Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he plans to use the cuts undertaken by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative as he tries to get Republican fiscal hawks on board with a budget blueprint paving the way for a massive party-line tax, border and energy bill.

The strategy, confirmed in a brief interview Tuesday, comes as Senate GOP leaders face a growing challenge in convincing a handful of conservatives members who want to go beyond the $2 trillion in cuts contained in the House budget framework.

“In the end, a lot of our folks who want to see a more aggressive approach to that realize that there are political considerations, and it’s all [about] what you can get the votes for,” Thune said.

Thune said that in addition to the massive domestic policy bill, “hopefully we’ll get other opportunities to” cut spending, naming DOGE as one of “a lot of good opportunities to get our country on a more sustainable fiscal path.“

Asked if the DOGE cuts could help sell a deal to conservatives, Thune said, “Anything that complements efforts to demonstrate that we are making serious headway in reducing spending and getting the deficit and debt under control is going to be progress. So however we get there, we want to get there.”

Senate Republicans haven’t aligned internally — much less with the House — on how deeply they want to cut spending. Even as Thune deals with demands from his right for more sweeping cuts, he’s got concerns in other corners of his conference that the House blueprint would require politically unpopular cuts to Medicaid.

The DOGE cuts aren’t expected to be a part of the final party-line megabill. But GOP senators, including Thune allies, have previously suggested that they could be included in the overall accounting showing fiscal hawks that Republicans won’t be adding to federal budget deficits.

Many Senate Republicans are pushing President Donald Trump to send them a so-called “rescissions” package — one that would allow Congress to vote on codifying Musk’s work.

While some Republicans doubt Trump will do so while his administration fights to defend DOGE’s work in court, Trump himself told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he supported the idea of rescissions: “That would be great. I think we’re going to do that,” he said.

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report. 

MANCHESTER UNITED boss Ruben Amorim is considered as one of the brightest young managers in the world.

Amorim, 40, burst onto the scene in 2021 when he ended Sporting Lisbon‘s 19-year title drought and started receiving interest from the best clubs after winning the Primeira Liga once more last season.

However, there is one former team-mate of the Portuguese head coach who remembers him more for his dressing room pranks rather than his tactical nous.

Roderick Miranda and Amorim both started out at Benfica’s academy and spent seven years together as part of the European giants’ fold.

And Roderick, 33, never thought he would ever see his former team-mate switching to coaching and experiencing so much success.

That is because the former Wolves defender, who currently plays for Melbourne Victory, remembers him as the “changing room clown”.

However, upon reflection, the centre-back thinks Amorim’s rise makes sense as he was a very intelligent midfielder with a “great understanding of the game”.

Roderick told Flashscore Australia: “I never thought he’d become a coach!

“Not because of his football skills or his intelligence, but because he was the changing room clown.

“He had a really fun personality and was always doing something to make people laugh.

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“When I heard he started as a coach I was a little bit surprised and wondered how the guy I played with could become so serious!

“But he was a very intelligent player. He could play in many different positions, so maybe that’s why he’s a brilliant coach, because he has such a great understanding of the game.”

Amorim has struggled this season with United, who are set for their worst ever Premier League finish as they are currently 13th in the table.

However, the Red Devils boss still has the boardroom’s trust and will get the chance to build the team to his liking this coming summer.