As Elon Musk has taken a jackhammer to parts of the federal government in the name of “efficiency,” Republican lawmakers say they are being inundated with calls and emails from concerned constituents.
They say callers have complained about Musk, the richest man in the world, being an “unelected guy” with vast powers.
Some say they are reassuring constituents that Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency hasn’t led to any data breaches.
And the office of one Republican lawmaker skeptical of DOGE said they’ve nonetheless told callers that President Donald Trump is simply making good on campaign promises, though “Congress controls the purse.”
It’s been a nonstop deluge. One Republican office granted anonymity to share details said they’ve received twice the number of phone calls and four times the number of emails since around the inauguration.
In a post last week on X, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said the Senate phone system had been overwhelmed.
To be sure, a number of those calls were related to Trump nominees, among other matters.
In interviews, Republicans say they’re sympathetic to worries.
“There’s some frustration — I get it,” said Republican Rep. Blake Moore of Utah. He added that Congress needs to “take a sincere look at every aspect of our budget.”
In a few short weeks, Musk has deployed DOGE officials across the federal government, with the blessing of Trump. It has led to an unprecedented shuttering of agencies, freezes in congressionally approved spending and efforts to shrink the federal workforce.
Democrats have reacted with outrage and protests, though have accomplished little. Federal courts have thrown up some roadblocks in recent days, but the work of DOGE does not seem to be slowing down.
As all this is going on, one Republican suspected some anxious calls were being coordinated.
“I think when you have left-wing groups activating people and mobilizing people and telling them to call in, you expect those calls,” said Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), chair of the Conservative Climate Caucus. “So it’s not anything that is unusual or unprecedented.”
How does her office respond? By telling callers: “There have been no data breaches,” she said, even as former Treasury secretaries and others have raised such alarms.
Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) said that callers who complain about Musk being an “unelected guy” were misguided.
“The executive branch only has one elected guy — or person,” he said. “Every other person is appointed to do the work of the executive branch.”
One moderate Republican, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, has been a critic of Musk’s ax wielding, especially when it comes to spending.
“This stuff is appropriated by Congress and it’s already been signed into law, so I’ll just say I disagree with it,” he told reporters recently. Bacon said he hoped the “disruption” of DOGE would be “short-lived.”
His office, however, said aides answering the phones have been telling callers that “Trump’s fulfilling his promise to the American people to trim government waste through DOGE. … In the end, Congress controls the purse.”
The Bulwark reported Monday that some GOP members have been sending private letters to reassure the doubters.
In one letter, Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) wrote it was “important that DOGE operates with appropriate oversight to maintain transparency, prevent conflicts of interest, and ensure its work remains focused on serving the American people.”
Some GOP worries
Trump has brushed off questions about Musk. In an interview with Fox News over the weekend he said the billionaire has been “terrific.”
“He’s not gaining anything,” he said when asked about his intentions. “In fact, I wonder how he can devote the time to it. He’s so into it.”
After all, Republicans said that’s why voters elected Trump in the first place: to take a hard look at exactly where American taxpayer dollars were going — a cause Democrats should also support.
“The key thing is are we going to be responsible about it over the course of this moment and take a sincere look at every aspect of our budget,” Moore, the Utah Republican, said.
“And time will tell if we are going to be doing that in a very thoughtful, systematic way. But we’re going to need Democrats to look at the government and say, look, these areas are wasteful and we can get on board and work together.”
Even if Republicans back the notion of reforming the bureaucracy, some expressed unease about the way the Musk show has unfolded over the past three weeks.
“By circumventing proper channels and procedures, and creating the potential to compromise the sensitive data of Americans, we create a tremendous amount of unnecessary anxiety,” Murkowski posted on social media last week. “That is wrong. Good governance is based on trust, not fear.”
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) has similarly voiced her worries. Still, both she and Murkowski supported Trump’s budget nominee, Russ Vought, one of the architects of the administration’s cost-cutting tactics.
Thus far, most Republicans seem content to let Musk run free. Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week blocked a Democratic attempt to subpoena Musk to testify before the panel on what DOGE has done.
Aides for Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) did not respond to emailed questions.
Neither did the National Republican Congressional Committee, the main body trying to elect Republicans to the House and charged with protecting vulnerable incumbents like Miller-Meeks.
One House Republican, Rep. Pete Stauber of Minnesota, chair of a Natural Resources subcommittee focused on energy and minerals, suggested Musk’s work would ultimately be good for Republicans.
In fact, he said, people have been calling his office to express gratitude.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “People voted for it. … If there’s anybody who doesn’t believe we can find efficiencies in government, they’ve got to be blind.”
