Again and again, in hearing after hearing, Democrats have zeroed in on Elon Musk and his drive to slash the federal government, seeking to tie the billionaire to a broad range of GOP initiatives.
Few committee meetings in the Republican-controlled Congress have been off limits for Democrats to bring up the tech mogul and his effort to gut government programs. The party sees it as a winning strategy, viewing Musk as an unpopular figure.
One salty moment came last week at the inaugural hearing of a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee dedicated to boosting Musk’s efforts.
There, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) displayed a blown-up photo of Musk and suggested he was “a dick.” When later asked on CNN whether such language was effective, Garcia doubled down. “Well, he is a dick,” he said.
Just how effective such antics will be for Democrats remains to be seen. But in recent interviews, party leaders argued that their outcry against Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency “reflect concerns that all the committees have,” as Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, put it.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, agreed.
“Tell me something more important right now than what has been going on at every federal agency, grinding their work to a halt, freezing their funding streams, putting entire programs — in some cases, entire agencies — in limbo,” he said.
DOGE has shaken up Washington and the nation since President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Musk, who leads Tesla, X and SpaceX, has deployed a team of officials to various agencies. He has used his social media bully pulpit to drum up support to ax thousands of federal workers, slash agency diversity programs and cancel contracts. All of it, he says, is in the name of reducing spending he and his allies have argued is fraudulent or wasteful.
Democrats have been criticized for their flat-footed response to the administration’s whirlwind first few weeks but now think they’re countering effectively.
In addition to speaking out on Musk at hearings, lawmakers have led protests outside agencies affected by Musk’s bulldozing ways. And representatives like Huffman and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) have devoted floor time to the issue.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) said that the DOGE attacks come out of necessity, not out of a coordinated party strategy.
“This is not a political strategy. This is saving our democracy,” said Stansbury, the top Democrat on Oversight’s Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee, which the GOP established to mesh with Musk’s initiative.
Republicans, for their part, have rolled their eyes at the Democrats’ Musk fixation. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) used floor debate last Wednesday in part to call out “Elon Musk derangement syndrome” in the Democratic party.
‘We’re in the Twilight Zone’
Since they’re in the minority in both the House and Senate, Democrats have little ability to dictate the agendas of committee hearings.
Nonetheless, Democratic committee leaders used recent hearings to pan DOGE and question witnesses on the adverse impacts of Trump’s and Musk’s spending freezes. They have said those freezes are unlawful. Federal judges have agreed and have ordered the administration to unblock that spending.
In a markup of the Senate’s budget resolution, Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) condemned Musk-led efforts to thin federal agencies and slash congressionally authorized funding. The GOP-proposed budget resolution was really a “DOGE resolution,” she said at a markup last week.
“Instead of a markup to hand Elon Musk more power, we need a hearing to hold him accountable. This billionaire is operating completely in the dark, hoping his lies about corruption are loud enough to drown out any calls for truth,” Murray said.
In the House, Energy and Commerce, Transportation and Infrastructure and Natural Resources committee meetings similarly devolved into sparring over DOGE.
During a meeting of the Natural Resources Committee’s Federal Lands Subcommittee last week focused on federal land multiple-use policies, ranking member Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) questioned why a hearing would be scheduled “when, a mile down the road, President Trump is endeavoring to gut every federal agency, piece by piece.”
“It feels a little bit like we’re in the twilight zone,” he said. “That we’re supposed to have sort of a normal subcommittee hearing to discuss the propriety and benefits of multiple use and ignore the storm that is developing around us.”
Also last week, Natural Resources Democrats extended a markup of largely bipartisan bills into a four-hour session focused on Trump and Musk.
“This lawlessness, this chaos and calamity, this total abdication of Congress’ oversight role and its Article I power, this is not normal and it is not acceptable,” Huffman said at the hearing.
Popularity contest
Repeatedly bringing up Musk could hurt Republicans. A YouGov poll released last week found Musk’s approval rating underwater, with just 42 percent of Americans viewing him favorably.
And 45 percent say they do not want him to have influence in the administration, compared with 34 percent who want him to be involved “a lot” or “a little.” Trump, for the moment, has a higher approval rating, at 50 percent.
Musk also provides a way to talk about what the Trump administration is doing without diving into a detailed civics and law lesson, Huffman argued.
“I would love to cut right to the more technical story of why democracy matters, why Article I [of the Constitution] is important, why impoundment is really dangerous. But the part that seems to encapsulate it is this rogue billionaire running roughshod through the federal agencies,” said Huffman, a former environmental lawyer.
“So we’ll probably try to explain the broader civics lesson as we go.”
Reporters Jennifer Yachnin, Scott Streater and Andres Picon contributed.
