Elon Musk spoke with House Republicans on Wednesday night
Several people said Musk pointed to areas where the government could be made more efficient, including an audit of how many dead people were de-listed off some federal benefits like Social Security but still had taxpayer dollars going into their accounts for unemployment or other programs.
"A lot of this is cross-referencing databases, making sure they're talking to each other," Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, a member of the subcommittee, told Fox News Digital.
Two lawmakers present for the meeting also said the idea of a congressional rescissions package was floated as another way to claw back excessive government spending, as Republicans and Democrats battle over giving President Donald Trump leeway to spend less money than Congress appropriates.
Rescissions authority is granted to Congress to allow for the cancelation of some planned government spending.
It's also among the special cases where the Senate only needs 51 votes to pass a bill, rather than 60 – meaning Senate Republicans can pass it without Democratic support.
Greene confirmed the sit-down to reporters but did not mention talk of congressional spending authority.
"We had a very lengthy meeting, just my DOGE committee with Elon Musk and his team, and learned a lot of valuable information. The collaboration is going to be fantastic and it needs to happen," Greene said.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden said he raised concerns about veterans and farmers. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
It comes as some House Republicans have faced contentious town halls or demonstrations related to Musk and DOGE in their home districts. GOP lawmakers previously shared frustrations with Fox News Digital that they were often left somewhat in the dark on Musk's work.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., told reporters he aired similar concerns in the closed-door meeting. Musk was receptive to those issue, he added.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"I spoke to Elon specifically about this. There are our veterans and our farmers. So there's a lot of angst going right now because people don't understand what's going on," Van Orden said. "And I expressed very clearly the concerns of our veterans community. And Mr. Musk was explicitly clear that we will make sure that we have no degradation of the benefits for our veterans that they have earned."
The back-to-back House meetings for Musk came after he spoke with Senate Republicans in a similar closed-door setting.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/elon-musk-strategizes-trillion-spending-cuts-house-doge-panel-closed-door-meeting