Latest news with #DOGECaucus
Fox News
an hour ago
- Business
- Fox News
Republican senators roll out DOGE budget proposals for Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'
EXCLUSIVE: A group of DOGE-minded lawmakers is rolling out a series of budget proposals to add to the Senate version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act narrowly passed by the House. The effort, led by Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman Joni Ernst, will include several major proposals forged by Republicans from both chambers, seeking to help offset trillions in extant government spending. While a $9.4 billion rescissions package, a formal request from the executive branch to codify its DOGE cuts, is in the works, proponents of the Senate DOGE package say their total estimated savings would accentuate that and also surpass it in value. "We have a 'big, beautiful' opportunity to reduce reckless spending and save billions of dollars," Ernst told Fox News Digital Thursday. "Defunding welfare for politicians, stopping bogus payments and ending unemployment for millionaires are just the start of my commonsense solutions to continue rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. Washington has lived high on the hog for far too long, and now is the time to tighten the belt," the Senate DOGE chairwoman added. Senate DOGE addendums to the Big Beautiful Bill Act during negotiations will include a plan from Ernst called the ELECT Act, which she said claws back hundreds of millions of dollars treated as "welfare for politicians." While $320 million from the fund was diverted to the Secret Service last year, the current $17 million sitting in the account is expected to rise to the $400 million it typically sat at by the end of the year, Fox News Digital has learned. Partnered in that first piece of the DOGE package is also language stripping former presidents of certain perks like additional taxpayer-funded office space and non-security-related staff. More than a dozen Senate Republicans also signed onto that portion of the package. "The federal government must be held accountable for every tax dollar spent," said co-sponsor Mike Lee of Utah. House DOGE Caucus Chair Aaron Bean, R-Fla., also contributed to the package. The Senate version of his DOGE in Spending Act will be included in Senate negotiations. That portion requires any government expenditure to be accompanied by a tangible record to be provided to the Treasury after DOGE found $160 billion in taxpayer funds being distributed without an identification code or in a fraudulent manner. "The American people deserve a government that is efficient, accountable and fiscally responsible. That's why the House successfully advanced DOGE reforms through reconciliation that will safeguard America's financial future," Bean told Fox News Digital. "I encourage the Senate to build on the work we've done in the House to deliver lasting fiscal responsibility to the American people." Other pieces of the Senate's DOGE package include ending what proponents call "unemployment for millionaires," disqualifying people earning more than $1 million per year who lose their jobs from any unemployment support. More than $271 million had been disbursed to that bloc between 2021-2023, proponents said. Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a former chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is leading the Protecting Taxpayers' Wallet Act in the lower chamber. The bill's language, which ends taxpayer-funded union time when government workers negotiate their contracts while on the clock, will be included in the Senate DOGE package. Another portion will compel the sale of six unused or underutilized federal buildings in Washington, D.C., that lawmakers say would free up $400 million in savings annually. The final portion will "snap back inaccurate SNAP payments," Ernst said. The effort will work to identify errors, force collection of overpayments to SNAP recipients and hold states with high levels of their own payment inaccuracies accountable for their negligence. In 2023, approximately $11 billion in SNAP funds were overpaid, but the package's authors noted individual errors of $54 or less aren't included in the tally. Democrats have been critical of DOGE efforts and the separate rescissions package. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told Fox News Thursday a successful version of the latter hasn't passed since the first Bush administration. "Congress' role in setting spending would be done away with, so this first rescission should be defeated," he said.
CNN
28-02-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Roy Wood Jr: Musk's DOGE like people building Legos without instructions
A federal judge in California has told the Trump administration that its attempts to fire large chunks of probationary government employees are unlawful. Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz, member of the DOGE Caucus, says Americans agree with Musk's mission but not the execution.
CNN
28-02-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Roy Wood Jr: Musk's DOGE like people building Legos without instructions
A federal judge in California has told the Trump administration that its attempts to fire large chunks of probationary government employees are unlawful. Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz, member of the DOGE Caucus, says Americans agree with Musk's mission but not the execution.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What Musk told Republican senators about DOGE
Elon Musk on Thursday briefed the Senate's DOGE Caucus on his organization's work after a month of moves to dismantle some government agencies, lay off workers and slash costs. Musk's message: His work is orderly and coordinated with Cabinet secretaries. Musk told Republican senators at the White House that Department of Government Efficiency representatives within the government are 'actually agency officials that are reporting to the secretaries,' Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, told Semafor. It's an important distinction given that lawmakers have worried about communication between Cabinet secretaries and DOGE staffers. Ernst, who chairs the DOGE Caucus, shared the example Musk gave to Republicans about DOGE's orderliness, a case of government software licenses that exceeded the number of employees within specific agencies. DOGE 'will then turn around and make a recommendation and say, 'Hey, you probably need to eliminate these unnecessary licenses.' And so, then the agency heads can decide whether to take those recommendations or not,' Ernst said. Musk has sent Washington reeling with his downsizing of the federal workforce, which is now entering its second phase of broader layoffs, and dismantling of the US Agency for International Development as well as other reorganizations. Republicans largely back DOGE and Musk, even as new firings or reshufflings surprise them on a near-daily basis. Ernst said that Musk is also intent on working with Congress to cut spending through its power over the federal purse. 'We're working with them to find ways that legislatively we can provide action, where maybe there are things they can't. We'll be meshed and nested together with their efforts,' Ernst said. A handful of Republicans, like Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, are raising concerns about the speed and manner in which Musk is moving. And Democrats are ramping up their campaign to link President Donald Trump to Musk, whom they see as an easy target due to his wealth and erratic social media presence. After Musk ordered federal employees in an email to lay out what they accomplished over the past week, Murkowski responded that 'our public workforce deserves to be treated with dignity and respect for the unheralded jobs they perform. The absurd weekend email to justify their existence wasn't it.' But members of the DOGE Caucus sit largely on the other end of the divide; they were seeking more information about what it's doing in order to talk it up to their constituents. 'The senators are all really excited about being able to go out over March recess and talk about what DOGE is finding and how it's being handled,' Ernst said. In total, 21 of the 53 GOP senators attended the meeting, according to a person familiar with the planning: Ernst, John Hoeven of North Dakota, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Katie Britt of Alabama, Eric Schmitt of Missouri, Tim Sheehy of Montana, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, John Cornyn of Texas, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Jon Husted of Ohio, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Bernie Moreno of Ohio, Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Jim Risch of Idaho and Steve Daines of Montana. The VA paused some of its cuts, AP reports. Former GOP speaker aide Brendan Buck that Congress needs to start clawing some power back, and DOGE offers an opportunity to do so.
