Politics
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As President Donald Trump continues to make news at a dizzying pace, U.S. Rep. Jared Golden said Thursday that billionaire Elon Musk is “poisoning the well” with his rapid efforts on behalf of the president to slash government agencies and spending.
On the same day that Democratic senators held the floor for hours to protest Trump’s budget director pick and other members of his party cast Musk’s moves as creating a constitutional crisis, Golden, a centrist from Maine’s 2nd District, said he is not yet ready to judge the legality of the White House’s actions.
“I’m not leveling accusations, but the way they’re going about it is kind of poisoning the well of what otherwise could be a great opportunity to work together to make the government better,” Golden said in an interview, comparing Musk to a “bull in a china shop.”
Golden, who narrowly won a fourth term in November in his pro-Trump district after emphasizing how he was not afraid to oppose former President Joe Biden and support some Trump policies, said he is otherwise going to judge Musk and Trump on “the legality of how they go about doing things” and whether they make the government “better or worse.”
Trump gave Musk, the world’s richest man who donated heavily to the Republican president’s campaign, his own White House office space as an unelected official to run the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Musk and a team of young assistants have effectively shuttered an international aid agency and asked federal workers to resign.
That’s on top of other controversial orders from Trump since he returned to office last month, such as a since-stalled attempt to freeze trillions in federal funding, a move that has left health providers, preschools and nonprofits uncertain about next steps. Russell Vought, Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, has been a proponent of expanding executive power to restrict funding approved by Congress.
Though groups have filed lawsuits over some of Trump’s orders, no court has yet ruled on Musk’s and Vought’s ideas that echo the conservative-backed “Project 2025” blueprint. Golden made that point repeatedly Thursday as U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Democratic senators continued an hours-long protest to try to halt Vought’s likely confirmation.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican and new top Senate appropriator, said she will support Vought because she views him as qualified for the role he held in Trump’s first term and generally defers to presidents on appointments. But Collins also said this week she was “very concerned” about Musk after she was more complimentary after they met in December.
King used a Thursday floor speech against Vought to also say Musk’s role amounted to “shredding the constitutional structure.” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from the 1st District, held a news conference earlier in the week and pointed out Republicans could legally wield their new control of Congress.
“But they are going to do whatever it takes to just get what they want, using DOGE and Elon Musk invading our privacy,” Pingree said Tuesday at the Portland International Jetport.
Golden, a former Collins staffer, made a similar point Thursday. But he used it to elaborate on why he is not yet outright opposing Musk and Vought while awaiting more legal clarity on whether Trump and Musk are seizing spending authority that belongs to Congress.
“The courts are very involved in settling this particular issue,” Golden said, “and I don’t think that anyone’s in a position yet to say that there is clear malfeasance or unconstitutionality.”
