On Wednesday, Elon Musk stepped into a room of eager House Republicans, armed with ambitious ideas to tackle government inefficiency. In an exclusive chat with a tight-knit group, the tech titan laid out a roadmap to unearth up to $1 trillion in wasteful spending, sources close to the talks revealed to Fox News Digital.
Leading the charge with his so-called “executive DOGE team,” Musk exuded confidence. “The executive DOGE team is confident, they think they can get $1 trillion,” a GOP lawmaker who attended the meeting shared with Fox News Digital. “Now, we’ll see, right? And the thing is, he acknowledged that we’re going to make mistakes, but we’re going to correct them very quickly.” The lawmaker noted Musk’s pragmatic approach—admitting potential missteps while promising swift fixes.
The discussion wasn’t without its skeptics. Some lawmakers questioned whether agencies like the Treasury Department could handle the overhaul Musk envisioned. His response? “And he says, ‘We’re gonna help them,'” the lawmaker recounted, signaling Musk’s readiness to lend a hand across government branches.
The evening kicked off with a 45-minute huddle between Musk and the House DOGE subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., before expanding into a larger gathering with the full House GOP Conference. Sources say Musk zeroed in on practical inefficiencies—like federal benefits still flowing to deceased individuals. Social Security audits, he suggested, could reveal taxpayer dollars padding accounts for unemployment or other programs long after recipients had passed.
Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, a subcommittee member, explained it as a matter of basic housekeeping. “A lot of this is cross-referencing databases, making sure they’re talking to each other,” he told Fox News Digital. Simple, yet apparently overlooked.
Another idea tossed around: a congressional rescissions package. Lawmakers floated this as a tool to reel in excessive spending amid partisan tussles over how much fiscal freedom President Donald Trump should wield. Rescissions, a power allowing Congress to nix planned expenditures, could pass the Senate with just 51 votes—a golden opportunity for Republicans to act solo, no Democrats required.
Greene, while tight-lipped on spending authority specifics, praised the collaboration. “We had a very lengthy meeting, just my DOGE committee with Elon Musk and his team, and learned a lot of valuable information. The collaboration is going to be fantastic and it needs to happen,” she told reporters.
Musk wasn’t alone—his adviser Steve Davis tagged along for both the intimate subcommittee sit-down and the larger GOP meeting. In the latter, Musk spoke for about 15 minutes before fielding questions, offering a glimpse into his early findings.
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, another DOGE subcommittee member, described it as a strategy session. “What we were doing was getting a deeper insight into what Elon Musk is doing and kind of being able to strategize with him, how we can coordinate what we’re doing,” he told reporters.
The revelations left some lawmakers stunned. Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., pointed to a glaring lack of oversight. “Systematically there were no checks in order to make sure the taxpayer dollars were spent correctly,” he told Fox News Digital. Musk, he added, steered clear of other congressional fiscal dramas, focusing instead on exposing “how little accountability exists in the operating system of our government.”
Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., captured the mood perfectly: “It made me laugh and it made me sick all at the same time. The level of waste and what they are finding is mindblowing.” Meanwhile, Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., hinted at more to come. “He just says, ‘I’m investigating and finding things that you really can’t argue with.’ He said he’s making mistakes, he’ll correct them, but his mission is to uncover where our tax money is. Let the chips fall where they may.”
The meetings come amid turbulence for some House Republicans, who’ve faced pushback at home over Musk’s DOGE initiatives. Lawmakers have previously grumbled to Fox News Digital about being out of the loop on his plans.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., brought those concerns straight to Musk, stressing the anxiety among veterans and farmers. “I expressed very clearly the concerns of our veterans community,” he told reporters. “And Mr. Musk was explicitly clear that we will make sure that we have no degradation of the benefits for our veterans that they have earned.”
Fresh off a similar closed-door chat with Senate Republicans, Musk’s whirlwind House visit signals a full-court press to reshape government spending. With his team just “getting started,” as Norman put it, the quest to trim $1 trillion in waste is poised to shake up Washington—and maybe a few databases along the way.
The Fairview Gazette will keep you up to date on Elon Musk and DOGE’s efforts to decrease government waste.
