Speaker Johnson to Musk: ‘Continue the effort … to restore fiscal sanity’
House Speaker Mike Johnson texted Elon Musk in the last hour, urging him to keep up his work with DOGE and telling him to "continue the effort, because it's really important for us to get to restore fiscal sanity."
When asked if he's comfortable with Elon Musk's role and access to federal agencies, Johnson emphasized the "very important service for the people" that Musk is doing, and that he is "encouraging him to continue digging."
Johnson also said "it's not that simple" when asked if Trump has the authority to shut down government agencies without Congress, adding that it "all depends on the details."
"If they're executive branch agencies, the executive is in charge of them. Congress funds them. But there are important, you know, questions to be asked about all the parameters of that. So, I don't have all the -- it's not an easy answer," Johnson said.
In regards to USAID, Johnson said, "there have been a lot of abuses in that agency" and said there will be "an appropriate action," though he added that they "haven't yet sorted out exactly what's happening with it" and he would not say whether the executive order to dismantle USAID violates the constitution.
– ABC News' Arthur Jones II and Lauren Peller





