FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the leader of the Senate Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus, is hoping to take on the centralization of the federal workforce in the Washington, D.C., area with a new bill that would relocate nearly a third of workers.
Ernst is leading a bill, titled the "Decentralizing and Re-organizing Agency Infrastructure Nationwide To Harness Efficient Services, Workforce Administration, and Management Practices Act," or DRAIN THE SWAMP.
The measure would authorize the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to relocate 30% of federal agency staff to places other than the metropolitan area surrounding Washington, D.C.
"My investigations have exposed how bureaucrats have been doing just about everything besides their job during the workday," Ernst said in a statement. "Federal employees have shown they don’t want to work in Washington, and in the Christmas spirit, I am making their wish come true. Instead of keeping them bogged down in the swamp, I’m working to get bureaucrats beyond the D.C. beltway to remind public servants who they work for."
"In addition to improving government service for all Americans, we can give taxpayers an extra Christmas gift by selling off unused and expensive office buildings."
Ernst has long been investigating federal government agencies and programs and what she deems as waste. With Donald Trump's announcement of DOGE ahead of his second administration, the Iowa Republican appears ready to hit the ground running with specific ideas already laid out for the president-elect.
Companion legislation is being introduced in the House by Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., who is a co-leader of the lower chamber's DOGE caucus.
"The swamp is thick and deep here in Crazy Town, and I’m here to drain it. It is time to remind Washington that our duty is to serve the American people. I’m proud to join Senator Ernst to ensure the government works for the people, not the other way around," he said in a statement.
In November, Trump announced that billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would lead DOGE, a proposed advisory board tasked with eliminating government waste.
"Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement," he wrote in a statement at the time.
Afterward, caucuses were formed in both the House and Senate, led by Reps. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., and Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Ernst and Blake Moore, R-Utah, respectively.
Republicans in both chambers have already started rolling out a slate of bills aimed at fulfilling the mission of DOGE.
President-elect Trump on Wednesday said he is "totally against" the continuing resolution (CR) being debated by the House to keep the government from shutting down through March.
Trump spoke with "FOX & Friends" co-host Lawrence Jones on Wednesday, telling him the "fight starts now."
"I just spoke with President-elect [Trump], and he is ‘totally against’ the proposed CR," Jones wrote in a post on X.
In another post, the morning show co-host wrote, "The President-elect [Trump] believes that the ‘fight starts now,’ rather than waiting until he is sworn in.
Jones later wrote, "The President-elect [Trump] acknowledged [House Speaker Mike Johnson’s] challenging situation but emphasized that this approach is not the appropriate course of action."
Congressional leaders in Washington, D.C., released the text of their 1,547-page CR on Tuesday evening after last-minute negotiations delayed its original planned release on Sunday. A source familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital more specifically that the deal was largely struck between the top two Democrats and Republicans in each chamber.
Since its release, the CR has seen strong opposition from conservatives and House GOP hardliners, many of whom are frustrated with unrelenting policy riders attached to the legislation, rather than a "clean" extension of government funding.
While the bill would avert a partial government shutdown through March 14 if passed, it also includes provisions on health care and ethanol fuel, along with $100 billion in disaster aid funding and measures to fund the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The bill also includes the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009.
Republican congressional leaders have defended their plan for a stopgap spending bill, arguing it would allow Trump to have a greater influence on spending when the question comes up again in the spring.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance released a statement on the spending bill on Wednesday.
"The most foolish and inept thing ever done by Congressional Republicans was allowing our country to hit the debt ceiling in 2025. It was a mistake and is now something that must be addressed," they wrote. "Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch.
"If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. And we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want.
"Republicans want to support farmers and pay for disaster relief while setting the country up for success in 2025."
"The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country," they said. "Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH.
"If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief. THIS CHAOS WOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IF WE HAD A REAL PRESIDENT. WE WILL IN 32 DAYS!"
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who was appointed co-chair of Trump’s newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also came out in opposition to Johnson’s proposed bill to keep the government funded on Wednesday.
Musk turned to his social media platform X to argue that the 1,547-page document is full of "pork."
The other co-chair of DOGE, Vivek Ramaswamy, expressed skepticism of the bill on Tuesday, though he did not outright oppose Johnson’s solution.
"Currently reading the 1,547-page bill to fund the government through mid-March. Expecting every U.S. Congressman & Senator to do the same," Ramaswamy wrote on X.
