Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., who was the first Democrat to join the DOGE Caucus, blasted Elon Musk and the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for using a “sledgehammer instead of a scalpel” to reduce government spending.
“The Bipartisan House DOGE Caucus will lead the partnership between Congress” and Trump’s DOGE, according to the official caucus website.
“The nation expects sweeping common-sense reform, and the DOGE Caucus will pave the way for the House of Representatives to streamline government operations and to save taxpayer money,” according to the website.
The DOGE operation, led by Musk, has advocated for the total closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The Trump administration decided to eliminate 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and most of the employees have been laid off.
DOGE is now moving to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Trump administration is reportedly planning to terminate almost all 1,700 employees. DOGE is also looking for areas to cut at the Department of Education, in keeping with President Trump’s pledge to phase out the department.
“I joined the DOGE Caucus because I do think government could spend less money, and I think government could become more efficient. But if you look at the debt so far, DOGE has not come up with a solution for that. It’s still going up, and that was really one of the pieces of why DOGE was formed,” Moskowitz said during an interview on Capitol Hill.
