House Republicans are hoping to affirm that they are on the same page as Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday night.
Musk is huddling with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other members of the House GOP Conference around 7 p.m. ET on Capitol Hill, according to an invitation obtained by Fox News Digital.
“Specifics, you know, on what DOGE has been doing, and how they’ve accomplished it. And then moving forward, how will that look like?” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital when asked what he hoped to get out of the meeting. “I think the more they can articulate to the members of the House, we can do a better job delivering the message of what DOGE and President Trump are up to on that front.”
Fitzgerald added that he anticipated some “tough questions about the specifics” of how much DOGE is saving.
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Speaker Mike Johnson is having Elon Musk at a closed-door House GOP meeting. (Jean Catuffe/GC Images | Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Musk has descended on Capitol Hill at a time when his work with the federal government is drawing somewhat mixed reviews from Republican lawmakers.
The vast majority of Republicans are backing Musk’s DOGE effort, and virtually all have agreed on the need to cut wasteful government spending.
“He’s found a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse. He thinks it’ll be upwards of $1 trillion next year,” House GOP Policy Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla., the No. 5 House GOP leader, told Fox News Digital. “He’s going to talk to all of us as members, and answer any questions, talk about it.”
But some GOP lawmakers have been frustrated at feeling like they’ve been left out of the loop on White House and DOGE activities. Meanwhile, several Republicans have had to contend with particularly aggressive anti-DOGE protests in their home districts.
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House GOP Policy Chairman Kevin Hern praised Musk’s efforts. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., a leading pragmatic Republican, said she wanted to “better understand what his strategy is.”
Bice commended Musk’s efforts to enact change but acknowledged concerns about the mass layoffs of federal workers across the country.
“What the American people want to see is change. And I think that Elon is taking a hammer to agencies and then building them back in a way that is more efficient and more functional and less bureaucratic,” Bice said.
“But I want to know kind of what that looks like moving forward. I know there’s apprehension for people that may be in that probationary one-year period of having a federal job. We’ve already seen some layoffs, but we’re $36 trillion in debt, and we can’t continue doing the same things over.”
Rep. Stephanie Bice said Republicans wanted to “better understand” Musk’s strategy. (Getty Images)
Freshman Rep. Derek Schmidt, R-Kan., said he hoped for a productive dialogue.
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“I think that it’s important that Mr. Musk remind folks of why he is doing what he’s doing. It’s part of the president’s agenda that the American people voted for in November, getting a more accountable… more modernized government,” Schmidt told Fox News Digital.
“I think it’s also important [that] communication flow the other way, and that any particular concerns that have a solid basis be relayed back so they can decide to make some adjustments.”
Musk met with Senate Republicans on Wednesday afternoon just before his huddle with the House GOP.
