作者：安妮·格雷尔（Annie Grayer）、亚当·坎克林（Adam Cancryn） | 1小时59分钟前 | 发布于2026年2月12日，美国东部时间凌晨4:00
在唐纳德·特朗普总统第二任期伊始引发联邦政府动荡的削减预算部门——政府效率部（DOGE）——在国会山停滞不前，这一现实让保守派议员怒火中烧。
据两名熟悉相关讨论的人士透露，在白宫内部，以大规模解雇和全面取消资金为标志的削减开支运动已基本结束，因为特朗普将注意力转向了其他优先事项。在国会山，共和党人仅通过了一项削减90亿美元预算的法案，远低于埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）提出的削减2万亿美元国家预算的目标。
现在，特朗普政府官员暗示他们可能不会试图通过另一项削减更多资金的法案。白宫预算主任拉塞尔·沃特（Russell Vought）上月告诉一位共和党议员，考虑到众议院共和党人席位极为微弱的多数优势以及参议院缺乏兴趣，这几乎不可能实现。
相反，国会共和党人签署了一项政府拨款法案，其中包含特朗普政府曾主张削减的资金。去年政府停摆期间，特朗普政府试图解雇数千名联邦工作人员的计划被法院阻止。特朗普周二表示，他不喜欢DOGE随意缩减联邦劳动力的方式，称他“不想进行全面削减”。
甚至连即将接任国会DOGE小组委员会负责人的蒂姆·伯切特（Tim Burchett）议员也表示，他知道自己面临着一场几乎不可能成功的艰巨斗争，因为两党都存在阻力。
“他们把我放在那里等死，”伯切特在接受CNN采访时谈到众议院共和党领导层为何给他安排这项任务时说，“他们不喜欢我直言不讳。”
这位田纳西州议员表示，他准备提出立法，并“公开让阻碍他的议员难堪”，但他坦率承认，他认为自己的政党没有意愿进行他希望的那种联邦政府削减。
“你赢不了，但我还是要战斗，因为我认为这是值得的。老实说，我真的这么认为。我觉得如果我们不小心处理这些荒谬的事情，我们会失去整个国家，40万亿美元的债务。什么时候才能停止？民主党把钱花在所谓的‘觉醒垃圾’上，而我们却把钱花在不需要的军队上，”他说。
其他保守派人士也表示，在努力将DOGE缩减联邦政府的举措合法化的过程中，他们感到被党内领导层抛弃了。
领导另一个DOGE核心小组的亚伦·比恩（Aaron Bean）议员上个月在一次会议上直接向沃特提问，询问特朗普政府是否有计划提出更多使DOGE削减方案合法化的法案，希望他的回答能在国会山推动势头。
然而，比恩称，沃特表示完成第一个削减方案“非常困难”，并指出了国会中共和党人微弱多数的现实。
“如果完全由我决定，我们每周都会提出一项法案。但这不是我能决定的，”这位佛罗里达州议员说，并补充说沃特没有完全排除任何可能性。
比恩去年首次召集他的小组时，成立了不同的工作组，并承诺定期提出立法。然而，他表示不记得2025年他们小组上次开会是什么时候，并一直在推动众议院共和党领导层将DOGE核心小组更突出地纳入其政党议程。
白宫管理和预算办公室发言人在回应CNN的问题时表示：“我们对过去一年在削减开支和改革拨款流程方面取得的进展感到兴奋——并且我们在未来不会排除任何手段。”
然而，在中期选举前几个月，推动另一项有争议的削减方案通过国会的势头似乎很小。受到去年年底在明尼苏达州提升对医疗补助欺诈指控成功的鼓舞，特朗普政府官员将重点转向针对不同蓝州项目的更精确削减。
近几个月来，政府试图削减数亿美元拨给民主党领导州的拨款，称这些资金被浪费或管理不善——这一策略被认为更有效且在政治上更有利，并且需要共和党国会的直接干预更少，因为他们几乎难以维持多数席位。
“DOGE的成功在于将特朗普联盟转向‘欺诈’议题，”一位熟悉讨论的人士表示，“我们必须理解，可能未能达到目标带来的积极后果。”
不过，这并没有减轻保守派的不满。他们曾一度认为特朗普重返白宫是大规模削减联邦政府的最佳机会。
众议院议长迈克·约翰逊（Mike Johnson）在2025年6月承诺将提出“多个”削减法案，但许多保守派现在认为，自己的政党领导层通过通过资助DOGE此前已认定为有问题并希望削减的项目的政府支出法案，削弱了削减开支的努力。
“领导层不在乎，因为他们有民主党人投票支持通过法案。他们没有关注保守派，”格雷格·斯蒂布（Greg Steube）议员告诉CNN，他是21位投票反对最新政府拨款协议的共和党议员之一。
财政保守派、经常公开批评自己政党的托马斯·马西（Thomas Massie）议员自称“剩下的唯一一位支持DOGE的国会议员”，并表示他并不惊讶于党内对这一努力的支持有所减少。
“我一开始就不认为他们是真心实意的，”他说。
约翰逊告诉CNN，DOGE并没有“死亡”，但他没有详细说明。参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩（John Thune）的发言人拒绝就此事置评。