The GOP holds a one-seat majority in the House, meaning Johnson will likely have to rely on Democratic votes to pass the bill. The legislation must also pass the Senate by the Friday deadline to avoid a shutdown.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
The co-leaders of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have circled the wagons against a stopgap spending bill that has drawn the ire of conservatives in Congress.
"Unless @DOGE ends the careers of deceitful, pork-barrel politicians, the waste and corruption will never stop," Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk posted on X on Wednesday afternoon as Republican lawmakers mulled the best way forward for the CR to fund the government.
"Therefore, there is no choice but to do so. I wish there was another way, but there is not."
Former Republican presidential candidate and DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy has also been a vocal critic of the legislation and suggested in an X post on Wednesday that Republicans should put forward a simple 1-page resolution.
"Yes, it *is* possible to enact a simple 1-page Continuing Resolution, instead of 1,500+ page omnibus pork-fest," Ramaswamy wrote. "Here it is.:"
Ramaswamy continued, "This is what a clean CR looks like. I still don’t love it because it permits the historical spending excesses to continue, but at bare minimum, we shouldn’t be stacking even more waste on top."
Musk, who posted a video of Ramaswamy railing against the bill urging Americans to call their representatives to "stop the steal of your tax dollars," spent part of the afternoon re-posting comments from elected Republicans who voiced their opposition to the bill.
"Thank you!" Musk posted in response to GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna saying she will not vote for the "Cramnibus bill" due to "billions to Ukraine, mask and vaccine mandates, Deep State immunity."
"I will still fight for a standalone disaster relief bill," Luna wrote.
In an earlier post on X, Musk wrote, "Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!" Musk wrote on X.
Congressional leaders released the text of their 1,547-page CR on Tuesday evening after last-minute negotiations delayed its original planned being release Sunday. Since then, it's seen fierce pushback from conservatives and House GOP hardliners, many of whom are frustrated at the unrelated policy riders attached to the legislation – rather than a "clean" extension of government funding.
The final package extends existing government programs and services at their current operating levels for a few more months, through March 14, 2025.
The stopgap measure is needed because Congress has failed to pass its annual appropriations bills to fund all the various agencies in the federal government, from the Pentagon and national security apparatus, to the health, welfare, transportation and other routine domestic services. When the fiscal year ended on Sept. 30, Congress simply punted the problem by passing a temporary funding bill that expires Friday.
Fox News Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram reported on Wednesday afternoon that there is "talk now of pulling the CR and trying to do a 'clean' bill. but it is "unclear if that also means no disaster aid."
Stopping the 1,500 page spending package and forcing a vote on a clean bill would mark a significant victory for DOGE and its supporters, who have been vocally pushing for changes in the way that government spending bills are handled.
"This bill is contrary to the very existence of @DOGE," GOP Rep. Chip Roy's press office posted on X. "The @HouseGOP should vote NO. Miss Christmas if we must."
Pergram posted on X on Wednesday after that the bill was "bleeding support from Republicans."
"As to Elon Musk weighing in, telling lawmakers that all should be voted out in two years, a member of the House Republican leadership told Fox that Musk ‘is not helping. He has bigger fish to fry than picking a fight with House Republicans,'" Pergram wrote.
Johnson's difficulty coming to an agreement with his razor-thin majority in the House has resulted in names being floated to possibly replace him in the next Congress, Fox News Digital reported.
Fox News anchor Lawrence Jones reported late Wednesday afternoon that President-elect Trump is "totally against" the CR although he "acknowledged" that Johnson is in a precarious position.
During an appearance on Fox & Friends on Wednesday morning, Johnson shared that while government debt and deficits are a concern, Republicans must approve "short-term stopgap funding measures" while Democrats still control the White House and Senate.
"We've got it in our central focus and when we start the new Congress in January, when Republicans are in control and DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) is working on all six cylinders, we're going to be able to scale back the size and scope of government," he said.
Johnson also said the move would ensure Republicans can control spending for 2025, describing it as an "impossible position."
"This is the sausage-making process," he added.
The House Speaker also revealed that he has been on a text chain with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who will helm DOGE.
"Remember, guys, we still have just a razor-thin margin of Republicans. So, any bill has to have Democrat votes. They understand the situation." Johnson said, referencing the text exchange.
If Republicans are unable to rally the necessary votes or receive enough support from Democrats to push it through despite the vocal opponents within the party, the country would face a government shutdown on Friday night.
"What does President Trump want Republicans to do: vote for the CR or shut down government? Absent direction, confusion reigns," said retiring Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, in a sly post on X.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Trump said in a statement, "If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF."