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DOGE is moving fast. Congress is scrambling to keep up
WASHINGTON — Shortly after President Donald Trump announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire Elon Musk, Republicans in Congress acted swiftly to establish the DOGE caucus to work in tandem with the administration. But so far, the lightning speed with which Musk is operating has left many lawmakers scrambling to keep up with the pace. Since Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 to establish DOGE, Musk has been moving a mile a minute to cut down on wasteful spending and eliminate what the president views as unnecessary programs. As part of those efforts, Musk has encouraged a vast array of federal workers to resign, laid the groundwork to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, and has been given access to the Treasury's payment system. The congressional DOGE caucus was initially created to assist Musk in implementing those efforts, as well as other core tenets of Trump's agenda. However, even as the caucus reportedly grows to more than 100 members, leaders acknowledge the fast pace has made things more difficult for lawmakers to keep up. 'We're learning stuff is being rolled out rather rapidly, there's a lot of breaking news every day,' Rep. Pete Sessions, one of the co-chairs of the DOGE Caucus, told the Deseret News. 'We're trying to get our hands around that and we will then engage in the part of a congressional DOGE very quickly.' The caucus has held several internal meetings since its creation, including one last month that organized members into working groups that can be used to advance special interests. 'We are allowing members to lead on the issues that they would want to lead on,' Sessions said. The congressional caucus itself has gotten somewhat of a slow start, according to some members in the group, especially due to the fast pace of Musk and the Trump administration. That pace, Sessions acknowledged, has put the DOGE caucus in 'a position of watching before we're moving.' But now that the House is starting to make progress on its massive budget reconciliation bill, Sessions said that gives the caucus a blueprint to begin crafting policies and legislation. 'We still have much left to do that is policy-oriented and that's what we're trying to focus on after we look at dollars,' Sessions said. 'Now that the budget numbers are out, we have an idea of the impact on not just organizations but the ability we have.' The DOGE Caucus began as somewhat of a bipartisan effort. But Democrats in the group have begun voicing complaints about the lack of oversight of Musk's decisions — and an apparent absence of communication from the Trump administration. Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz, one of the first Democrats to join the caucus, told CNN earlier this week there didn't appear to be 'any communication between what Elon is doing and the caucus.' 'It seems that Congress is behind and being left out, considering this is our function,' Moskowitz told the outlet. 'We've had meetings. It's been bipartisan. We've had good discussions, but it doesn't seem like the caucus is included on what DOGE is finding.' Moskowitz said the original pitch of the DOGE Caucus was to receive recommendations from Musk, leaving it up to Congress to act on his findings. However, Musk has made a flurry of decisions in recent weeks, prompting Democrats to accuse the billionaire of acting as an unelected bureaucrat running amok with Americans' personal information. That characterization even led one Democrat to leave the caucus altogether. Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Ore., announced her departure last week, claiming the group was not taking seriously the work to cut down on wasteful spending. 'It is impossible for us to do that important work when unelected billionaire Elon Musk and his lackeys are set on burning down the government — and the law — to line his own pockets and rip off Americans across the country who depend on government services to live with dignity,' Hoyle said in a statement. Sessions acknowledged concerns from his Democratic counterparts, particularly those outside the caucus who in recent weeks have used Musk's new position to cry wolf and paint the multi-billionaire as a danger to democracy. Overall, the Texas Republican said the caucus is in 'strong agreement' with DOGE and has been pushing the government commission 'for more data and information' as things move forward. That push, Sessions said, led to Musk's press conference with Trump in the Oval Office earlier this week to answer questions about DOGE's recent actions. By doing that, Sessions contended, DOGE and the congressional caucus can ensure its actions are 'pitched in a way that the American people understand it.' 'We would like to be able to tout the advantages, and yet if we're not completely always aware of what's next, we're not sure,' Sessions said. 'So, yes, we are aware. Yes, we are attempting not just to be on the same page but I think if you go look at their website, their website many times does offer clear explanations. And sometimes they are not as clear. So it leads people to read between the lines and I think that's less effective.' In the meantime, DOGE will be working over the next several weeks with appropriators on the March 14 budget as well as with committee members who are crafting the House's massive budget reconciliation bill, Sessions said. After that, the caucus is expected to issue a report in the coming weeks analyzing topline spending numbers and related legislation to enhance government efficiency. 'Stay tuned,' Sessions said.
