Tipsheet

House Moves to Codify DOGE Cuts After Two GOP Reps Flip Their Votes

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  June 12, 2025 7:35 PM

Elon Musk should be happy now: the House voted to push through his DOGE cuts. The Tesla CEO got into a very public spat with President Donald Trump, even going so far as to pretty much accuse the president of being a pedophile, suggesting baselessly that the slow-walking of the Epstein Files was because Trump was on them. Everything cooled down in 36 hours, Elon deleted tweets about Trump and Epstein, and the pair did have a phone call and made peace. Musk admitted his tweets went too far. 

Mr. Musk has opposed the budget reconciliation package for numerous reasons. His DOGE cuts were not included because they can’t be since this isn’t an appropriations bill. Now, they can be through a recissions package, which passed after two Republicans flipped their votes (via WSJ): 

House Republicans narrowly passed a $9.4 billion rescissions package that includes cuts to foreign aid as well as the entity that funds National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. 

The vote was 214-212, after some last-minute arm twisting by GOP leaders convinced two Republicans—Reps. Nick LaLota of New York and Don Bacon of Nebraska—to switch their votes to yes from no.  

All Democrats were opposed, joined by four Republicans: Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Nicole Malliotakis of New York and Mike Turner of Ohio.  

The package now heads to the Senate, where it could face more scrutiny from Republicans.

And if you’re wondering, that’s why Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), aka Temu Obama, brought a stuffed Elmo onto the House floor.