(NewsNation) — Is Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency, being transparent? U.S. Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Byron Donalds, R-Fla., debated on NewsNation’s “CUOMO.”
“It’s been, what, 19 days or so into the Trump Administration, and so I think there’s a little bit of patience that you have to have,” Donalds said of Musk’s role in the White House.
President Donald Trump created the department to cut federal spending and hired tech billionaire Musk to oversee operations. In less than a month since the new administration took office, DOGE has upended some federal agencies, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Critics say Musk’s oversight is overreaching.
“The problem is that he’s doing it unilaterally, without involving Congress, and that anyone would make mistakes. That’s why we have Congress,” Khanna said. “I know it’s a messy process, but we’ve got 435 people. You’d get asked questions, you would be corrected if you make a mistake.”
Khanna said Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who was initially intended to co-chair the department, reached out at the start.
“I’ve known Elon for 15 years. I’ve always said he’s a brilliant entrepreneur and one of the most consequential entrepreneurs of our generation,” Khanna said. “When DOGE was established, he and Vivek contacted me. I said, ‘Come to the Hill. I’ll set up a meeting with Democrats. And if you’re serious about going after certain ways, let’s do it together.'”
But Musk has largely been seen as acting alone.
“We don’t itemize specifically what the federal agencies need to do. Most of the law is written to say, ‘At the discretion of the secretary of blah, blah, blah,'” Donalds said. “That’s how you can have a special employee like Elon Musk go through the agencies and say, ‘Stop everything. I want to examine this. I want to examine that,’ etc.”