Musk addressed the shutdown possibility on X writing that "shutting down the government (which doesn't actually shut down critical functions btw) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill."
Fox News Digital's Anders Hagstrom, Liz Elkind, Nikolas Lanum and the Associated Press contributed to this report
FIRST ON FOX: One of the founding Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus members, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., is leading the introduction of a legislative package targeting government waste related to the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's next term.
The Oklahoma Republican gave Fox News Digital an exclusive first look at two bills he will introduce Tuesday, one to address cases of unemployment fraud and another to extend the statute of limitations to prosecute COVID-19 recovery fund fraud.
"Making the government more efficient isn’t a partisan issue—it’s an American issue. Loopholes in the law let fraudsters get away with billions in COVID recovery and Unemployment Insurance payouts while forcing taxpayers to foot the bill. The decades of government waste must come to an end," Lankford said in a statement.
The first measure would allow states to halt unemployment payments to claimants if they are deemed fraudulent, getting rid of a requirement for unemployment agencies to restart payments within two weeks if they are appealed, despite potential fraud.
The latter bill would expand the extended statute of limitations for certain pandemic-era programs to all of them, including large and costly ones such as the Coronavirus Relief Fund, Economic Impact Payments and Unemployment insurance.
According to Lankford's office, Government Accountability Office Comptroller Eugene Dodaro endorsed the bill addressing COVID relief fraud.
"I am very pleased that this bill addresses the Inspector General community’s request to extend the statute of limitations for pandemic unemployment insurance program fraud," he said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital by Lankford's office.
"If enacted, this bill would give our oversight partners and law enforcement additional time to pursue federal fraud-related investigations in these programs and hold individuals accountable to the American people."
In November, Trump announced that billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would lead DOGE, a proposed advisory board tasked with eliminating government waste.
"Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies - Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement," he wrote in a statement at the time.
Afterward, caucuses were formed in both the House and Senate, led by Reps. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., and Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Blake Moore, R-Utah, and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, respectively.
Ernst is a co-sponsor of Lankford's COVID fraud bill.
Before Trump officially announced DOGE and his choice of Musk and Ramaswamy to lead it, the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO said at an October rally that he believed it could cut trillions in government spending.
A top New Jersey lawmaker is proposing legislation to form a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Garden State, modeling it after the one Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are forming at the federal level.
"We need it more" than Washington, Senate Minority Whip Joe Pennacchio, R-Boonton, said.
"We're mirroring what the federal government and what those two gentlemen are doing."
Pennacchio, who also previously worked under former Republican Gov. Donald DiFrancesco on economic development, said NJDOGE would take on a state budget that has increased 60% in the past seven fiscal years.
"A lot of those increases were one-shots, when they borrowed money during the period of COVID. You're not going to get that back. … They haven’t even spent it all. Those one-shots, they’re all gone.
"I’ve seen estimates of a budget deficit next year of maybe $4 billion. Next year is the governor’s race. We will have a new governor, and regardless of who comes in — Republican or Democrat — it would be nice to have a committee together to give them a blueprint of what we can or should not do."
He said the state does have a "red tape" commission set up by former Gov. Chris Christie to trim regulations, adding it hasn’t borne results.
"Every dollar we save is $1 less that [Trenton] has to raise taxes," Pennacchio said.
Pennacchio’s committee, if approved, would consist of one member from the state Treasury, one from the Chamber of Commerce, the top Republican and Democrat from the Senate and General Assembly and one public member appointed by the governor.
"[N]ot only can we start to chip away at our exacerbated affordability crisis by cutting wasteful spending and ensuring efficiency, we can also ease the financial burden for our constituents across the Garden State by lowering the onslaught of taxes and fees," Pennacchio said.
At least one other state senator is planning to endorse the idea but has not yet done so publicly. Fox News Digital also reached out to representatives of the General Assembly for their reaction to the senator’s legislation.
Despite being long viewed as a reliably "blue" state, New Jersey came within about four points of electing Donald Trump instead of Vice President Kamala Harris. Political analysts pointed to the results as evidence of a tidal shift in public opinion toward government spending, among other subjects.
Trump twice won Morris County and flipped Passaic County in 2024, parts of which Pennacchio represents. The lawmaker said his constituents are on board with his NJDOGE proposal and that they’ve similarly recognized disparities in the funding support they receive from Trenton.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump Transition for comment on the plan.
"My district is a district that is getting the bills. Schools in my district are seeing cuts while schools in other districts are not seeing cuts," Pennacchio said.
"It is stuff like this that we should look at. … If the legislature sees fit that they still want to subsidize this nonsense, then that's fine. They’ll be on record.
"Let's greet the next new governor with outlines of what they can do, where there are cost savings, where things can be eliminated; that will stimulate the economy, maybe decrease taxes on the people."
The 2025 field for that governor’s race is packed, with several top names in both partisan primaries.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, former Senate Leader Steve Sweeney and representatives Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer round out the Democratic choices.
Truck driver and former state Sen. Ed Durr, Sen. Jon Bramnick, conservative journalist Bill Spadea and 2021 gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli are the top names on the Republican side.
State Sen. Robert Singer, R-Lakewood, also joined Pennacchio's call for a NJDOGE.
"With President Trump's plan to bring business back to the U.S., New Jersey has the chance to lead the charge. It's time to restore our state's manufacturing glory with high-paying jobs," Singer said.
"Let's make New Jersey the blueprint for the Make America Work Again movement, starting with a statewide DOGE."
Recently, large drones have been spotted across Pennacchio’s district, making nationwide news.
Pennacchio slammed the feds for offering Jerseyans few answers on the aircraft, saying that when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in 2001, government officials knew right away who orchestrated it.
"We even had some face time with the Department of Homeland Security (about the drones). They were useless. … They should be ashamed of themselves. The FBI director, he checked out. [Christopher Wray] already announced that he's leaving. … So who's minding the store here?"
Every Member of Congress will have a DOGE in the fight.
As in DOGE, the incipient but still unofficial "Department of Government Efficiency." Congress hasn’t voted to create such a department. There’s been no presidential executive order. But quasi-President Trump-elect advisers Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are spearheading the enterprise.
"It's unclear to me what exactly the objective is related to this so-called DOGE initiative," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Incoming President Trump, Musk and Ramaswamy say the goal is to cut spending. Perhaps by as much as $2 trillion in the next two and a half years. Slates of congressional Republicans met with Musk and Ramaswamy on Capitol Hill late last week. The message? ‘Tis the season to be frugal.
"Elon and Vivek talked about having a naughty list and a nice list for members of Congress and senators and how we vote and how we're spending the American people's money," said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.
Republican expectations for DOGE are stratospheric.
"We need to start cutting our budget and cutting it soon," said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla.
"Every single Republican wants to get about the business of cutting fraud, waste and abuse," said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
"We can't just continue to do everything for everyone," said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.
But Republican political aspirations for DOGE and spending cuts could soon slam into legislative reality.
"It’s going to require not only statutory authority to do it, which means it'll have to go to the committees of jurisdiction. But then it has to go to where everything gets funded," said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. "And how we can get enough votes to actually put it into force."
Cuts don’t just happen magically in Congress. There’s no magic wand. Implementation of everything requires votes on the floor. And Republicans barely control the House.
"It's clear that the incoming House Republican majority will not be able to do much without us," said Jeffries.
House Republicans begin the new Congress in January with a 219-215 advantage over the Democrats. But that slips to a margin of one vote in late January after Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., leaves to become National Security Adviser. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., will depart after the Senate confirms her for United Nations Ambassador. So Republicans have no votes to spare to do things on their own.
Plus, many Democrats aren’t enamored with Elon Musk.
"Elon Musk has largely proved himself to be an efficient liar and self-serving plutocrat. And so I don't have high hopes for him having anything other than pretty awful ideas," said Rep. Greg Casar, D-Tex., the incoming chairman of the House Progressive Caucus.
Musk and Ramaswamy are political icons. But this is not the first ambitious effort to slice substantial federal spending. Some "blue ribbon" commissions lacked the star power wattage of the dynamic duo of Musk and Ramaswamy.
One of the most ballyhooed – and successful – efforts to pare the federal government came in 1993. President Clinton and Vice President Gore promised they were "reinventing government" and planned to change things in Washington. Their initiative wasn’t focused so much on debt reduction – but reducing the size and scope of federal influence.
"At the end of six months, we will have real results and real proposals to offer," said Gore in March, 1993. "Write it down. Check back with us. We'll be checking back with you. We don't need another report to put on the shelf to collect dust. We do need a real plan for action."
In the end, the Clinton-Gore approach sliced more than 400,000 federal jobs and shrank the size of 13 of 14 federal departments. But over time, those jobs crept back up to where they are today. The federal government currently employs about three million workers.