“我们没有看到那种混乱和争议，谢天谢地”
特朗普政府官员承认，DOGE不再作为一个“集中化”组织运作。尽管共和党议员会表示他们一直致力于削减过多的浪费、欺诈和滥用，但许多温和派共和党人正在悄悄庆祝马斯克的任期已经结束，因为他们试图修复与在这位亿万富翁任期内感到被妖魔化的联邦工作人员的关系。
“一年前，你会看到一些不知从哪里来的年轻人进入联邦机构，告诉人们‘你被解雇了’。现在我们没有看到那种程度的混乱和争议，谢天谢地，”阿拉斯加州共和党参议员莉萨·穆尔科斯基（Lisa Murkowski）告诉CNN，“我们现在处于不同的阶段。”
罗布·布雷兹纳汉（Rob Bresnahan）议员表示，他支持消除过多的联邦开支，但赞赏自马斯克离职后这一努力发生的转变。他所在的选区有1万名联邦工作人员，并且是美国最大的社会保障管理局呼叫中心之一。布雷兹纳汉回忆起与选民多次交谈，他们担心自己的隐私和数据安全。
“看到那里员工士气受到的影响当然令人沮丧。而他们的担忧并没有被忽视，”布雷兹纳汉说。
现在，一些温和派共和党人认为，他们需要找到方法恢复与联邦工作人员的信任，并撤销特朗普政府的一些行动。布雷兹纳汉是少数几位去年在众议院投票中违抗自己政党领导层和特朗普政府，恢复联邦工作人员集体谈判权的共和党人之一。
但即便削减努力不再那么公开，拨款人员认为，削减过多开支的工作正在幕后通过拨款流程认真进行，这也是其最初的目的。
佛罗里达州众议员马里奥·迪亚兹-巴拉特（Mario Diaz-Balart）主持监督国务院资金的众议院拨款小组委员会，他表示，他与OMB密切合作，实施了2026财政年度16%的支出削减。
“你可以进行任何数量的削减，但随后会出现不同的总统和政府，这一切都白费了，这就是为什么与我们合作，我们能够将这些削减纳入拨款法案，”迪亚兹-巴拉特告诉CNN。
众议院拨款委员会主席汤姆·科尔（Tom Cole）表示，他会考虑DOGE的建议，但必须考虑哪些内容能在参众两院通过。
“我们现在的特朗普预算比一年前更多，”科尔告诉CNN，“我们有很多好主意，其中一些我们喜欢，另一些我们喜欢但不一定能通过。这仍然是一个两党、两院的过程。”
与此同时，与比恩共同领导DOGE核心小组的得克萨斯州议员皮特·塞申斯（Pete Sessions）表示，他现在认为自己的角色是为DOGE工作人员提供他们想要削减的项目背景，以帮助他们做出决策。
“很多工作都是幕后讨论，”塞申斯说。
一些共和党人认为DOGE失去势头的部分原因是，该组织并非为了在马斯克的“扩音器”之外长期运作而建立的。
“我一直担心的是，他们从未真正搭建起使这一过程可重复、可衡量的框架，”北卡罗来纳州共和党参议员汤姆·蒂利斯（Thom Tillis）说。
蒂利斯称马斯克“是一个伟大的催化剂，但除非有后续行动，否则你会看到所有的失误和低效。”
在伯切特看来，他的政党从未完全接受马斯克目标的部分原因是其自身的“傲慢”——认为他们能比这位政府外部的亿万富翁执行得更好。
“每个人都只想保住权力，”伯切特告诉CNN，“这种傲慢是他们想保住权力，并且认为没有他们这一切就无法运作。但事实是，即使没有他们，这一切也能运转。”
伯切特从共和党前议员玛乔丽·泰勒·格林（Marjorie Taylor Greene）手中接过DOGE小组委员会的领导权，原定于周三举行自2025年9月以来的首次听证会，但他在社交平台X上表示听证会因“生病”推迟，将尽快重新安排。
一位要求匿名的共和党议员哀叹，马斯克的激进方法甚至使削减联邦开支的运动倒退了。
“在某种程度上，我为DOGE没有更成功而感到遗憾。我对埃隆有点恼火。我们正走向破产。显然，更高效的政府是解决方案的一部分。但埃隆的方法不够严肃，无法让我们取得所需的进展。这真的很不幸，我认为它让我们在追求效率的道路上倒退了相当多，”这位议员说。
‘They put me on there to die’: conservatives unleash on GOP’s failures to carry out DOGE cost-cutting
By Annie Grayer, Adam Cancryn | 1 hr 59 min ago | PUBLISHED Feb 12, 2026, 4:00 AM ET
The budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency that upended the federal government at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term has stalled out on Capitol Hill, a reality that’s left conservative lawmakers fuming.
