(NewsNation) — Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy met with House Republicans on Thursday as they look to cut trillions of dollars from the government budget under President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural “Department of Government Efficiency.”
Trump appointed Musk and Ramaswamy to head the effort and rein in government spending.
Hogan Gidley, a former White House deputy press secretary, believes their pitch could drive “significant change.”
“We have a lot of willing members of Congress who want to do some significant cuts that don’t affect the American people, but instead use their money more efficiently,” Gidley said on “The Hill.”
Gidley explained that the two entrepreneurs share the same goal: “The meeting of these two minds, I think, is very important in the way the government is funded.”
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Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, who co-launched DOGE, and Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., encouraged Democrats to “fully participate” in the conversation.
“They’ll be given authority and responsibility,” Sessions said on “CUOMO.” “I am for efficiency. Give the government every dollar they need, but not a penny more.”
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Musk and Ramaswamy have not publicly offered specifics on how they plan to slash thousands of regulations and make massive cuts to the federal workforce. However, they have said that fewer regulations mean fewer employees are required to enforce them.
The two also proposed requiring federal employees to go into the office five days a week, which they believe may bring a wave of voluntary resignations.
The department does not have the authority to cut budgets itself; it will advise the Office of Management and Budgets. Ross Vought is Trump’s nominee to head that agency.
