Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday signaled that House Republicans are “eager and ready” to formalize the White House’s so-called DOGE cuts as soon as President Donald Trump’s team makes the official request to Congress.
“The House is eager and ready to act on DOGE’s findings so we can deliver even more cuts to big government that President Trump wants and the American people demand,” Johnson posted on X.
The White House is expected to make its first recommended “recissions” – or spending cuts that effectively claw back federal dollars – early next week when Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess, according to a source familiar with the matter. The anticipated package is expected to check in at over $9 billion, the source said.
The precise timing of the White House’s proposal is not yet clear, but House Republicans expect to receive the White House’s formal request “very soon,” one GOP lawmaker familiar with the discussions said.
The request, according to the source familiar and GOP lawmaker, is expected to target programs like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a small chunk of the federal budget that provides some public funding for NPR and PBS, as well as foreign assistance – an issue that has been dicey with GOP leaders in Congress who oversee the State Department.
Johnson’s comments come hours after a video circulated of Elon Musk, the billionaire who led the Department of Government Efficiency, directly criticizing the White House and House Republicans for its pricey domestic megabill.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk told “CBS Sunday Morning.”
“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful. I don’t know that it can be both,” Musk said of the legislation, which GOP leaders named the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” after Trump’s comments about the package.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said on X earlier Wednesday that she was told the first DOGE cuts bill would appear on Monday, writing that “foreign aid and NPR/CPB on the chopping block.”
Johnson’s post did not specify when exactly the White House would formally transmit its request or what it would target.
As soon as the White House makes its request, Congress has 45 days to consider it – a potentially tight timeline with Senate Republicans focusing on an effort to pass their version of Trump’s domestic policy package. The House passed its version of the bill prior to the Memorial Day recess.
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