In personal debate with Republican legislators this year, the billionaire tech tycoon insisted that the common rejections of national workers, including veterans, were decisions made by individual agencies—not by him. His remarks come as he leads the Department of Government Efficiency ( DOGE ) in its mission to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal system.
Musk, a close director to President Donald Trump, enjoys solid Republican support for his job at DOGE. But, as task reduces ripple through areas nationwide, GOP lawmakers are facing backlash and pressing him for solutions.
” Elon doesn’t flame people”, said Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N. C., after a closed-door conference with Musk in the Capitol’s room. ” He doesn’t include hiring and firing power. The president’s compelled him to get reveal this information, that’s it”.
Trump signs caution, but backs Musk’s position
The Republican leader weighed in on Thursday, urging company mind to be precise in their choices. ” Be quite specific” about who stays or goes, Trump posted on social media, advocating a “scalpel rather than the axe” method.
” I don’t want to see a big slice where a lot of good folks are cut”, Trump after told reporters in the Oval Office.
While Trump maintained that company leaders would guide the process, he even suggested Musk may intervene more firmly if needed. ” If they can split, it’s better. And if they don’t cut, therefore Elon will do the cutting”.
Trump also announced that Musk and Cabinet officers did satisfy every two months to improve cost-cutting activities.
Legal issues mount as task breaks escalate
Musk’s position in reshaping the federal labor is facing mounting legal attention. Lawsuits are piling up over his aggressive force to strengthen state control and avoid legislative authority over national spending.
One key dispute involves the White House’s Office of Personnel Management ( OPM), which instructed agencies to fire probationary workers who lack full civil service protection. The sweeping dismissals led to dramatic staff cuts, some of which were afterwards reversed—such as the resumption of employees in nuclear weapons programs.
A federal judge in San Francisco raised fears about the legality of these large pregnancies, prompting the leadership to change blame to adult firms more than Musk or the OPM.
” Some of the folks that were the probationary people, he didn’t fire them, they were actually supposedly fired by the agencies — and they messed up”, said Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla.
Asked whether Musk himself used the phrase” they messed up”, Gimenez clarified:” Well, if they were in fact, you know, critical people, and the agency did the firing, then yeah, they messed up. But not him”.
Musk’s influence rattles Washington
Musk and his team have embedded themselves deep within federal agencies, gaining access to sensitive data and challenging long-standing bureaucratic structures. Their aggressive approach has unnerved career officials, with top executives—such as those at the Social Security Administration—resigning rather than complying with Musk’s demands.
The billionaire appears unfazed by the upheaval. ” We’re making good progress”, he remarked as he moved swiftly through the halls of Congress late Wednesday.
Musk’s reputation as a risk-taking visionary is well established through his ventures, including SpaceX, Tesla, and social media platform X. But his leadership at DOGE represents his first direct foray into government operations—where political backlash is unavoidable.
During a Senate lunch discussion, Musk was quick to distance himself from the firings.
” I would say that there was an argument that that’s not coming from DOGE, it’s actually coming from individual agencies”, said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., went further, suggesting Musk believed some agencies mishandled the process deliberately. ” The point that he was making is that DOGE had not made recommendations for across-the-board cuts of all probationary employees at every agency”, Barr said.
Instead, he suggested that some agencies “implemented it improperly through either incompetence or in a handful of cases actual malicious efforts to sabotage and create a public relations problem for DOGE”.
Some workers reinstated amid growing backlash
Amid the fallout, some federal agencies are walking back job cuts. This week, about 180 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were informed they could return to work. Their recall email carried an urgent subject line:” Read this email immediately”.
Musk was invited to Capitol Hill by Trump’s allies and GOP leaders to address lawmakers facing tough questions about the DOGE layoffs. With Republican lawmakers feeling the heat at town halls back home, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., advised them to engage with constituents in less confrontational settings.
To improve communication, Musk provided his personal phone number—to senators, but not to House members. His team is also setting up a dedicated phone line where lawmakers can raise concerns or offer input on which jobs and agencies should be spared.
Democrats sound the alarm
Democrats and advocacy groups are warning that the sweeping cuts could have devastating consequences for ordinary Americans.
On Thursday, 141 House Democrats, led by Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia, wrote to the acting director of the OPM, urging the reinstatement of all unlawfully terminated probationary employees.
” Indiscriminately firing thousands of these employees threatens the future of the nonpartisan federal workforce and our government’s ability to deliver life-saving services to the American people”, the letter read.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a challenge to Republicans: if they want to dismantle federal agencies, they should bring it to Congress.
” We welcome that fight”, Jeffries said. ” We’ll stand on the side of the American people, and ( Republicans will ) continue to stand on the side of Elon Musk”.
