Republican Lawmakers Are Showing Concerns over The Scope of Musk's Crusade To Slash Spending

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has been making headlines about its sweeping plans to slash government spending. But as federal employees are laid off and agencies are shut down, some Republican lawmakers who are otherwise loyal to President Trump are starting to show their concerns in public and in private.

Congressional Republicans have been extremely reluctant to criticize the president and his team, as loyalty has been constantly reported as being among Trump's top priorities. But as Musk enacts sweeping moves to cut down government spending, some GOP lawmakers, particularly those facing re-election soon, are starting to voice their concerns on the controversial DOGE, according to The Washington Post.

"I thought we were supposed to be in a new era of meritocracy. Not the indiscriminate firing of people," one Republican congressional aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Politico.

Among Musk's most controversial moves was an initiative over the weekend that demanded every federal worker explain their job via email to avoid being laid off. The information provided will go into an LLM (Large Language Model), an advanced AI system that looks at huge amounts of text data to understand, generate and process human language, which will then determine whether someone's work is mission-critical or not, NBC4 Washington reports.

Among the lawmakers publicly casting doubt on Musk's group is Republican Rep. Richard McCormick, who drew national attention last week when his town hall in Georgia attracted hundreds of angry voters showing up to protest DOGE. He told reporters that he's "concerned that maybe we're moving a little bit too fast" and that he plans to raise the issue with Trump and Musk.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who has been willing to defy some of Trump's policies and is often a wildcard of Senate voting, also called the latest email to demand workers "absurd."

Some lawmakers have already communicated their concerns to Trump officials. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) said "we reach out when we find something hasn't gone quite right," adding that he's talked to the administration about cuts to staff he believes are necessary for agriculture and conservation programs.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey has echoed those concerns, saying he's worried that the cuts may be too extreme.

"My concern is that we use a scalpel... and not use a sledgehammer," echoed Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-New Jersey). "So we have to be really careful that we're cutting things that don't hurt everyday people."

But according to Politico, Republicans' concerns are not only rooted in the immediate layoffs and spending. They're also worried about the long-term fallout of Trump's moves as the federal government struggles to hire the next generation of federal employees who will keep farm and public health programs running across rural America.

"I worry what his plans are," said one Republican lawmaker who questioned whether cuts would be limited to waste, fraud and abuse or would curtail benefits for legitimate program participants.

Nevertheless, as Republican criticism slowly builds up, congressional leaders are still standing behind DOGE's efforts. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters last week that GOP lawmakers will intervene with the Trump administration "if there are things that we think that need to be addressed" or if there are issues "perhaps they're not considering when they make these decisions."

Thune added he thought it was key "that we don't undermine important services," including health and safety. But he put his support behind the administration's efforts to give the federal government a careful "scrub" with the goal of a more limited presence.