Paul is pushing for votes on the cuts — not out of concerns over the controversial Elon Musk-led group's actions — but because he says the savings aren't official and accounted for.
The Kentucky lawmaker is pressing colleagues in the Senate for up-or-down congressional votes of specific cuts minus any filibuster. It's a process known as rescission.
"So all the administration would have to do is bundle together several hundred billion dollars of savings, which it appears they're finding, bundle it together in one bill, send it back to us, and by simple majority, without any help from the Democrats, Republicans can cut spending," he explained.
According to the Associated Press, senators who recently briefed Musk on recission said he had never heard of it before, a "striking admission" given that it's the only way for the executive branch to legally refuse to spend money that congress has given it.
Critics have questioned Musk's reported savings through DOGE. Close to 40% of the federal contracts that President Donald Trump’s administration claims to have axed as part of its cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money, the administration’s own data shows.
DOGE has said the goal is to slash $1 trillion cutting in federal spending by the end of the fiscal year in September.
The White House has not revealed how DOGE calculates its savings totals or how the cost-cutting group could work with Congress.