Sen. Susan Collins says she was "impressed" by Elon Musk during their meeting

 Republican Sen. Susan Collins said Thursday that she was “impressed” by Elon Musk during a one-on-one meeting that she held with the tech billionaire last week, and she praised his appointment to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the coming Trump administration.

“As far as the new effort on government efficiency — I can never remember how it’s pronounced, I will admit — I had an excellent 70-minute meeting with Elon Musk. And I was very impressed,” Collins said during an interview at a conference held by the bipartisan “No Labels” organization in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

“What impressed me the most, is he really listened. Now, I’m not sure he accepts all of what I said,” Collins added.

Why it matters: The Maine lawmaker is one of a handful of moderate Republican senators poised for an influential role in Washington over the next few years, wielding a potentially decisive vote on Trump administration initiatives in a closely divided GOP Congress.

Her comments on Musk and DOGE — the newly formed executive department proposing to make the federal government leaner and more efficient by reviewing its budget and operations from top to bottom — indicated her openness to the program.

More from Collins: Collins described her conversations with Musk about defense procurement — an area of keen interest for Musk, whose companies have received tens of billions from US government contracts and programs — saying she emphasized the importance of giving smaller companies with new military technology a chance to break through the “encrusted bureaucracy” at the Department of Defense.

She praised the “outside perspective” provided by Musk and DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy, and endorsed their push to end remote work for federal employees.

The senator also emphasized the burden of growing “mandatory” government spending programs, and previewed a reformist approach to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which she’ll chair in the new Congress.