(Refiling to correct spelling of Senator Tillis' first name to

"Thom" instead of "Tom" in paragraph 7)

*

Musk, Ramaswamy calling for dramatic changes to government

*

Republicans eager to cut spending but have struggled to do

so

recently

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON, Dec 5 - Billionaire Elon Musk and former

presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy met on Thursday with

Republican lawmakers whose support they will need to win the

sweeping spending cuts that President-elect Donald Trump has

asked them to find.

The two entrepreneurs have been named by Trump to a task

force that aims for a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. government,

which spent $6.8 trillion in the most recent fiscal year. Musk

has set a target of $2 trillion in savings, though he has not

said whether that would come in a single year or over a longer

period. The two chairs of the "Department of Government

Efficiency" have called for firing thousands of federal workers,

slashing regulations and eliminating programs whose

authorization has expired, such as veterans' healthcare.

That could be easier said than done. Any changes to

veterans' benefits or other popular programs that serve millions

of Americans would likely encounter fierce blowback, and efforts

to thin the workforce could disrupt everything from law

enforcement to air traffic control.

Musk, clutching the hand of a small child, rushed down the

corridors of the Capitol near the Senate chamber while

surrounded by police, reporters and photographers.

After being peppered with questions about whether he would

support cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid

and cuts to defense, Musk finally replied: "I think we just need

to make sure we spend the public's money well."

Asked about getting rid of electric vehicle tax credits,

Musk said: "I think we should get rid of all credits."

Ramaswamay met separately with a group of Senate Republicans

including Thom Tillis, who said he believed there were "tens of

billions of dollars" in spending that could be quickly clawed

back.

As co-chairs of the efficiency task force, Musk, the

billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Ramaswamy, a

former biotech executive, would likely have to work with

Congress to secure significant reductions.

Republicans will control both chambers of Congress and the

White House next year, but they may struggle to win significant

reductions. While lawmakers sign off on roughly $1.7 trillion in

defense and domestic programs each year, most federal spending

consists of health, pension and other benefit programs that lie

outside of the annual budget process. Lawmakers have no control

over interest payments, which are projected to top $1 trillion

in this fiscal year.

Republican lawmakers have said they are eager to cooperate.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a hard-right firebrand,

will chair a House of Representatives panel to work with Musk

and Ramaswamy, and Senate lawmakers have also expressed openness

to the idea. Republicans secured limited spending cuts in a 2023

showdown with Democratic President Joe Biden but have been

unable to agree on further reductions since then.

Trump has broken with conservative orthodoxy by saying he

will not cut benefits for the Social Security pension plan or

the Medicare health plan for seniors, which together account for

more than one-third of federal spending.

Trump also showed little interest in spending cuts during

his first 2017-2021 term in office, when federal expenditures

grew from $4 trillion to $6.2 trillion. Congress did not act on

his proposal to eliminate more than a dozen small government

agencies and failed to repeal Democratic President Barack

Obama's signature Affordable Care Act, a central goal of the

party.

Ramaswamy said on Wednesday that the Trump administration

should first try to find savings by reducing waste, fraud and

abuse in benefit programs like Social Security before asking

lawmakers to consider more difficult reforms.

"We're taking on a very big problem here and we're going

into it with an appropriate level of humility," he said at the

Aspen Security Forum in Washington.