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Hello, friends. It’s been a long week on the Hill packed with tons of news and few hours of sleep (Rep. Blake Moore knows what I mean).
Your author has been running on pure adrenaline and energy drinks for the majority of this week, and by the time you’re reading this, I’ll be knee-deep in budget drama and possible markups as Republicans scramble to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.
But first, I’m diving in to what was once the biggest story in Washington but has since fallen to the wayside: What happened to Congress’ big plans to help DOGE with spending cuts?
The Big Idea
Death of DOGE? Collaboration breaks down in Congress
One of the biggest stories of the year on and off Capitol Hill is the Department of Government Efficiency: The newly created commission led by multibillionaire Elon Musk designed to cut spending in the federal government.
The agency has done its job to dominate the news cycle and headlines. And it’s certainly made waves in turning the government upside down. But in terms of its collaboration with lawmakers in D.C., that relationship has appeared to break down.
Earlier this week, Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz — the first Democrat to join the congressional DOGE caucus — told Politico the group on Capitol Hill was essentially dead. “It’s defunct. We haven’t met in months,” he told the outlet.
DOGE was officially created on Jan. 20, the first day of Trump’s second term. But DOGE-related caucuses began forming two months earlier after Republicans won the November election.
At the time, Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who were expected to co-lead DOGE, expressed interest in working closely with Congress. This included weekly communications, podcast collaborations, and more, the Deseret News has learned.
But after Ramaswamy exited DOGE — leaving Elon as the lone leader — that initial excitement began to diminish.
The congressional caucuses were designed to provide recommendations to the administrative DOGE team for spending cuts. However, that collaboration began to break down weeks into the administration, according to several members of the caucus.
In fact, there was “no interest to accept any of (the recommendations) at that time,” one source familiar with the caucus’ work told me. There was little to no outreach or communication with House members, which came as a shock to many members.
“There hasn’t been any work done to do the initial plan,” I was told.
For example, the caucus was supposed to meet with DOGE officials a few weeks ago but that meeting was canceled.
Instead, the caucus has evolved into a more reactionary body rather than a collaborative teammate — at least, that’s how several of these members described it to me.
So now, five months later, the momentum has all but slowed.
“There has not been the collaborative effort that we were hoping that we would have,” Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, told me in an interview.
Sessions acknowledged that DOGE officials inside the Office of Management and Budget are “bright people” but they have run into bureaucratic issues that have slowed progress. Sessions also said that the busy schedule of Congress trying to get Trump’s agenda through has hindered caucus projects.
“To be honest with you, I think we’re so darn busy,” Sessions told me. “We would have hoped we had (progress), and I still wish we will get it, and I expect to have it. But everybody has been so busy with our own great, great big bill.”
And that slow movement has made some constituents confused, wary, and downright angry. In fact, I get emails from readers pushing me to ask lawmakers about DOGE and what exactly they are accomplishing up here.
It’s put some lawmakers in a tricky position. Take Utah Rep. Blake Moore, for example. His district has one of the most dense federal workplace populations in the country. And he’s a co-chair of the DOGE caucus.
“We have an incredibly strong federal workforce district that works very hard, primarily in DOD, but (also) a big IRS processing facility, and a lot of them have just been really, really confused,” Moore told me in his office this week. “We’ve worked closely with all the agencies to try to help navigate this with them.”
One point of tension that has most concerned Republican lawmakers was Musk’s initial strategy of firing federal workers as a way to cut down on costs.
This is how one member put it: “These folks that work within these agencies, the majority of them want to be a part of the solution. But then they felt completely attacked by a five-bulletpoint email that really had no strategy behind it. It was mostly just demonizing them, instead of actually trying to work with them.”
Moore especially has pushed to include federal workers in conversations about how to identify waste and fraud within agencies, telling me the absence of such conversations is “a missed opportunity.”
The administration has since shifted from that strategy, placing Cabinet secretaries in charge of personnel decisions and operating in different ways to identify waste and fraud, which Moore says was a beneficial correction.
Moving forward, it’s not entirely clear what the DOGE caucus will focus on — especially if that communication with the administration is lacking.
