Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
President Trump's shock-and-awe tactics have been met with a congressional scramble to move his agenda — but inklings of discomfort are showing on DOGE.
Why it matters: As we approach the year's first bicameral recess, let's take a big-picture look at how Congress is dealing with Trump 2.0 on energy.
GOP meets DOGE: Republicans have publicly supported Elon Musk's effort to slash the federal government. But before Thursday's court ruling reversing probationary employee firings, GOP lawmakers started to press privately to reverse some staff cuts and facility closures.
- House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole warned that DOGE's proposed closure of NOAA's Radar Operations Center in his district would damage forecasting of hurricanes and tornadoes. Days later, Cole got it reversed.
- Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, the top energy and water appropriator, told Axios he's "not unduly" concerned about DOGE but is watching it closely: "I'm a constitutionalist — I want to make sure that we, in Article 1, fulfill our constitutional duties to appropriate."
Dems play whack-a-mole: Democrats, meanwhile, find themselves struggling to keep up.
- "We're getting this stuff secondhand, or somebody tells us such and such is on the website," Sen. Martin Heinrich told Axios. "It's a constant game of whack-a-mole."
- He and other New Mexico lawmakers were able to get assurances that Trump wouldn't close a DOE office overseeing the only permanent repository for nuclear waste. But as of today, it remains on DOGE's list of canceled federal leases.
Reconciliation struggles: Both chambers have passed budget resolutions. But they haven't passed the same resolution, so it's unclear how Republicans will proceed.
- A group of 21 Republicans continues to demand protections for the IRA energy credits that have helped their districts.
- But some have not drawn red lines and are under pressure to find cuts anywhere they can.
- House Energy and Commerce — tasked with $880 billion in cuts — may not have as much DOE money to roll back as expected, Bob Latta, chair of E&C's energy panel, recently told Axios.
Amenable to minerals: A flurry of bipartisan bills and a friendly Senate ENR hearing suggest there's a deal to be had to bolster the mining and the mineral supply chain.
- Senate legislation to restore miners' ability to site support facilities, to add copper to the USGS critical mineral list, and to address mineral processing have all gained momentum. But we also haven't seen much movement on a permitting deal, which would be a likely vehicle.
- Conversations will play out "in the next few weeks" to determine whether the minerals bills will be part of an omnibus or stand on their own, Sen. John Hickenlooper told Axios.
- "Are Republicans willing to compromise, are Democrats willing to compromise, is this something we could make into a bigger bill?" he said. "Or can we just do a few bills and then go back to the well again in six months or a year."
The bottom line: Just over two months in, lawmakers are staring at a possible government shutdown — and there are few signs that bipartisan dealmaking will prevail.