In 2010, late Sen. and Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and late Clinton Budget Director Alice Rivlin assembled a budget plan known as "Domenici-Rivlin" in the Washington vernacular. The package was designed to help the U.S. recover from the 2008 recession and curb the debt. They tried to address exploding health care costs. Lawmakers adopted a few components of their recommendations over the years, but the impact was minimal.
In 2011, the U.S. faced a debt ceiling crisis. Congress created a "supercommittee" comprised of bipartisan, bicameral lawmakers to concoct a plan to reduce spending – or force a set of Draconian, mandatory cuts known as "sequestration." It would chop about $1 trillion in federal spending each year. Well, the committee failed to forge an agreement. Thus, the panel became "the committee, formerly known as super." The automatic sequestration spending cuts then set in.
President Obama signed an executive order to establish the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Former Senate Majority Whip Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles co-chaired the commission. Its proposals were known simply as "Simpson-Bowles." The panel recommended a host of cuts, including a reduction in military spending and tax hikes – plus a levy on gasoline. Congress later adopted a few individual recommendations from Simpson-Bowles. The House even soundly defeated a budget modeled on Simpson-Bowles in 2012.
But what about cutting actual spending? Expect some lawmakers to attempt to dodge the DOGE. Denting the debt could mean trimming popular programs. On Meet the Press, NBC’s Kristen Welker asked President-elect Trump about his plans for the most expensive government programs: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
"We’re not touching Social other than we make it more efficient. But the people are going to get what they're getting," said the next president.
"So the entitlement's off the table?" asked Welker.
"And we're not raising ages or any of that," replied Mr. Trump.
Entitlements consume more than 60% of all federal spending. And despite what Trump says, multiple congressional Republicans have called for altering the retirement age for eligibility for programs. It’s believed that such an approach would stabilize entitlements, making them more solvent.
"There is some waste, abuse and fraud in Medicare," said Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo. "And on the front end on Social Security, I think there's a way when people are living longer, they're retiring later that on the front end, we can move that retirement age back a little bit." said Alford.
Half of all money Congress allocates annually goes to the Pentagon. Congressional Republicans want to even boost military funding next year.
Democrats say there’s not enough money available to cut from other areas to make up the difference.
"You're not going to be able to extract the kind of savings that you need to actually balance the budget just from government efficiency," said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., on Fox.
Still, the GOP says it must get serious about spending cuts and not just talk about it.
"You can't campaign on freedom and limited government and low taxes and low spending and cutting the deficit and then not do it," said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Tex.
That’s why congressional budget cutters face tough challenges. Voters will watch what lawmakers keep. And what they eliminate. And there could be political consequences for cutting too much. Or not keeping promises.
EXCLUSIVE: A top U.S. senator is expected to demand that Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo explain her reported plans to exhaust the remainder of the CHIPs and Science Act’s multibillion-dollar appropriations before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
"Your recent mandate to the Department of Commerce staff to work overtime–including weekends–spending billions of dollars in funding provided by the CHIPs and Science Act as quickly as possible before President-elect Trump takes office in January is extremely concerning," Senate DOGE Caucus leader Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, writes in a letter that's to be given to Raimondo on Wednesday.
Ernst called on Raimondo, the previous Rhode Island governor, to immediately halt all last-minute spending plans.
Raimondo recently told Politico she’d "like to have really almost all of the money obligated" from what is one of President Biden’s major government spending initiatives "by the time we leave."
The CHIPs Act, sponsored by then-Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, sought to invest in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, research, development and other related endeavors.
In her letter, Ernst said microchips and other "essential goods" strengthen the U.S. economy and supply chain.
She said that the success of the CHIPs Act hinges on careful planning and execution, which, according to her interpretation, are not reflected in Raimondo's remarks regarding the upcoming final rounds of spending.
"[B]inge buying shopping sprees by bureaucrats shoveling billions out the door before your term expires" are unwise, she said.
"This is not a time to let the CHIPs fall where they may," she said, pointing to reports that nearly $280 billion in COVID-19 response funding was wasted or subject to fraud.
"Shoveling out heaps of taxpayer dollars as fast as possible, with little to no oversight, is part of the reason the United States government is nearly $36 trillion in debt today," Ernst wrote.
In exclusive comments to Fox News Digital, Ernst quipped that while "Black Friday might have come-and-gone, the Biden administration is on a spending spree, convinced every tax dollar must go."
