Democrats on the House DOGE subcommittee continuously pushed for Elon Musk to testify before Congress on his actions with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.
The hearing on Wednesday was the first of the new subcommittee, which is being chaired by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Greene billed the subcommittee as fighting the “war on waste shoulder to shoulder with President Trump, Elon Musk and the DOGE team,” during her opening remarks, and hoped to partner with Musk for cuts to government waste.
Democrats took an adversarial stance toward Musk, with subcommittee ranking member Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) taking shots at President Donald Trump and Musk for “recklessly and illegally dismantling the federal government” in their efforts to cut waste, and invited Musk, who heads DOGE, to testify.
“We are well aware that you are eager to engage with members of Congress on social media, but we’re not here to play. If you have serious desire to engage in democracy and transparency, we welcome you to the Oversight Committee. Come and testify in front of the American people under oath because we want to know what you’re up to,” Stansbury said.
Democrats wanted to subpoena Musk during a House Oversight Committee hearing last week, but the vote failed, 19-20, with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) not voting.
Greene told reporters after the hearing that bringing Musk in to testify before Congress would be counterproductive, claiming that Democrats would just use the opportunity to “berate” and “attack” him.
“I think Democrats want Elon Musk in front of the committee so they can berate him, attack him, and harass him. Right now, President Trump, myself, and many others really want Elon Musk to stay focused on what he’s doing, and that is rooting out the waste, fraud, and abuse that has continued on for years within the federal government agencies,” Greene said.
“At this time, they’re working very hard, and they’re finding out incredible information. It’s unreal what they found out,” Greene added.
Musk was not present at the packed committee hearing, but he was a looming presence. Democrats frequently mentioned the billionaire DOGE head throughout the hearing on improper payments and fraud.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) mocked Greene and Musk by offering up a photo of Elon Musk as a “dick pic” and said that Musk wants to “hurt people” while giving “it to themselves, their companies, and their billionaire friends.”
Another Democratic firebrand, Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), took shots at Trump for dismissing inspectors general who were also looking into Musk’s companies and claimed Republicans were prioritizing “billionaire tax cuts.”
“This will not be a subcommittee dedicated to making government efficient for everyday people. It’s about helping Elon Musk and Donald Trump be as efficient as possible in robbing our government and handing out our government services to the rich. So this seems that this subcommittee is a sham, a total sham,” Casar said.
Republicans on the subcommittee chided their Democratic colleagues for their criticism of Musk and argued they were not focusing on the purpose of the hearing. Rep. William Timmons (R-SC) responded to Garcia’s antics by saying it was “sad” they could not take the hearing seriously. Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) took aim at Democrats for leaving before the two-hour-long hearing ended and for focusing all their attacks on Musk.
“If we’ve learned anything so far, it’s that Republicans want to cut waste, fraud, and abuse from our federal government and save taxpayer dollars, and Democrats want to grandstand and play politics. We can see right now, even of the six Democrats on this committee, only one can even be bothered to stay for the duration of this hearing,” Gill said.
“All we’ve heard about for most of this hearing from the other side of the aisle is Elon Musk. Elon Musk. Elon Musk, unelected bureaucrat. I’d like to ask if Democrats really care about unelected bureaucrats making decisions over our lives,” Gill added, questioning why Democrats were OK with past instances of bureaucrats making policy.
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Greene believed her first hearing leading a subcommittee was “extremely successful,” and the Georgia Republican said she is hopeful Democrats will work to advance the committee’s work to cut waste.
“I welcome any work to stop waste, fraud, and abuse by Democrats. I completely welcome it. I heard of a few of the Democrat members in there sounded serious about it, but also, I saw some others use their five minutes to attack President Trump, attack Elon Musk, attack me, and basically make political theater of the whole thing,” Greene said.
