Elon Musk, the co-head of President-elect Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, met with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) Thursday morning ahead of meetings later in the day with Senate and House Republicans.
Musk walked into Thune’s office with one of his children perched atop his shoulders.
“I think we should be spending the public’s money wisely,” he told reporters while walking through the Capitol’s hallways.
Musk has said he wants to cut at least $2 trillion from the federal budget, which now exceeds $6 trillion a year. But any proposed cuts would likely face substantial opposition in Congress as just about every federal program has a constituency that benefits from it.
Musk is expected to speak to members of the Senate DOGE caucus, which is headed by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), later in the day.
Ernst said her group has already provided Musk and DOGE co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy “a lot of materials.”
Ernst said the Trump administration will be able to “execute” spending reductions through “executive orders” and Congress would “pick up the legislative end of it.”
She envisions “a great collaboration between our caucus in the House, the Senate and DOGE.”
The founding members of the Senate DOGE caucus met with Ramaswamy in the morning and were scheduled to meet with Ramaswamy and Musk Thursday afternoon.
