Can Elon Musk cut the federal deficit? This Texas congressman is ready to help. | Opinion
Will Republicans have the courage to use their newly won power to change how Washington spends taxpayers' money? We'll soon find out.
Republicans are supposed to be the party of limited government and personal responsibility.
Yet most Republicans in Congress have no problem voting to increase spending that keeps the federal government operating but also drives up the national debt.
That is why the new Department of Government Efficiency, to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, is both vital and precarious. DOGE's goals are straightforward. But its capacity for success likely will be difficult to manage because its existence cuts straight to the heart of the Republican Party's dichotomy: Will GOP members of Congress cut spending when it affects their districts and constituents?
Chip Roy is among the original champions of DOGE
Before there was DOGE and its adventurous co-leaders began to harp on government waste, a few Republicans in Congress have stood athwart their own party's hypocrisy when it comes to spending.
One of them is Rep. Chip Roy from Texas.
The cancer survivor and family man has been an elected leader for only a few years, but the 52-year-old has worked in Washington, D.C., long enough − having previously served under Texas Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz − that he knows it's a swamp. And he's waded in waist deep to bail out the GOP.
I spoke to the Austin-area representative about DOGE because he has criticized Republicans' spending habits since he was elected in 2018. DOGE might be a new idea for some members of Congress, President-elect Donald Trump and a swath of the more than 77 million Americans who voted for Trump, but it isn't to Roy.
I asked him about the meeting that Musk and Ramaswamy had with members of Congress this month to discuss the details of DOGE. Roy reportedly laid into his colleagues in that meeting for perpetuating the spending that they now want Musk and and Ramaswamy to cut.
While he said he prefers to keep the details of what his colleagues said in the meeting private, he was more than happy to tell me what he thought about DOGE, Republicans and spending.
“What I will say now about DOGE is that Republicans are the ones who voted for all these omnibuses. Congress has been funding these programs." Roy said. "Republicans need to look at themselves."
On Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast last week, Roy described how he called out GOP lawmakers in the meeting with Musk and Ramaswamy: "I said, guys, you know, we've been looking for the enemy, and the enemy's us, right. It's the people in this room."
In a speech on the House floor, Roy repeated the theme: "The fact of the matter is, too many members of the U.S. Congress are all too excited to hide behind Elon and Vivek to do the work they're supposed to do. That's the truth."
In fact, he said during the speech that he'd prefer that the "E" in DOGE stand for "Elimination" rather than "Efficiency."
"We'd be a lot better off if we were eliminating large swaths of that which has been unconstitutionally created to rack up $36 trillion in debt," Roy said.
Few Republicans will say that out loud. Even fewer actually support such cuts when Congress negotiates spending bills.
Republicans help fuel a massive federal deficit
Don't get me wrong, DOGE is one of the best ideas to come out of Trump's election. Our federal government is bloated, bureaucratic and racked up a $1.8 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2024.
Spending and regulation must be trimmed. Musk and Ramaswamy have an extraordinarily important task ahead of them.
However, the deficit and the debt didn't skyrocket solely because of the American people. It didn't happen only because of Democrats in the White House and Congress. It has happened because congressional Republicans went along with Democrats in the executive and legislative branches to spend far more money than the federal government takes in.
Just one example: In 2022, Congress approved and President Joe Biden signed a $1.7 trillion spending bill, the Consolidated Appropriations Act.
Joining the Democrats in voting for it were 18 Senate Republicans and nine Republican House members. Yet, it is Musk and Ramaswamy who must now try to rein in what Republicans have helped to unleash.
Roy said Congress needs to start getting spending under control by eliminating waste and fraud in the health care system, including Medicare. That might be politically difficult, because of constituents' concerns about how spending cuts could affect them.
Each member of Congress faces pressure to maintain the status quo and to just go along with more spending.
"Now Republicans are talking about a $111 billion for (the Federal Emergency Management Agency)," Roy told me. "People need help in tough times. I'm for that. But we need to be able to pay for it, too."
DOGE won't test only government programs. It also will test whether Republicans really believe in limited government.
On Jan. 20, Republicans will control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Will they have the courage to use that power to change how Washington spends taxpayers' money?
We'll soon find out.
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with Paste BN. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.