Senior Republicans are looking at how to shoehorn cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency into an upcoming government funding bill — a move that threatens to ratchet up tensions with Democrats and raise the chances of a shutdown.
Top GOP leaders have been discussing the idea with President Donald Trump’s team. Though it’s far from final, the idea would be to codify some of the “most egregious” examples of alleged waste found by Musk’s team into a spending patch through the end of the fiscal year.
That may help earn the votes of some House hard-liners, who have pushed for severe spending cuts and generally don’t support stopgap funding measures. But it would be a nonstarter for Democrats, who are already balking at Republicans’ refusal to put guardrails in the bill that would stop Trump and Musk from clawing back congressionally approved funding. And the GOP will almost certainly need Democrats here.
Even key Republicans are skeptical of the idea. “I don’t see how that could work,” top Senate appropriator Susan Collins told reporters. Two other GOP appropriators were similarly confused.
The White House has sent a list of requested anomalies — proposed changes to an otherwise straight funding extension — to congressional Republicans, who are reviewing them.
Signs are increasingly pointing to a full-year funding patch as Congress barrels toward the March 14 shutdown deadline without a deal on overall spending totals. Critically, Trump endorsed the idea of a “clean, temporary government funding Bill” in a social media post Thursday evening. And he discussed a full-year stopgap with Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune during a meeting Wednesday at the White House.
What to watch next week: Collins has already been tasked with preparing a stopgap through September, though she insisted to Lisa it’s just “one option.” Will GOP leaders make it the only option? And will Democrats draw a sharper red line on DOGE? Tick-tock.
What else we’re watching:
- Meeting with Musk: Johnson said on Thursday he’s trying to schedule a meeting between Musk and House Republicans — “either small groups of members, appropriators or maybe all” GOP members. Meanwhile, Sen. Rick Scott said he’s still yet to schedule when Musk will attend a Senate GOP lunch.
- Nominations: Thune has a fresh batch of nominees to steer through confirmation votes next week, starting with Education secretary pick Linda McMahon on Monday evening. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who advanced favorably from Senate HELP on Thursday, is also on deck for next week, after overcoming a “no” vote from Sen. Rand Paul with the help of three Democrats. Dan Bishop’s nomination as OMB deputy director is advancing toward the floor.
- Tax disputes: GOP leadership still has some tax problems to work out next week. Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith said in a brief interview on Thursday that he’s worried the accounting tactic that the Senate is considering to significantly lower the cost of the plan, at least on paper, might not make it past the Senate’s independent legislative referee. Similarly, during their talks at the White House, GOP leaders and Trump looked at tariffs as another potential way to pay for the president’s tax request.
Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney and Benjamin Guggenheim contributed to this report.