According to a report from NBC, President Donald Trump informed his Cabinet secretaries during a meeting on Thursday that they will have the final say on staffing decisions, not Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Trump reportedly instructed Cabinet members and DOGE to team up and work on spending and workforce reductions. However, he clarified that final job cuts will happen at the discretion of the department leaders.
President Trump’s new mandate regarding DOGE
“We just had a meeting with most of the Secretaries, Elon, and others, and it was a very positive one,” Trump shared on Truth Social. “It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people.”
President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post explaining how Elon Musk’s DOGE and Cabinet members can work together to manage federal government costs. Source: Donald Trump (Truth Social)
Trump implied that secretaries will genuinely work to understand people working in various departments and will use their knowledge to decide who goes and who stays. “We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet,’” Trump said.
The message is the first time Trump has publicly put a leash on Musk’s authority as he continues to help reshape the federal government. Some even see it as early signs of dissent between DOGE and the Cabinet members.
Several members of the Cabinet were unhappy with Musk’s recent order, which asked federal employees to outline their achievements for the week or face termination, with multiple agencies and departments initially resisting the effort.
While the new message implies some excesses on Musk’s end, Trump also praised him and DOGE after Thursday’s meeting for what they have gotten done so far.
“I think they’ve done an amazing job,” the president told reporters. Musk also tagged the meeting a “very productive” one in a post on X. It marks his second time attending a Trump Cabinet meeting.
At the first cabinet meeting he attended last month, Musk called DOGE a “support function” to help the federal agencies “find a 15% reduction in fraud and waste.”
In recent weeks, DOGE has faced significant backlash, especially from federal workers, unions, and progressive groups, people who have been affected by its actions. All the confusion has been building up to a chaotic conclusion, which is probably why the president has decided to step in with a leash for the agency.
Musk still has a huge role to play
According to Trump’s comments to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, his directive to his Cabinet members was to “Keep all the people you want, all the people that you need.”
It was most likely a move to appease his aggrieved Cabinet members, who have increasingly been clashing with DOGE over several interests, most especially employment. The order reduces Musk’s power, but he can still do a lot.
Trump has indicated that Musk will step in if the department heads fail to make sufficient cuts.
“If they can cut, it’s better. If they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting,” Trump said.
Trump and Musk have been trying to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce, which has led to the dismissal of thousands of employees and the shuttering of entire agencies.
Senate DOGE Caucus pose for a photo with Elon Musk. Source: Elon Musk (X/Twitter)
As earlier stated, the speed and intensity with which the cuts have been happening has not sat well with some Republican members of Congress, and it has sparked calls for greater transparency into DOGE’s work, particularly after some lawmakers faced fierce backlash from people at town halls in their districts.
So, on top of the Herculean task of cleaning up government excesses, DOGE has to also pacify crowds the whole way. Musk even had to meet with Senate Republicans for nearly two hours behind closed doors on Wednesday to address their concerns over potential voter backlash to the cuts.
The meeting was organized by Sen. Rick Scott after several Republican senators raised concerns with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles last month about being kept out of the loop on DOGE’s work.
Musk also met with House Republicans on Wednesday, later informing reporters that he spoke about the “opportunity to improve expenditures in the government.”
Is DOGE actually working?
It depends on who you ask. To date, sentiments regarding the newly created agency are mixed. According to one CBS News/YouGov poll conducted between February 26 and February 28, 2025, only slim majorities support Musk’s involvement and efforts to shrink the federal workforce.
Earlier this month, Musk revealed that DOGE has a very high “approval” from people as a whole, a fact he contrasted with the criticism he was getting.
These majorities consist mostly of Republicans and fans of Musk and Trump, many of whom see government spending as excessive. DOGE now says it has saved $105 billion so far, and while it has been a challenge to verify this figure, the agency’s supporters still praise it for its work.
It has been difficult to verify that DOGE is actually doing what it says it’s doing, and this has added to the backlash.
It does not help matters that DOGE’s “wall of receipts” website, which was meant to showcase savings, has been full of errors. Some of these involved the agency claiming credit for canceled contracts that ended years ago or inflating figures.
