Some Republicans fear a DOGE dilemma is setting in

As Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy make sweeping promises to cut $2 trillion dollars of federal spending, senior House Republicans have raised concerns with GOP leadership that efforts to cut wasteful federal spending will put the party on a collision course.

As Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy make sweeping promises to cut $2 trillion dollars of federal spending, senior House Republicans have raised concerns with GOP leadership that efforts to cut wasteful federal spending will put the party on a collision course. Senior House Republicans, including some who serve on the committee responsible for appropriating money, have raised concerns, over how to put in practice conflicting parameters being set at the direction of President-elect Donald Trump now that the excitement around the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency has begun to settle. Even though Republicans want to take big swings to carry out Trump’s cost-cutting mandate, they have found themselves in a paradox that can be distilled down to a math problem with political landmines attached to it. And they don’t have a lot of time to solve it since Musk and Ramaswamy want to wrap up their work by 2026. All of the government’s discretionary spending, which amounts to 30% of the federal budget and includes defense spending that Republicans do not want to cut, doesn’t hit the $2 trillion price tag Musk and Ramaswamy have set. That means they would need to look at mandatory spending, which includes popular safety net programs such as Social Security that even Trump has said will not be touched. On top of that, Republicans want to spend more money to implement Trump’s strict border measures, fulfill Trump’s mass deportation campaign promise and continue to support Israel in its ongoing war in the Middle East. “This is not a private company. If it were, it would be a lot easier,” one senior GOP lawmaker told CNN, who laid out the conflicting factors. “What I’m hearing is good, aspirational stuff, but the stuff that they’re talking about, the specifics: they’re tiny, low hanging fruit.” Despite their concerns about the roadblocks ahead, GOP lawmakers have made the case directly to Musk and Ramaswamy that they have to work with Congress, not around them, multiple sources told CNN, even as Trump is showing signs that he wants to test the waters of making spending decisions unilaterally by reinstating the team who unsuccessfully helped him try to do so the first time.