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12:30 Report — Republicans' complicated feelings for Musk

{beacon} 12:30 REPORT It’s Monday. Happy President’s Day! In this edition: Trump administration fires hundreds at the FAA. Is Elon Musk a liability for Republicans? Some think so. Senate eyes vote-a-rama. “SNL” 50th anniversary special highlights I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send tips &...

Feb 17, 2025 - 20:15

12:30 Report — Republicans' complicated feelings for Musk

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12:30 REPORT

It’s Monday. Happy President’s Day! In this edition:

Trump administration fires hundreds at the FAA.
Is Elon Musk a liability for Republicans? Some think so.
Senate eyes vote-a-rama.
“SNL” 50th anniversary special highlights

I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send tips & feedback to cmartel@thehill.com. Someone forward this to you? Sign up.

The face of the operation:

The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports that Capitol Hill Republicans are divided over tech billionaire Elon Musk being the face of President Trump’s major purge of the federal government.

What they’re concerned about: “Several GOP senators worry that having an unelected billionaire crow about slashing federal jobs, which happen to employ many people in their home states, is not a good look when inflation remains a major problem and many Americans are having trouble making ends meet.”

One GOP senator told Bolton (but didn’t want to be named): “Every day that [Musk is] there, he seems more destructive.”

Read more on the Republican discomfort: ‘GOP lawmakers divided on Musk, seen by some as a liability’

➤ MORE READS:

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Voters Splinter Over His Rapid Shake-Up of Washington
The Washington Post: Musk’s DOGE seeks access to personal taxpayer data, raising alarm at IRS
The Hill: Senate Democrats split over how to combat Trump’s USAID shutdown
The Atlantic: The Death of Government Expertise: Why Trump and Musk are on a firing spree

➤ YES, GIVE ME THE TEA:

The Wall Street Journal looked at how Musk and OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman became enemies after being friends.

Read: ‘The Inside Story of How Altman and Musk Went From Friends to Bitter Enemies’

➤ OH, IS THAT HOW IT WORKS?:

Trump suggested over the weekend that he has legal leeway to implement his changes because he is “saving” the country. Keep in mind that phrase is attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, who declared himself French emperor in the early 1800s. This post obviously drew criticism from Democrats.

But aren’t there shortages?:

The Trump administration has begun firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees.

Which employees were let go?: Probationary workers were notified Friday night. Employees were fired “without cause nor based on performance or conduct,” according to the president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union.

Timing: This is just weeks after a helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight outside Reagan Washington National Airport, putting a major spotlight on the FAA. Following the deadly collision, there were reports of nationwide staffing shortages of air traffic controllers.

Reaction from former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg: “The flying public needs answers. How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?” Buttigieg posted on the social platform X.

Some pressing questions for RFK Jr.:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the newly confirmed Health and Human Services secretary, was one of Trump’s most controversial nominees. He’s often pushed back on federal health authorities, has a history of anti-vaccine beliefs and his Make America Healthy Again movement exists to undermine the federal government’s public health messaging and upend standard practice in the food and drug industries.

Kennedy was confirmed last week mostly along party lines. Fresh on the job, there are five pressing questions he’ll have to face:

Will he disrupt the food and pharmaceutical industries?
Will Kennedy follow through on firing hundreds at the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration?
How will he handle the booming weight loss drug industry?
Will he make it harder to access abortion medication?
Will Kennedy seek to get rid of fluoride in water systems?

Context for each from The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel