"Minister Ma" makes his first visit to Capitol Hill, "Department of Government Efficiency" faces tough challenges, with few answers

The DOGE deputy "Minister Ma" made his first visit to Capitol Hill, discussing ideas for budget cuts with Republican members, but officials questioned the lack of specific plans.

On Thursday local time, during a meeting attended by Republican members of both the House and Senate, Elon Musk, appointed by Trump as the head of DOGE, and Vivek Ramaswamy heard many suggestions on how to cut spending and reduce government waste, including some ideas that have circulated among conservatives for years.

Musk had promised to save $2 trillion within the federal government using DOGE, while Ramaswamy expressed his desire to fire 75% of federal employees, but aside from some easily achievable measures, neither of them has developed a detailed plan to achieve these goals.

Amid a slim majority in the House and the Senate facing "filibuster" procedures, the U.S. government's budget cuts are met with skepticism from the market.

"No Specific Cut Measures"

According to media reports, Congressman Max Miller commented on the overall atmosphere of the meeting:

Perhaps half of the attendees were very excited, while the other half were concerned about the reality; some members left the meeting highly skeptical about the promise of cutting $2 trillion in spending.

Some Republican members stated that towards the end of the meeting, Musk and Ramaswamy were asked about the feasibility of cutting $2 trillion in annual spending, but neither Musk nor Ramaswamy provided a clear answer.

South Dakota Republican Senator John Thune, who will assume the Senate's most powerful position in January, stated after a private meeting with Musk on Thursday that their discussions did not involve the specifics of the committee's targeted cuts but rather a broader discussion of the committee's goals.

However, Musk discussed some relatively easy-to-implement measures, such as layoffs and requiring federal employees to return to the office. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson stated that once Trump returns to the White House, he would support Musk's plan to mandate federal employees to return to the office. Musk stated last week that federal employees should be required to return to the office five days a week.

A report cited by Johnson indicated that, excluding federal security and maintenance personnel, only about "1%" of civil servants actually work in the office.

Additionally, Trump has promised not to cut Social Security or Medicare benefits, and Ramaswamy stated in an interview on Wednesday that DOGE would look for waste and fraud in these programs but would not push for widespread benefit cuts.

Slim Majority in the House and Senate Filibuster

A Republican member who wished to remain anonymous candidly stated:

These people need to open their eyes; the majority in the House is very slim, and there are filibuster issues in the Senate.

House Republicans will hold a slim majority in Congress next year, with Congressman Matt Gaetz (Republican from Florida) deciding to leave Congress after re-election. The Republicans will hold a majority with 219 to 215 when the new session begins. When two other Republicans leave Congress to serve in the Trump administration, the Republican majority will drop to 217 to 215 In the Senate, the Republicans will hold an advantage of 53 to 47, but the presence of the filibuster makes implementing comprehensive reforms more difficult