Florida Governor Ron DeSantis slammed Congressional Republicans on Tuesday over their lack of action on cutting the government waste and abuse identified by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Back in March, Congress passed the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, which maintained funding for USAID at the FY 2024 level, effectively extending existing funding for the purportedly “rogue agency” through September 30, 2025.
The “Big Beautiful Bill,” which narrowly passed in the House of Representatives last week, reportedly includes $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, including the largest-ever welfare reform.
But because it is a reconciliation bill, Senate rules limit the cuts to “mandatory” spending only, such as Medicaid and Food Stamps, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller explained on X. The DOGE cuts are overwhelmingly discretionary, not mandatory, so they are not addressed in the Big Beautiful Bill.
Many conservatives have expressed disappointment that Republicans have failed to codify any meaningful cuts in wasteful discretionary spending, as identified by DOGE, in separate bills. Meanwhile, the director of the National Economic Council promised last week that “way more spending cuts” are coming later this year.
In a post on X, DeSantis put the heat on Republicans to do just that, pointing out that DOGE Chief Elon Musk “took massive incoming,” which included “attacks on his companies” and “personal smears” while leading the DOGE effort. “He became public enemy #1 of legacy media around the world,” DeSantis wrote. “To see Republicans in Congress cast aside any meaningful spending reductions (and, in fact, fully fund things like USAID) is demoralizing and represents a betrayal of the voters who elected them,” the governor added.
DeSantis was commenting on a post by Matt Van Swol, an independent journalist from North Carolina, who had blasted Republicans on X, Monday.
“DOGE is literally one of the most popular government initiatives in history,” Van Swol wrote. “73% of Americans say they support cutting government waste. Trump brought in the smartest man on earth to do it … the Left destroyed Elon for it … the GOP won’t vote on it. I can’t believe this.”
Commenting on Van Swol’s post, Musk wrote, “I did my best.”
Over the weekend, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) also registered her disappointment in the lack of Republican progress on codifying the DOGE cuts.
“I am honored to chair the DOGE Subcommittee on Oversight and I believe in the critical mission of reducing the size and scope of the federal government by cutting waste, fraud, and abuse,” Greene posted on X Sunday. “@elonmusk and the incredible @DOGE team are giving Congress the road map of corruption that must be eliminated,” she added. “There is no excuse. Congress must pass DOGE cuts!!!”
Signaling that he has lost patience with Congressional Republicans, Musk last week said that he thinks he’s “done enough” when it comes to political contributions.
“In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Musk said during a video interview at the Qatar Economic forum. When asked if he was making the change because of blowback, he said, “well, if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I do not currently see a reason.”
In an interview last week, however, Conservative economist Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council, promised that “way more spending cuts” will come after the Big and Beautiful Bill passes. The National Economic Council (NEC) is the principal forum advising the president of the United States on U.S. and global economic policy matters.
“There are way more spending cuts to come this year because of all the savings that we’re finding both with OMB [the Office of Management and Budget] and with DOGE,” Hassett told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday.