Musk to hold talks with Republicans on sweeping spending cuts

Donald Trump's incoming government efficiency chief Elon Musk will meet Republican lawmakers next week to begin discussions about the tech billionaire's new commission tasked with cutting billions of dollars in federal spending.

Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, said in a post on X he was looking forward to hosting Musk next Thursday, along with his co-leader of Trump's newly announced "Department of Government Efficiency," Vivek Ramaswamy.

The pair will "discuss major reform ideas to achieve regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions, and cost savings," Johnson said, praising Trump for making possible a revival of "the principle of limited government."

While Trump and Musk have claimed that $2 trillion could potentially be saved, most experts believe this is not realistic without cuts to crucial services or benefits.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who also owns X, said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that DOGE -- which is not an official department and has no statutory authority -- would work to slash federal regulations and make major administrative changes.

"We are entrepreneurs, not politicians. We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees," the world's richest man wrote, in an article co-authored by Ramaswamy.

A new House subcommittee working in tandem with the panel will be led by far right lawmaker Marjorie Taylor-Greene.

"We'll be looking at everything from government-funded media programs like (National Public Radio) that spread nothing but Democrat propaganda," she told Fox News on Sunday.

"We'll be going into grant programs that fund things like sex apps in Malaysia, toilets in Africa, all kinds of programs that don't help the American people."

© Agence France-Presse