Elon Musk's star power and political clout has was on
display at the Capitol Hill on Thursday.
The world's richest man and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy met
with the legislators behind closed doors to discuss president-elect Donald
Trump's plans to cut government spending.
Trump is named Musk and Ramaswamy as Co leaders of
the newly created Department of Government Efficiency.
That is Dodge, and although the office is a purely
an advisory role, its influence was very clearly visible.
So as Musk and Ramaswamy strode into the capital, the
Republican Speaker, Mike Johnson touted that a new dawn has
come in America.
We're all excited.
I know you're all excited that Elon Musk and Vivek
Ramaswamy have joined us today.
This is an important day.
It's the beginning of a journey.
You've heard what DOGE is all about, the Department of
Government efficiency.
It's a new thing.
And this is a new day in Washington and a
new day in America.
During Trump's election campaign, Musk in fact vowed to reduce
federal spending by nearly about $2 trillion, and this would
represent cutting the total US spending by nearly 1/3.
The writing of the Wall Street Journal last month, Elon
Musk and Ramaswamy had laid out their plans for the
White House to cut staff to trim down government programs
and also to reduce federal regulations, even if this means
bypassing the Congress, which holds the budgetary power.
However, some prominent lawmakers and both sides have supported the
initiative highlighting plans to track spending cuts.
Even progressive Senator Bernie Sanders is agreed with Musk on
reducing the Pentagon wastage.
And we all can respond.
And Susan Tehrani has been tracking the story very closely
for this and the Centers.
This report listening.
Republican lawmakers met with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to
discuss shrinking the federal government under the new Trump administration.
The meetings were held in private led by House Speaker
Mike Johnson, who focused on a creating quote UN quote,
more leaner and more efficient government through the Department of
Government Efficiency or better known as DOGE.
Aiming to not only cut federal programs, reduce regulation, but
even fire some workers.
Johnson criticized current government spending, calling for federal employees to
return to offices, criticizing those who work from home.
Prominent lawmakers like Marjorie Taylor Green and Senator Rick Scott
a support of the initiative.
Of course, they were highlighting plans to track spending cuts
as well.
Even progressives like Bernie Sanders agreed that a government spending
should be reduced and so should waste.
Democrats Rohana and John Federman have expressed support or to
working with Ramaswami and Elon Musk in this regard.
However, the question is how far can this initiative really
go practically moving forward?
That's the big question.
Susan Tehrani reporting from New York for WE on World
this one.