Inside the White House, the cost-cutting crusade marked by mass firings and blanket funding eliminations is largely seen as over, two people familiar with the discussions said, as Trump turns his attention to other priorities. On Capitol Hill, Republicans have passed just a single bill enacting $9 billion in DOGE cuts – far short of Elon Musk’s aim of cutting as much as $2 trillion from the nation’s budget.
And now, Trump officials are signaling they likely will not try to pass another package clawing back more funds, with White House budget director Russell Vought telling one GOP lawmaker last month that it amounted to a long-shot given the razor-thin Republican majority in the House and a lack of appetite in the Senate.
Instead, congressional Republicans signed off on a government funding package that included money the Trump administration had advocated eliminating. A White House attempt to lay off thousands of federal workers during last year’s shutdown was halted by the courts. And Trump said Tuesday that he did not like the haphazard way DOGE downsized the federal workforce, saying he “didn’t want a general cut.”
Even Rep. Tim Burchett, who is taking over as the leader of the congressional subcommittee focused on DOGE, knows he is facing an uphill battle that is unlikely to be successful as a result of resistance on both sides of the aisle.
“They put me on there to die,” Burchett told CNN of why he thinks House GOP leadership gave him this assignment. “They don’t like that I call them out.”
The Tennessee congressman says he is ready to introduce legislation and “publicly embarrass” lawmakers who stand in his way, but he openly admits he doesn’t think his party has the appetite for the kinds of cuts to the federal government he wants to make.
“You can’t win but I’m going to fight it because I think it is worth it. I honestly do. I think we will lose our country if we’re not careful with all this nonsense, $40 trillion in debt. When does it stop? Democrats spend it on woke garbage and we spend it on a military that we don’t need,” he said.
Other conservatives also feel abandoned by their party’s leadership in their efforts to find ways to codify DOGE’s downsizing of the federal government.
Rep. Aaron Bean, who leads a separate DOGE caucus, asked Vought directly in a meeting last month if the Trump administration had plans to send any more bills that would codify DOGE cuts, hoping his answer could spur momentum on Capitol Hill.
Instead, Vought said it was “very difficult” to get the first package done and pointed to the realities of the narrow Republican majorities in Congress, according to Bean.
“If it were totally up to me, we’d be doing one every week. But it’s not up to me,” the Florida congressman said, adding that Vought didn’t firmly rule anything out.
When Bean first convened his group last year, he set up different working groups with the promise to introduce legislation regularly. Now, he can’t remember the last time his group met in 2025 and has been pushing House GOP leadership to make the DOGE caucus more front and center in his party’s agenda.
An Office of Management and Budget spokesperson said in response to questions from CNN, “We’re excited with the progress we’ve made on cutting spending and reforming the appropriations process over the past year – and we’re not taking any tools off the table going forward.”
Yet there appears to be little momentum for pushing another controversial package of cuts through Congress just months ahead of midterm elections. Encouraged by their success late last year in elevating allegations of Medicaid fraud in Minnesota, Trump administration officials have shifted their focus instead to more precise cuts targeting programs in various blue states.
The administration in recent months has sought to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to Democratic-led states they’ve claimed are being wasted or mismanaged — a strategy viewed as more efficient and politically advantageous, and that requires less direct intervention from a Republican Congress barely hanging onto its majority.
“The success of DOGE is in turning the Trump coalition toward fraud,” said one of the people familiar with the discussions. “We have to understand the positive consequences that came from maybe missing the mark.”
