Elon Musk is frustrated with Republicans wasting DOGE's effort to cut. So am I. | Opinion
It took him a few months, but Elon Musk now knows what I've always known. Congress is afraid to truly cut our spending.
I wrote a column in March arguing that Elon Musk’s efforts with the Department of Government Efficiency to cut federal spending would accomplish nothing as long as Congress continues to spend money we don’t have. It seems that Musk now agrees with me.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk said in a recent interview, referring to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which would add $3.8 trillion to the deficit by 2034 if passed.
It took Musk just four months of being a part of the government to realize how futile the effort of cutting spending truly is. Regardless of what the executive branch does, Congress will only exacerbate the problem.
Musk sees that the government can’t be fixed without Congress
Balancing the federal budget is a noble goal. As much as I agree with the mission of DOGE in theory, I realize that in practice, it can do very little for balancing the budget without Congress.
Musk and DOGE could not cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or defense spending – the areas that actually make up significant portions of the U.S. budget.
In a perfect world, DOGE should operate as an adviser to Congress, sending cuts that cannot be accomplished through executive power for legislators to slash. The GOP is waking up to that fact, as it was reported on May 28 that the White House plans to send a package of cuts to Congress for approval soon.
None of this matters so long as Congress continues to spend.
I do think Musk is genuine in his aim of cutting government waste, and I imagine it is rather disheartening for him to watch his work be outspent by a factor of trillions.
Congress has no incentive to cut spending
Congress scores points by claiming to be against reckless spending before the 2026 elections, but lawmakers never have the political courage to cut programs once they are in office. It is far more desirable for them to try to buy votes than it is for them to yank back federal dollars from people.
If nobody is willing to take the political hit of clawing money back, then deficit spending will only increase.
The Trump-endorsed One Big Beautiful Bill Act is estimated to add $3.8 trillion to the federal deficit over 2026-34. If you compare that with the money Musk saved from DOGE, experts have only been able to pinpoint roughly $2 billion in actual savings.
It appears that DOGE, functionally, was a charade and has been used by congressional Republicans to act as if they are cutting spending while actually worsening the deficit.
Just two Republican House members could muster up the courage to vote against the legislation on the grounds of deficit spending.
While the Senate is reportedly planning significant changes to the legislation, the fact that it has reached this point is disheartening.
Only Congress can solve the spending problem, but to do so would require our elected representatives to grow a spine.
The much more likely outcome is that we continue to spend to the point that our descendants are saddled with an insurmountable national debt.
Republican lawmakers used Musk to pretend they actually care about spending, rather than actually accomplish a balanced budget. It's a shame his seemingly genuine effort is to be wasted.
Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for Paste BN and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.