In the wake of Elon Musk ending his short stint in government service, members of the House DOGE Committee is weighing in on what he accomplished.
Musk, who served as a senior adviser to the president, celebrated his departure with President Donald Trump on Friday in the Oval Office. The technology magnate was designated by the Trump administration as a special government employee, which are limited appointments capped at 130 days.
“Musk built the foundation and left a well-assembled team to carry the torch—but the future of DOGE now hinges on Congress,” Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told The Daily Signal. DOGE is the Department of Government Efficiency.
“Its success will depend on whether elected officials have the backbone to shrink big government and root out waste. He may, in fact, have more influence and persuasive power operating outside the confines of government,” the Missouri congressman continued.
Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, told The Daily Signal, “Like many of his other endeavors, with DOGE, Elon established a process that will outlast him.”
“The work will not stop—the billions in waste, fraud, and abuse already uncovered is just the beginning. Much of what DOGE is doing is finally getting answers to the questions some of us in Congress have been asking—but have had to deal with a resistant bureaucracy,” Cloud said.
“Thanks to a willing Trump administration and the technology tools DOGE has brought to the effort, the American people are now beginning to get the transparency on their tax dollars they deserve,” the Texas congressman said, adding:
Congress must work to ensure this turns into real savings for the American people.
When asked about Musk’s recent criticism of the House budget reconciliation bill, now being debated in the Senate, Burlison said, adding:
Mr. Musk’s frustration is entirely understandable. Americans are tired of this bloated bureaucracy torching taxpayer money.
“Congress must do better,” he said.
“His willingness to call out dysfunction in Washington brings valuable firepower to the conservative movement and adds a strong voice to the fight for fiscal sanity,” he continued.
“I’ve shared many of Elon’s concerns about the fiscal structure of this bill. Up until the end of House negotiations, I made it clear—we need real fiscal reform,” Cloud said.
“And what we saw again in the House version of the bill is the same fuzzy D.C. math of front-loading most of the benefits and back-loading the ‘pay-fors’ until after future elections,” he noted.
“If we’re serious about changing the direction of this country, it starts with being honest about the math and finding real first-year savings for the American people,” the Texas congressman said.