Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) is the first Democrat to join the Congressional Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus, a group that aims to be a counterpart to the forthcoming “Department of Government Efficiency,” also referred to as DOGE, in the Trump White House.
“Today, I will join the Congressional DOGE Caucus, because I believe that streamlining government processes and reducing ineffective government spending should not be a partisan issue,” Moskowitz said in a statement on Tuesday. “I’ve been clear that there are ways we can reorganize our government to make it work better for the American people.”
The group is led by Reps. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.) and Pete Sessions (R-Texas) in the House and by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) in the Senate.
Formation of the caucus serves as recognition that President-elect Trump’s DOGE, which will be led by billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, will not be able to slash spending and cut government programs without Congress.
Moskowitz identified some areas of the government that he wants to cut, singling out the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which he said “has gotten too big.”
“The Caucus should look at the bureaucracy that DHS has become and include recommendations to make Secret Service and FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] independent federal agencies with a direct report to the White House,” said Moskowitz, who was previously director of emergency management in Florida. “It’s not practical to have 22 agencies under this one department. I look forward to working in a bipartisan manner with my colleagues to remove FEMA and Secret Service from DHS.”
Interest in DOGE is ramping up on Capitol Hill.
Musk and Ramaswamy are scheduled to speak to Capitol Hill Republicans about DOGE on Thursday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) previously announced.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) will also chair a new subcommittee within the House Oversight and Accountability Committee with the same acronym, called the Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee, next year.
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