Rand Paul Sheepishly Nods To Fact That Musk Is Not Supposed To Be In Charge Of Gov’t Funding

There has been such little pushback or even engagement, among Senate Republicans, with questions surrounding the fact that Elon Musk’s DOGE rampage is stomping all over Congress’ authority to fund the federal government that the driest cough in the direction of disagreement with DOGE operations feels notable.

We’ve been tracking these subtle breaks with Musk — and, in fact, “breaks” overstates it. They are mostly weak acknowledgements from Republicans that something might be a bit off here.

In reality, the DOGE federal funding freezes are not just lawless, but are also a violation of Congress’ authority to stand up agencies and fund the federal government. Musk, in other words, has seized for himself one of the few powers Congress has continued to regularly exercise — at least, up until 2025.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is the only Senate Republican who has said anything firm in recent weeks. She initially acknowledged a few weeks back that she is “concerned” that President Trump has given Musk power and authority “far beyond what I think is appropriate.”

Yesterday, she told Politico that Musk’s illicit activity clearly “violates Article I of the Constitution,” but said it was up to the courts to challenge the Trump administration’s actions.

When Musk first began breaking down the doors at various federal agencies earlier this month, my colleague Kate Riga asked Senate Republicans about the intrusion on the separation of powers. She got one response that is in a vein similar to a remark that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) gave this week, which I’ll unpack below. Per Kate, Sen Thom Tillis (R-NC) was of the mind that Musk should break as much as he wants and Congress will decide later how much breaking was actually appropriate:

At least one Senate Republican agrees that he’s infringing on Congress — but treated Musk’s promised sledgehammering of great swaths of the federal government as a hypothetical exercise that will likely never come to fruition.

“He may be wading into areas that will be congressional authority, period,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), considered one of the most electorally vulnerable Republicans in 2026, told TPM Tuesday in the elevator on his way to vote. “I don’t mind the disruptive thought process that we’re going through now. And then we’ll have to figure out to what extent this is something that can be done by the administration. If so, great. Otherwise we have to set about the work to authorize whatever kind of changes we all agree are necessary.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is reportedly on a similar page, or at least supposedly believes that Musk needs congressional approval for his sweeping freezes on federal funds. Per Politico:

Sen. Rand Paul asked Vice President JD Vance during Wednesday’s private lunch that the administration send DOGE’s cuts to Congress in a rescissions package, which a simple majority in each chamber could approve. “All the stuff they’re doing with DOGE is good,” Paul told reporters. “But it’s not real until we vote on it.”

Both Tillis and Paul’s perspectives, of course, sidestep the fact that the damage is being done now. And its repercussions are already pretty permanent.