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Musk's time in government is done, but DOGE's mission will continue, Aderholt says

Musk's time in government is done, but DOGE's mission will continue, Aderholt says

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Musk's time in government is done, but DOGE's mission will continue, Aderholt says

When President Donald Trump entered office, one of the first things he did was appoint Elon Musk as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The sole purpose of the new department is to cut federal funding and find waste in the government.

When President Donald Trump entered office, one of the first things he did was appoint Elon Musk as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The sole purpose of the new department is to cut federal funding and find waste in the government.

Since Musk was hired as a “special government employee,” his appointment came with a time restraint of 130 days, and that time has now come to an end.

Musk posted on X, “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.”

But will these cuts will remain permanent?

 “We're totally committed to making the DOGE cuts permanent and stopping much more of the waste,” Trump said.

Alabama Congressman Robert Aderholt, who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, spoke with Jody Hice on Washington Watch about Musk’s time at DOGE, the future of DOGE, as well as Trump’s recission package.

Musk’s time in government was truly unique, Aderholt said.

“It has resonated like probably no other thing that I've seen in recent history when it comes to cutting government spending.”

Aderholt has gotten positive feedback on Musk and DOGE from his Alabama constituents.

“This is something that really resonates. I think a lot of people feel like there's a lot of government waste,” he said.

DOGE has done a tremendous job in its work to fix government waste and to return resources back to Congress, the representative said.

Aderholt, Rep. Robert (R-Alabama) Aderholt

“When we (Congress) allocate the money, we intend the money to be spent in a prudent and wise way, but it not always is. DOGE is coming in there and looking at it and saying, this money is going to waste. We need to get this money back.”

The next step of DOGE’s mission to reduce spending comes in the form of a rescission package that the White House is presenting to Congress. Through this bill, Congress will receive back the money it says was misspent. They will have 45 days to review and vote for the package.

“There could be, to my understanding, between $9-10 trillion that could be clawed back that Congress has appropriated that is really just government waste,” Aderholt reveals.

The recession package, because it was introduced by the White House, allows Senate Republicans to bypass the threat of a Democrat-led filibuster. Without it, Republicans would not have the 60 votes required to end the filibuster.

“But the unique thing about this is that it will be able to be passed by majority vote, not only in the House, which is always the case, but it will be able to be passed in the Senate by majority vote as well and does not have to go through the 60-vote threshold,” Aderholt said.

Codifying the cuts

This could allow most if not all of the $10 billion cuts that were found by DOGE and Musk to pass.

Because Republicans are trying to pass a bill that cuts approximately $9.4 billion in spending, pushback is to be expected.

“Well, of course, the Democrats will oppose it. I mean, they have a disdain for Elon Musk. They have got a disdain for DOGE in general,” Aderholt said.

If the majority in the House accepts the bill, then the Speaker of the House can move the legislation forward. However, because of how much money is involved with the package, it is going to take time to review the package to ensure that nothing is overlooked and that mistakes are caught and fixed.

“Elon Musk readily admitted that there would be mistakes made because dealing with $10 billion in cuts is lot of money. You want to make sure that some legitimate individuals are not going to have their Social Security taken away or some kind of program that they wouldn't be entitled to,” Aderholt said.

No cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid

The cuts presented in the rescission package mainly involve discretionary funding, not social security, Medicare and the like. So far, it appears that all the cuts from the DOGE office are supported by legitimate allegations of wastefulness.

“It seems to me that the examples that I've seen coming from Elon Musk and from the DOGE office, that they're very legitimate, and they're very real wasteful spending that needs to be dealt with,” Aderholt reaffirms.

Finally, the question lies on whether there will be any future rescission packages. It’s possible.

“The DOGE office is not closing to my understanding. Elon Musk is stepping down in his role, but DOGE will continue on. They'll continue looking for this; there'll be other opportunities after this. So, this won't be a one-and-done thing.”  

Musk reiterated this sentiment on PBS News when he said that his departure is not the end of DOGE but only the beginning.

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