The dynamic of cutting government while also cutting out those who answer to voters has alarmed even some fiscal conservatives who have long pushed for Congress to reduce spending.

At a mostly friendly closed-door meeting, the billionaire carrying out President Trump’s bid to shrink the federal bureaucracy fielded queries about how senators could be more involved in the effort.

Elon Musk met with Senate Republicans for nearly two hours in a closed-door lunch meeting Wednesday, seeking to reassure them amid voter angst over the sweeping cuts his Department of Government Efficiency is making.