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Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, suggested at a conservative event on Saturday that the proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that tech billionaire Elon Musk is set to co-lead will do Congress' job.
Newsweek reached out to Boebert's office and Trump's transition team via email for comment as well as X, formerly Twitter, via email for comment from Muskon Sunday morning.
Why It Matters
Musk, the owner of car manufacturer Tesla and social media network X, is not only the world's richest man but is set to be one of the most powerful men in American politics. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Musk to lead DOGE, a department that Trump plans to create to cut federal spending, alongside biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Musk, who vocally supported and financially backed Trump's campaign for president, has been inseparable from the president-elect ever since he won this year's election. Musk has already shown his sway with Republicans after a bipartisan spending bill fell through following his public criticism of it.
What To Know
Speaking at Turning Point USA's "AmericaFest" annual conference in Phoenix on Saturday, Boebert called DOGE "revolutionary" and said the department will do the job Congress is supposed to do.
"We are on the brink of something so revolutionary with the DOGE commission," she said. "This isn't just about waste, fraud and abuse and holding those agencies accountable. And, just a little insight, we used to call that Congress. But Congress has let you down. Year-after-year. Decade-after-decade. And now, we are going to hold these agencies accountable to their funders and that's you, the taxpayers filling this room."
Trump announced DOGE and its leaders in a November statement, in which he said Musk and Ramaswamy will "pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies."
"Importantly, we will drive out the massive waste and fraud which exists throughout our annual $6.5 Trillion Dollars of Government Spending," he wrote.
In the 2024 fiscal year, the federal government spent $6.75 trillion, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury.
DOGE will work outside the government and will partner with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to "drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before," according to the president-elect.
What People Are Saying
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told CNN of DOGE in an article published on December 12, "There's just so much potential."
Representative Mark Amodei, a Nevada Republican who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, shared his apprehensions about DOGE in the CNN article, "I wish them all the best, and I mean that sincerely, but then you got to figure out how to build the bridge to actually make it happen in government, since right now, while 'doggie' is a great concept, there is a lot of people asking correctly, so how am I going to do that?"
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who is leading the House Oversight subcommittee working with DOGE, told CNN in the article, "Everyone is realistic," adding, "It's always tough in the beginning, and then once you get through it, everything is bigger and stronger."
What Happens Next
Musk said on the campaign trail that he could cut "at least $2 trillion" in the federal government budget. This is an enormous feat since it's nearly a third of the budget. Whether Musk and Ramaswamy can achieve the $2 trillion cut, is yet to be seen.
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About the writer
Rachel Dobkin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on politics. Rachel joined Newsweek in ... Read more