Some Republicans are becoming increasingly uneasy over Elon Musk’s DOGE as its sweeping purges inch closer to home, according to Axios.
The federal cost-cutting task force—which Republicans have largely praised in public for its goal of streamlining the government—has now begun slashing jobs and funding in GOP districts and states. One Republican lawmaker warned that the efforts could trigger a full-blown meltdown in Congress.
“I think you’re going to see a clash when they... start abolishing [agencies],” the House Republican told Axios. “Say like USAID, right? We authorized that. That’s a creature of Congress.”
“If they try to do something like that, then you’re going to get into a constitutional argument or crisis.”
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins slammed DOGE for “making mistakes,” pointing to the accidental firing of employees responsible for controlling the H5N1 avian flu outbreak. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is now scrambling to undo the damage.
The Trump administration is moving “too fast,” she told Axios, warning that the bird flu incident and other recent moves “violate restrictions that are in current law.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski also blasted the “awful” treatment of her state’s federal employees caught up in DOGE’s purges.
“We all want efficiencies, there is a way to do it, and the way these people have been treated has been awful in many cases. Awful,” the Alaska Republican told Axios.
Some federal workers received two-sentence emails notifying them of their termination, with only a vague reference to “changing priorities,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Washington Post also reported that some Republican lawmakers are pleading with the Trump administration to release funds as DOGE clamps down on federal spending.
In an update on its website on Monday, DOGE claimed to have saved taxpayers an estimated $55 billion since Trump was sworn in as president on Jan. 20.
The figure is “a combination of fraud detection/deletion, contract/lease cancellations, contract/lease renegotiations, asset sales, grant cancellations, workforce reductions, programmatic changes, and regulatory savings,” DOGE said.
DOGE’s next target is reported to be the Pentagon, Politico reported Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
