Orlando Rep. Maxwell Frost says Elon Musk leaves a ‘dark legacy’ behind in the White House

Elon Musk’s tenure as a special government employee in the White House came to an end Friday, prompting Florida Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost to say that his efforts reveal that a “corporate slash and burn mentality is not how you run a country.”

Musk had been leading the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which, according to its website, last updated on May 26, saved taxpayers an estimated $175 billion. However, one watchdog website tracking the cuts says it was more like $16 billion.

But there were significant cuts that have been damaging, including to international medical and food assistance programs. “The legacy will be a dark legacy,” Frost told a Phoenix reporter on Friday during an interview on WMNF-88.5 FM in Tampa.

Among the first and most prominent budget cancellations that came from DOGE was to dissolve the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which has funded the majority of U.S. humanitarian and development assistance worldwide to people. That included stopping funding to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an HIV prevention program that has operated through USAID since 2003.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that it was “a lie” to say that anybody around the world has died because of the USAID cuts. However, through a modelling program, a research team at Boston University that studies infectious diseases has estimated that the loss of lives from USAID cuts stands at more than 300,000 worldwide, with more than 200,000 of those being children.

“These USAID cuts are devastating,” Frost said. “Global health is important to health here. The projections on HIV on how that is going to explode globally … and we could see an epidemic of HIV again in the United States over the coming years because of the way that people travel.”

A study published this week by the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported that the Trump administration and DOGE have implemented new phone service restrictions that the Social Security Administration estimates will require people to make nearly 2 million additional trips to understaffed Social Security field offices every year.

“I’ve been speaking with folks who receive disability from SSI [Supplemental Security Income] who literally [say] the wait times are longer than they’ve ever been,” Frost said. “People are dying, waiting for the benefits that they deserve. And so these cuts were not made in good faith.”

Codifying DOGE

Musk and other conservatives like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have bemoaned that President Trump’s major tax and spending bill that narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week doesn’t codify the spending cuts made by DOGE over the past four months. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson says that Congress will vote to codify those cuts of up to $9 billion in a bill that will soon be introduced in the House.

“People are seeing impacts now, but they’ll see impacts years into the future as well,” says Frost. “I think this bill that Johnson is bringing to codify some of the DOGE cuts in part is meant to placate Elon. It’s why the bill is coming up at the exact moment that he is leaving.”

While progressives like Frost hailed Musk’s departure from Washington, Florida Republicans were celebrating his accomplishments Friday afternoon.

“Under @elonmusk, @DOGE has done a phenomenal job identifying and helping cancel waste, fraud, and abuse from government,” said Southwest Florida Congressman and 2026 gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds on X. “As we carry out the annual appropriations process this summer, Congress must follow the lead of DOGE and eliminate this egregious spending once and for all.”

“Just like he launched @SpaceX beyond the stars, @elonmusk propelled @DOGE into orbit — leading the charge to cut waste, fraud, and abuse at hypersonic speed,” said Jacksonville U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean on X. “His vision for transparency and accountability will continue to reshape government spending and push for real fiscal responsibility. The mission isn’t slowing down — it’s only gaining altitude!”

‘Special government employee’

In his announcement reintroducing legislation this week that would require federal agencies and departments to verify the eligibility of individuals 105 years of age or older for federal benefits. Sarasota area U.S. Rep. Greg Steube credited DOGE for bringing attention to the issue.

“No American who has paid into Social Security and Medicare should see their benefits compromised by scam artists or incompetent bureaucrats,” Rep. Steube said in a statement. “It shouldn’t have required DOGE examining the rolls to ensure 12 million Americans listed as 120 years old or more were finally properly recorded as deceased.”

(The Associated Press reported earlier this year that Musk’s claims that “tens of millions” of dead people receiving Social Security checks was “overstated.”)

As a “special government employee,” Musk was forced to end his tenure at the White House on Friday because federal law says such employees are appointed to perform temporary duties “for a period not to exceed 130 days during any period of 365 days.”

Frost said that Musk’s temporary status as a federal employee was “misused” and predicted that “when Democrats take back the House we’re going to have to put some guardrails on that designation because it was misused for Elon Musk.”

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.

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This article appears in Summer Guide 2025.