Sen. John Curtis criticized Elon Musk's approach to reducing the federal workforce, telling CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the billionaire should put a "dose of compassion" into how he does it.
The Utah Republican said that with so many trillions of dollars in national debt and with the electorate demanding a substantial change, something dramatic has to be done at the federal level.
But, he said, "if I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it's, like, please put a dose of compassion in this."
"These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages. ... It's a false narrative to say we have to cut, and you have to be cruel to do it as well."
The senator also took issue with President Donald Trump's characterization of the move as getting rid of bad people.
"I regret that narrative," he said. "We all know, you know, thousands, millions of federal workers who are good people, who work hard."
Curtis also related to the email federal employees received on Saturday telling them to reply by midnight Monday with five bullet points detailing what they accomplished in the past week and that a failure to do so would result in firing.
"It's not unusual in a corporate setting to have people report and explain what they're doing, especially if they're working from home," the senator said. "But I will double down on the fact of we don't need to be so cold and hard. And let's put a little compassion and, quite frankly, dignity in this as well."
Despite his criticism of the way in which Musk is carrying out his mission at the Department of Government Efficiency, Curtis said, "We've tried for years to do this gracefully. We've tried for years to do this slowly. And we have failed consistently. And the American people said, Enough. We're tired of this. You have to make these changes."
The senator said it's possible to do it in a different way and gave an example from when he was a mayor.
"We did have to let some people go. We did a lot through attrition. But every single person we let go, I met with personally. I looked them in the eye. I told them why we had to do it. How can we then help you transition to the next thing? We can do both things."