Congress is expected to receive a formal rescissions package in the coming months with official requests to approve his spending cuts. While that process will mostly pertain to the House Appropriations Committee, Moore and Sessions told me they expect the DOGE caucus to have some sort of role.
And a message from Sessions to Moskowitz: “He still should expect there to be significant impact from this new way of doing business, where it is going to be value added and efficiency-oriented. So he should not become dismayed just yet.”
Stories driving the week
- Budget blowup: The House Budget Committee is expected to complete its markup of Trump’s big beautiful bill on Friday. But those plans could quickly change. Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, told reporters on Thursday there are “potentially enough” votes to tank the framework before it can come to the floor next week. Republicans can only afford to lose one GOP defector during the committee vote — and at least three have said they are definite nos.
- Lawmakers catch a snooze: A handful of lawmakers — including our very own Rep. Blake Moore — were caught falling asleep during marathon markup meetings this week as committees advanced their portions of Trump’s tax package. To be fair, the hearings dragged on through the night and lasted more than 12 hours (one even lasted longer than 24 hours!).
- Senate debut: Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, gave his first speech from the Senate floor with more than a dozen of his colleagues from both sides of the aisle in attendance. Curtis described the speech to me as a “pinch-me, almost surreal moment.” And in the address, he urged his colleagues to work together to ensure success for the country while engaging in radical honesty with constituents.
Two steps forward, one step back
House Republicans made substantial progress on their reconciliation bill this week as every committee has finished its individual portion of the package, leaving just the Budget Committee to combine the components into one mega-bill.
But with every step forward comes an obstacle to delay progress.
GOP leadership is now tasked with its next challenge: Getting all members on board to support the package when it comes to the floor next week. It’s a tall order. Assuming full attendance, Republicans can only lose two or three votes in total — and there are several factions growing within the conference that could threaten the bill altogether.
SALT. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., acknowledged on Thursday that the main roadblock at the moment is the SALT Caucus. Here’s a full explainer on what SALT is and how it’s affecting the GOP conference.
But a short recap: The SALT deduction limit is set to expire at the end of this year, which would return SALT to a deduction-free tax policy. As a result, Republicans from these high-tax states such as New York are using it as leverage to increase the deduction maximum to benefit their constituents — and are unafraid to tank the full package if those expansions are not included.
Energy credits. Another line being drawn in the sand has to do with clean energy tax credits and GOP efforts to repeal former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced a measure to repeal a number of clean energy tax credits included in the IRA, which has raised concerns among some Republicans who argue repealing those credits would raise costs and curb energy investments.
More than a dozen moderate Republicans sent Johnson a letter on Wednesday urging leadership to amend the measure passed by the committee. The group stopped short of threatening to vote against the package, but it could spell trouble if leadership skirts the request.
Medicaid cuts. One of the most significant changes proposed in the framework is to implement new work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries. The bill would require able-bodied adults without dependents to work at least 80 hours a month or complete some other activity such as community service.
However, those requirements wouldn’t kick in until 2029 — a stipulation that hardline conservatives say must be moved up or else they won’t support the final package when it comes to the floor. As a result, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said that requirement could be moved up, although conversations are still ongoing.
Quick Hits
From the Hill: U.S. could hit debt limit in August. … Schumer halts DOJ nominations over Qatari jet concerns. … Arrests made at U.S. Capitol as Congress advance Medicaid cuts. … Rep. Blake Moore spearheads ‘MAGA’ savings accounts for children.
From the White House: Trump endorses Utah GOP chairman in race against Lyman. … Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants to nix affirmative action at U.S. service academies. … Trump signs deals with Qatar, meets with Syrian president. … Trump expected to sign several executive orders on nuclear energy.
From the courts: The Supreme Court case that could change birthright citizenship as you know it. … Judge rules on outstanding matters in Utah school choice legal battle — clearing way for appeals.
What’s next
The House and Senate are back next week.
The House will focus solely on getting its reconciliation package through the chamber by the end of the week. The Senate is patiently waiting to see if they’ll actually get the bill in their hands when they return from Memorial Day recess.
As always, feel free to reach out to me by email with story ideas or questions you have for lawmakers. And follow me on X for breaking news and timely developments from the Hill.