Still, that’s done little to assuage conservatives who once saw Trump’s return to office as their best chance of slashing vast swathes of the federal government for good.
Instead of the “multiple” rescissions packages that House Speaker Mike Johnson promised in June 2025, many conservatives now feel that their own party leadership is undercutting cost-cutting efforts by passing government spending bills that fund programs DOGE previously identified as problematic and wanted to defund.
“Leadership doesn’t care because they have Democrats to vote on the bill to pass them. They’re not paying attention to conservatives,” Rep. Greg Steube, one of the 21 House Republicans to vote against the latest government funding deal, told CNN.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a fiscal conservative who often speaks out against his own party, coined himself “the only DOGE-voting congressman left” and said he wasn’t surprised that support for the effort has dwindled in his party.
“I never really believed they were sincere to start with,” he said.
Johnson told CNN “no” DOGE is not dead, but he did not elaborate. A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune declined to comment for this story.
‘We’re not seeing that level of chaos and controversy. Thank goodness’
Trump administration officials have acknowledged that DOGE is no longer operating as a “centralized” organization. And while GOP lawmakers will say they are always looking to cut excess waste, fraud and abuse, many moderate Republicans are quietly celebrating that Musk’s tenure is behind them as they try to repair relationships with federal workers who felt demonized under the billionaire’s tenure.
“A year ago, you had young people from gosh knows where coming into federal agencies and telling people you’re gone. We’re not seeing that level of chaos and controversy. Thank goodness,” GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told CNN. “We are at a different place.”
Rep. Rob Bresnahan said he supports eradicating excess federal spending, but has appreciated how the effort has shifted since Musk’s departure. Representing 10,000 federal workers in his district and one of the largest Social Security Administration call centers in the country, Bresnahan recalled multiple conversations with his constituents about their fears over their privacy and data.
“Seeing the impacts of the morale with the workforce there was certainly frustrating. And their concerns certainly didn’t fall on deaf ears,” Bresnahan said.
Now, some moderate Republicans feel like they need to find ways to restore trust with federal workers and undo actions by the Trump administration. Bresnahan was one of a handful of Republicans who defied his own party leadership and the Trump administration in a House vote last year to reinstate collective bargaining rights for federal workers.
But even if the effort is now less overt, appropriators argue that cuts to excess spending are happening in earnest behind the scenes and through the appropriations process, as it was always intended.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees State Department funding, said he has worked closely with OMB to implement a 16% reduction in fiscal year 2026 spending.
“You can do all the rescissions you want, but then you have a different president, different administration and that’s all for nothing, which is why, working with us, we’ve been able to kind of get those into the appropriation bills,” Diaz-Balart told CNN.
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole said he takes DOGE recommendations into account but has to consider what can pass both chambers.
“We have a lot more of the Trump budget in place than we had a year ago,” Cole told CNN. “We got a lot of good ideas out there. Some of them we liked, others we liked but weren’t necessarily things that we could pass. It’s still a bipartisan, bicameral process.”
Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, who co-leads the DOGE caucus with Bean, meanwhile, says he now views his role as giving DOGE staffers context for the programs that they want to cut to help inform their decisions.
“A lot of it is behind the scenes discussion,” Sessions said.
Part of the reason some Republicans say DOGE lost its momentum is that the organization was not built to last beyond Musk’s megaphone.
“I’ve always been concerned with the fact that they never really put down scaffolding to make it a repeatable measurable process,” GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said.
Tillis called Musk “a great catalyst but unless you have the follow up, you see all the missteps, you see the inefficiency.”
As Burchett sees it, part of the reason his party could never fully accept Musk’s goals was his own party’s “arrogance” that they could execute better than the billionaire who came in as an outsider to government.
“Everybody just wants to stay in power,” Burchett told CNN. “The arrogance of this is they want to stay in power and they think that without them this will not work. And the truth is, it works in spite of them.”
Burchett, who took over the DOGE subcommittee from former GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, had been set to hold the subcommittee’s first hearing since September 2025 on Wednesday, but said on X that it was postponed “due to illness,” and would be rescheduled as soon as possible.
One GOP lawmaker, granted anonymity to speak freely, lamented that Musk’s aggressive approach even set the movement to cut federal spending back.
“In some respects, I’m sad that DOGE wasn’t more successful. I’m a little irritated at Elon. We are driving towards bankruptcy. Clearly a more efficient government is part of the solution. But Elon’s approach was just not serious enough to get us the progress we need. It’s really unfortunate. I think it sets us back on the search for efficiency seeking quite a way,” the lawmaker said.
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