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Will Congress surrender to the DOGE?

The Vault: House GOP eyeing reconciliation before Trump’s inauguration

CBC mum on support for David Scott in House Ag race

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Will Congress surrender to the DOGE?

Happy Thursday morning.

Mega-billionaire Elon Musk and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are coming to Capitol Hill today to talk about their much-hyped effort to cut government spending and streamline the federal bureaucracy.

The meeting is at 3 p.m., after the Senate leaves town for the week. (The rhythms of Congress are hard. It takes everyone time to learn.)

President-elect Donald Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” — also known as DOGE, named for the memecoin backed by Musk — is best thought of as a mercenary-like effort.

Unlike previous spending-reduction initiatives, DOGE has no statutory authority or fast-track floor process, and Hill leaders have no idea how they’ll handle any of the proposed spending cuts offered by Musk and Ramaswamy.

We’d also note the idea of rooting out waste, fraud and abuse is hardly a novel idea. Just ask Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul!

Yet it’d be foolish to underestimate this effort. After spending roughly $200 million to help Trump win, Musk is very close to the president-elect. And much like when they took over the House in 2011, Republicans have a newfound “zeal,” as Speaker Mike Johnson put it, for shrinking the federal government.

Yet there are massive hurdles here for Musk, Ramaswamy and congressional Republicans. Not the least of which is that spending cuts are great until they impact one’s own constituents. Then it gets hard.

Let’s talk about the hurdles:

– Musk claimed he could cut “at least $2 trillion,” although without saying how or over what time period. Trump has shown no interest in overhauling entitlement programs. In fact, Trump has proposed cutting taxes on Social Security benefits.

But Medicaid funding is one likely target. Slashing discretionary spending, which amounts to roughly one-fourth of overall federal spending ($1.7 trillion out of $6.8 trillion overall) can’t yield enough savings to eliminate the deficit without enormous political fallout for Republican members and senators.

– Will Musk and Ramaswamy want to cut Pentagon spending? GOP defense hawks vigorously defend every last penny sent to the Pentagon — and have done so for years.

– Lastly, Musk and Ramaswamy have to deal with a very closely divided House. Johnson can’t lose a single vote on any bill during the first few months of 2025.

The GOP leadership’s view. There’s a bull view and a bear view on the Musk-Ramaswamy initiative.

We spoke to Johnson Wednesday afternoon and got an optimistic view of the effort.

Johnson said he’s been in close contact with Musk and Ramaswamy and will bring in committee chairs so they can be “directly involved” in any proposed spending cuts (Good luck getting lawmakers to downsize programs that, in many cases, they created).

Johnson also conceded that he has no idea how Congress will process any spending cuts that DOGE suggests. Johnson said he hasn’t thought about whether he’d try to pass a bill to give DOGE-backed proposals guaranteed floor consideration without amendments in the House and a filibuster-proof vote in the Senate, as Congress did with the so-called super committee in 2011.

Johnson added that he wouldn’t “say now what’s on or off … the table” when asked if Pentagon cuts are in the cards.

Here’s the bear case, as described by a senior Republican aide:

GOP rank and file. Rank-and-file Republicans, for the most part, are throwing themselves at Musk and Ramaswamy — meaning Trump. Both the House and Senate have already formed DOGE caucuses. Johnson OK’d the creation of a DOGE subcommittee on the House Oversight panel to amplify Musk and Ramaswamy’s efforts.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), the leader of the Senate group, will host a meeting with Ramaswamy this morning prior to the broader afternoon session. Ernst said she sent the DOGE team “a lot of materials” they can use for Trump executive orders before Congress acts.

Rep. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.), co-chair of the House’s DOGE caucus, has already launched a tipline — doge@mail.house.gov — to get public input about their effort. Bean also wants to roll out a website to track any savings.

“What I worry about is, the iron is hot, we know it’s the time to strike, but I don’t want it to cool off, and we forget about it,” Bean told us.

So far, at least 40 members have joined the caucus, including some Democrats.

The heaviest lift. The biggest skeptics of this effort are, naturally, appropriators. And some of them are already warning Musk and Ramaswamy to operate with a scalpel — not a hatchet.

Veteran Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), an appropriations cardinal, said he has “no problem with outside eyes looking at how we do things.”

But Simpson said the “challenge” is going to come if “they come in and say, ‘Government shouldn’t be doing this, so we’re going to eliminate this.’ That’s a policy decision that Congress needs to make.”

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, had an even blunter view on the DOGE project: “Zero authority. It’s a gang of two. … It’s the Congress that makes these determinations.”

