Capitol Hill Republicans are clamoring to get in on the “DOGE” motion after President-elect Trump put Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in command of his administration’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) — at the same time as there may be not but consensus on how, precisely, they are going to assist channel that vitality into lasting and tangible change.
A Delivering Excellent Authorities Effectivity Caucus — or DOGE Caucus — within the Home already has a number of dozen members, and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is main a Senate DOGE Caucus. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is ready to chair a subcommittee additionally associated to DOGE and its efforts.
Musk and Ramaswamy are set to talk to Home and Senate Republicans on Thursday about DOGE, on the invitation of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Johnson instructed The Hill that the assembly might be a “brainstorming session” — one which some GOP lawmakers hope ends in extra readability.
And as Musk, Ramaswamy and the lawmakers goal to take DOGE “to the moon” — because the saying for the meme cryptocurrency of the identical identify that impressed the backronym goes — lawmakers are already anticipating difficulties in channeling that vitality into something tangible.
“I think there probably will be some friction,” Greene mentioned. “Some appropriators really want to continue funding.”
“But I honestly think that there’s been a serious mandate from the American people, and I think that will give, hopefully our side of the aisle, tremendous courage to do the right thing,” mentioned Greene, whose subcommittee might be inside the Home Oversight and Accountability Committee and can discover methods to scale back spending and scale back pink tape.
The DOGE buzz is so intense that even Democrats are leaping on board: Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) have mentioned they are going to be part of the DOGE Caucus. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) instructed The Hill he was pondering of becoming a member of as effectively.
Democrats aren’t invited to Thursday’s assembly on conservative reforms, nonetheless. Johnson instructed The Hill there might be a bipartisan assembly at a later date.
Whereas lawmakers broadly anticipate Musk and Ramaswamy’s DOGE to take the lead on govt actions, they hope to create some lasting change via laws.
“We all know the executive orders are temporary. That just will change with the next president. So Congress has the ability to make some things permanent, and we want to light a fire under every member,” mentioned Rep. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.), a co-chair of the DOGE Caucus within the Home.
However then there may be the difficulty of narrowing DOGE’s focus in Congress. There is no such thing as a scarcity of concepts on authorities cuts or reforms within the Republican Get together — they usually range broadly.
“It can’t just be about efficiency. It has to be about understanding you have to reduce the size, and you have to turn a lot of this back to the states,” mentioned Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who launched greater than 500 spending minimize payments final yr, in an announcement on authorities spending.
Johnson mentioned Wednesday on Fox Information that he’d prefer to axe funding that flows to Deliberate Parenthood and to PBS.
However it will likely be robust to get any laws handed, given the razor-thin Republican majority within the Home and the filibuster within the Senate.
“Where Congress is involved. That’s where it takes the hard work of legislating and getting everybody on the same page,” Johnson mentioned on Fox Information. “There will be lots of ideas that come out. We don’t want to put too many of it out right now, OK, but this is part of that — preparing the playbook to unleash and unroll in January.”
Ernst, as chief of the Senate DOGE Caucus, already has some concepts within the works. She beforehand despatched Musk and Ramaswamy an inventory of “ideas for trimming the fat and reducing red ink.”
And at Thursday’s assembly with Musk and Ramaswamy, Ernst plans to current a report on reform for the federal workforce, highlighting issues with distant work.
Ernst’s management within the caucus, which comes as she’s going to now not be a part of the Senate GOP management workforce, hearkens again to her marketing campaign roots: In a memorable “make ‘em squeal” advert from her first senatorial run in 2014, Ernst flaunted rising up “castrating pigs on a farm” whereas promising to “cut pork” in Washington.
“Iowans sent me to D.C. with a mandate to make the porkers squeal, and for a decade it has been a lonely fight,” Ernst mentioned in an announcement. “But it is a new day in Washington, and I am thrilled there is finally an appetite to put my work into action. I am going to partner with the Trump administration and DOGE to put the federal government on a permanent diet and turn the bloated bureaucracy into a lean machine of efficiency that serves the taxpayers.”
The DOGE Caucus co-chairs within the Home, Bean and Rep. Pete Periods (R-Texas), are solely simply beginning the work to make the caucus itself environment friendly earlier than attempting to deal with the entire federal authorities.
“Our window is narrow. President Trump feels it. So do we. There’s breathing room, but there’s not room for fumbling the ball,” Periods instructed The Hill. “We’re going to have to be very disciplined about understanding, is it ready, aim, fire — or is it ready, fire, aim?”
And Periods acknowledged that “there is not unanimity” even amongst Republicans on the right way to deal with spending cuts and authorities reforms.
Periods floated the thought of the caucus developing with an inventory of areas that it needs to give attention to, after which taking enter from the general public and delegating out work.
Bean mentioned he hopes that the caucus will “keep score” of the DOGE cuts and effectivity.
“We want to keep score, to let everybody know what we’re cutting and how we’re cutting it, [to] what number we’re cutting it,” Bean mentioned.
Referencing the GOP’s management of the White Home and each chambers of Congress, Bean added: “It’s just a magic window we’ve been given.”
