want to keep score, to let everybody know what we’re cutting and how we’re cutting it, [to] what number we’re cutting it,” Bean said.

Referencing the GOP’s control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, Bean added: “It’s just a magic window we’ve been given.”