— Jake Sherman, Melanie Zanona and Andrew Desiderio

On Wednesday, we shared our first Tech Quarterly — our newest policy vertical. Whether it’s AI, chips, privacy, social networks, payment systems, e-commerce or the United States’ relationship with China, what Congress does will reverberate from Washington to Silicon Valley and across the globe.

From high-profile interviews with industry influencers & policymakers to key lobbying updates, Punchbowl News Tech will be your go-to for timely technology insights. Sign up to gain early access to our daily Premium Policy Tech coverage.

DEM DRAMA

CBC mum on support for David Scott in House Ag race

In the last few days, two longtime Democratic ranking members dropped their bids to remain atop committees — Reps. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.) at the Judiciary Committee and Rep. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.) on the Natural Resources Committee.

Now there are new flashing warning signs for Rep. David Scott (Ga.), the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee.

The Congressional Black Caucus is extraordinarily quiet as to whether they support Scott staying in that post as he faces two junior challengers.

The 79-year-old Scott, who has faced scrutiny over health issues, made history to become the first Black man to lead the Agriculture panel in 2021. But now, growing concerns over Scott’s health and ability to carry out the job have stifled what should be slam-dunk support from his closest allies on the Hill even as he seeks another term atop his committee.

“I’m voting for him but I’m counting the numbers,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) told us. “The caucus is going to have its will and we’ve got to be together… Obviously, there are concerns because that’s why somebody’s running against him.”

The CBC is expected to host a candidate forum for Scott and his two challengers — Reps. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) and Angie Craig (D-Minn.) — next week. Just the fact that the CBC is giving a stage to his two opponents says a lot about where things stand.

CBC Chair Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), who didn’t put his support behind Scott, said the forum is the “first step” to deciding who the best fit is to lead the panel.

Several other CBC members declined to publicly comment on the race or said they need to evaluate all of the contenders.

“I will hear from all the candidates and then make my decision,” Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.) said.

The CBC’s distance from Scott is quite telling. Several members have privately speculated that the 11-term lawmaker could drop his bid for ranking member in the coming weeks.

Scott’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The CBC is known as a unified bloc that defends seniority zealously and seeks to uplift Black members where they can.

And Scott’s allies have framed attempts to undercut the Georgia Democrat as having racial undertones to take down one of the highest-ranking Black members of the caucus.

But even some of Scott’s supporters in the CBC have expressed concerns over his declining health. Scott was absent for the last few weeks to get treatment for back issues.

“If I said I wasn’t concerned about his health and ability to get around, I would not be accurate and truthful,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) told us. “It hurts to see him struggle, but I’m voting for him no matter what.”

Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), who is on the Agriculture Committee, said he will stand behind Scott, but acknowledged that his fellow Georgia Democrat has had health issues.

“I have every confidence he’s up to the task and fully support him,” Bishop said of Scott. “We all have health decisions from time to time and I think he’s dealing with it and I hope his health will be good. But he’s had a ton of experience and he’s delivered well so far.”

— Mica Soellner

PUNCHBOWL NEWS EVENTS

Punchbowl News Tech launch

On Wednesday night, we hosted an event celebrating the launch of Punchbowl News Tech featuring networking, light bites and a fireside chat about the future of tech policy. During the event, Punchbowl News CEO Anna Palmer sat down for a conversation with American Edge Project’s CEO Doug Kelly. Thank you to American Edge Project for partnering with us on this event.

Raising a glass: Rebecca Kern of the FTC; Halie Craig, Christian McMullen and Joel Wellum of the Senate Commerce Committee; Esther Kahng of the House Financial Services Committee; Victoria Jeffries and Amber Moon of Meta; John Ashbrook and Michael Duncan of Cavalry; Jim Papa of Global Strategy Group; Taylor Griffin and Bijan Mehryar of Block; Michael Moroney of FleishmanHillard; Austin Carson and Joshua New of SeedAI; Alex Byers of AT&T; Ashley Carpenter and Rachel Winer of ROKK Solutions; Robert Hoffman of Broadcom; Lauren Belive of Ripple; and Jeffrey Zubricki of Etsy.

STAFF NEWS

Sen.-elect Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) has tapped Zephranie Buetow to serve as her chief of staff.

Buetow currently serves as the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for legislative affairs. Prior to that, Buetow served as special assistant to the president and Senate legislative affairs liaison in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs.

Before joining the Biden administration, Buetow was a legislative director for Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and a legislative counsel for former Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu (D).

— Mica Soellner

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