A growing number of Republican senators say President Donald Trump and his administration will need to coordinate with Congress more closely as the Department of Government Efficiency bears down on federal agencies.
Republicans stomached Trump’s ongoing nationwide layoffs of federal workers — albeit with some complaints — based on the rationale that he has wide latitude to reshape personnel. DOGE’s emerging pivot from layoffs to more structural changes at agencies, however, has some GOP senators urging the White House to talk to the legislative branch before moving ahead.
“The president’s within his purview of doing what he’s doing on personnel,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who serves on the committee that oversees banking regulators, told Semafor. “But when you get into structural reform — for example, consolidating the regulators for banking — that’s a whole different story.”
“That will require congressional consent, and I think the president would consult with us anyway,” Kennedy added.
Congressional Republicans’ relative compliance with Trump’s deployment of executive power has become a defining theme of his first weeks in office. DOGE aims to ultimately lay off hundreds of thousands of government workers and has already dismantled the US Agency for International Development as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, all without major pushback from GOP lawmakers.
And despite the louder Republican calls for consultation on aggressive, forthcoming DOGE moves, it’s still not clear when and how senators might be willing to force the administration to loop in Congress. Across the Capitol in the House, GOP members have shown less appetite than senators for weighing in.
But Republican senators told Semafor that the broader overhaul of banking regulators Trump is eyeing — including a consolidation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — is the type of reorganization that will necessitate more involvement by Congress.
“Obviously, it will have to be a more consultative relationship for big policy changes,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told Semafor.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the regulatory agency plans, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, or on any plans to consult Congress.
Senate Republicans are also increasingly eager for more coordination on DOGE’s claimed spending cuts in order to finalize them. For all the savings that Elon Musk and his allies have touted, several conservatives are pointing out that the spending cuts won’t be tangible without congressional action.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, for example, told Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday that the Trump administration needs to send the DOGE cuts to Congress in the form of a “recissions” package. That would allow Congress to approve them with simple majority votes, avoiding a guaranteed Democratic filibuster in the Senate and giving them the force of law.
“There’s no doubt Congress will be involved. At the end of the day, the power of the purse is with Congress,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Semafor. “I think what DOGE is doing is terrific — and it will be a joint effort.”
Musk has likened Trump’s current sweeping government overhaul to a similar one under former President Bill Clinton. But Clinton’s downsizing was preceded by a lengthy review and efforts to get buy-in from Capitol Hill. That hasn’t happened yet under Trump.
And any permanent changes for USAID and the CFPB will likely require new laws from Congress, even as they face multiple legal challenges.
“He’s testing the limits of his authority under the Constitution as the chief executive officer of the country,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said of Trump. “We’re going to have to wait until the courts sort this out.”
