Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis accused congressional Republicans Tuesday of “betrayal” by failing to codify spending cuts pursued by the Elon Musk-guided Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Elon Musk took massive incoming — including attacks on his companies as well as personal smears — to lead the effort on DOGE,” DeSantis, who was elected to Congress three times before resigning in 2018 to pursue a successful gubernatorial run, lamented on X. “He became public enemy #1 of legacy media around the world.
“To see Republicans in Congress cast aside any meaningful spending reductions (and, in fact, fully fund things like USAID) is demoralizing and represents a betrayal of the voters who elected them.”
Last week, House Republicans narrowly passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which calls for more than $1.5 trillion in reduced spending over the next 10 years while also increasing the deficit via extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.
DOGE estimates that it has saved taxpayers more than $175 billion, though that claim is disputed, with third-party monitors charging its purported savings are overstated.
Republican lawmakers, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have publicly said they intend to codify as much of the DOGE cuts as possible.
However, in order to bypass a Democratic filibuster on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — which would require 60 votes to break — the GOP is leveraging the Senate reconciliation process, which is governed by strict rules that limit what Republicans can do.
Under reconciliation, lawmakers are limited to actions that impact the budget, which usually means adjustments to the tax code and mandatory spending on programs like food stamps and Medicaid.
Most of the spending DOGE has tackled is discretionary and subject to regular congressional appropriations, as White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller explained Sunday on X.
“The senate [sic] rules prevent it from cutting ‘discretionary’ spending — eg the Department of Education or federal grants. The DOGE cuts are overwhelmingly discretionary, not mandatory,” he said. “The bill saves more than 1.6 TRILLION in mandatory spending, including the largest-ever welfare reform. A remarkable achievement.”
Some Republicans have floated the use of a “rescissions package” to enshrine the DOGE cuts and claw back funding that had been previously appropriated but wasn’t used. Such legislation can also bypass the 60-vote threshold needed to break a filibuster.
DeSantis’ Tuesday attack on congressional Republicans came in response to a viral X post from Matt Van Swol, a former nuclear scientist at the Department of Energy.
“DOGE is literally one of the most popular government initiatives in history,” Van Swol wrote. “73% of Americans say they support cutting government waste. Trump brought in the smartest man on earth to do it… …the Left destroyed Elon for it …the GOP won’t vote on it I can’t believe this.”
Musk later responded: “Did my best.”
The world’s richest man has since wound down his role in the Trump administration, saying last week that he plans to do “a lot less” political spending in the future.
