Elon Musk defended himself to a room full of House Republicans on Wednesday night, saying that he “can’t bat a thousand all the time,” according to four people present for his remarks. But he also promised to work to correct mistakes amid the Department of Government Efficiency’s slash-and-burn operation across the federal government.
Musk met the House GOP conference after a growing number of Hill Republicans have raised concerns about DOGE and called for the team to be more careful in its methods for rooting out waste, fraud and abuse across agencies.
GOP lawmakers have noted examples of Musk and his team moving too quickly to freeze funding, dismantle programs and fire federal workers, resulting in major disruptions and requiring the administration to reverse their actions in some cases.
In general, the meeting was positive, and Musk received a warm welcome, said the four people who were inside the room and were granted anonymity to share details of the private gathering.
But there was also some “blame-shifting,” according to one of the people. That person said Musk told Republicans he initially directed federal agencies to make cuts across their jurisdictions, but DOGE officials ultimately felt those agencies in some cases made the wrong cuts, forcing the administration to go in and course correct. Amid a spate of town hall backlash over Musk and the DOGE cuts, he told Republicans on Wednesday night that if their constituents have complaints, lawmakers should raise the matter with him.
“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,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.).
Norman said Musk told lawmakers that it will be up to Congress what spending ultimately gets cut. “He said, ‘Look, I’m gonna get the information to you. Y’all decide.’ He’s doing this because he does not want to see America go down.”
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) said after the meeting that Musk seems “really open to the idea that when there have been things done that weren’t a perfect fit, that we need to come back and figure out how to adjust fire.”
One lawmaker who attended the meeting, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Republicans are “reticent to criticize Elon publicly” but that most “are communicating with the White House what could be done better.”
Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) said he hopes there can be regular meetings with Musk to have direct communication with him over the DOGE activities.
“Those mistakes can be rectified,” Bilirakis said. “Every time we meet with constituents, we want to make sure that if they question any of these moves that he makes, we want to make sure that we get the information to him.”
Endorsing the message Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) delivered in a meeting with Musk earlier Wednesday, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) said Congress needs to take action to codify the cuts Musk has targeted.
“I feel very much that if we’re going to do this the right way, Congress has to take the lead,” Cammack said.
As Musk left the meeting, he was asked whether Congress should have a vote on his widespread cuts across the executive branch. “Well, they do have a vote,” he responded.
The meeting comes as House GOP leaders are trying to push members to support a funding plan in the coming days that holds current spending levels through the end of September to avoid a government shutdown after March 14 — without codifying DOGE’s actions.
Speaker Mike Johnson is working to persuade hard-liners to come on board with the strategy by promising to work with the conference to codify DOGE cuts at a later date. He said in an interview earlier this week he expected that a “big part” of the meeting with Musk on Wednesday would focus on which of DOGE’s spending freezes lawmakers could incorporate in government funding bills for the fiscal year that begins in October.
Johnson reiterated to reporters after the meeting that he would also entertain a legislative package to codify DOGE cuts — but not right now.
“And if there are savings and things that relate to [fiscal year 2025] and we have already passed the CR, then yes, of course you will have rescissions,” Johnson said, adding that those specific cuts would be worked out with the Trump administration.
Hailey Fuchs and Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.