"We’ve never seen bureaucrats work this hard, and you can be sure they made a list and aren’t checking it twice to find out who is naughty and nice. This is backwards and underscores the need for DOGE to shake up Washington and bring some much-needed Iowa common sense to the capital," she said.
In her letter, Ernst wrote that with $25 billion of $53 billion in available appropriations already earmarked, it is difficult to believe the same level of oversight will be given to the last-minute expenditures as there likely was for the first two years’ worth.
In addition to her criticisms and demands that the spending be halted, Ernst asked Raimondo to inform her on several related fronts before the day the new Congress is seated next year.
Ernst is requesting the total number of ongoing negotiations between Commerce and CHIPs Act fund applicants, the duration of planned CHIPs projects and the amount of money spent via the CHIPs Act both prior to and after Trump’s election win.
She will also ask Raimondo how her team is coordinating with the Trump transition on this matter.
Trump has chosen Cantor-Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to succeed Raimondo on Jan. 20.
Fox News Digital reached out to Raimondo on the general subject of her remarks to Politico. A Raimondo representative directed Fox News Digital to a portion of her interview: "You know, there's a deadline, there's a clear deadline with a change of administration. So, certainly, a deadline focuses the mind. But this was the plan we were on all along to complete this mission. I don't worry terribly about any of the CHIPs money being rolled back, as you say. I mean, the Commerce Department is somewhat unique in so far as everything we've done and are doing is bipartisan," Raimondo said.
Billionaire business tycoon Elon Musk, who President-elect Donald Trump tapped to lead the new cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), agreed with former Rep. Ron Paul's suggestion that the U.S. should end foreign aid.
"Here’s an easy one for @DOGE !" Paul declared in a post on X. "ELIMINATE foreign aid!"
"It’s taking money from the poor and middle class in the US and giving it to the rich in poor countries - with a cut to the facilitators in between! Americans don’t want their government to borrow more money to spend on foreign aid. Besides, it is the immoral transfer of wealth and is unconstitutional," Paul asserted.
"@DOGE will address this with full transparency for the American people," Musk replied.
Musk and Ramaswamy were both tapped by Trump to work together on DOGE, which the president-elect said in a statement last month "will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before."
Musk and Ramaswamy have indicated that they believe funding for non-governmental organizations should be examined.
"We need to scrutinize U.S. government funding of 'non-government organizations,'" Ramaswamy noted in a post on X. "It's an oxymoron that represents a waste of taxpayer dollars, but the real problem runs deeper: Americans deserve transparency on opaque foreign aid & nonprofit groups abetting our own border crisis."
Sen. Marsha Blackburn will roll out a package of legislation backing up Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) objectives, as Republican lawmakers launch legislative efforts to rally behind the cost-cutting efforts.
The Tennessee Republican announced her plans to unveil the "DOGE Acts" in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. They would seek to move federal agencies out of Washington, D.C., freeze federal hiring and salaries for one year, and get federal workers back in the office.
The GOP senator will reportedly unveil a series of measures that will mirror more of the framework being pushed by the new agency to cut government spending, according to the senators' spokesperson.
"I will be introducing legislation that coincides with @DOGE’s plan to make the federal government more efficient," Blackburn said in a post on X.
"My DOGE Act will freeze federal hiring, begin the process to relocate agencies out of the D.C. swamp, and establish a merit-based salary system for the federal workforce," Blackburn said.
A spokesperson for the senator later revealed that she plans to announce several of these bills.
"Senator Blackburn is planning to introduce a package of bills – known as the DOGE Acts – aimed at holding the federal government more accountable for managing taxpayer dollars next week," Blackburn’s spokesperson said in a statement, the Hill reported. "The DOGE Acts coincides with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan to make the federal government more efficient."
Musk responded to the senator's tweet, writing "thank you" in a post.
The announcement came after Musk and Ramaswamy, the pair appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the efforts, spent the day meeting with lawmakers to discuss cost-cutting opportunities and objectives.
Lawmakers told Fox News Digital that they were "very impressed" with the DOGE framework following their meetings with the duo.
Along with Blackburn's legislative plans, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate's DOGE Caucus, unveiled a 60-page cost-cutting proposal during a meeting with GOP senators and Ramaswamy on Thursday.
The DOGE efforts have already gained bipartisan support from Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., joining the House's GOP-led congressional caucus. Ahead of the meeting with Congress, Musk was asked whether he wanted Democratic members to be part of DOGE conversations, to which he was heard answering, "Yes."
Business magnate Elon Musk said in a post on X that it is "Hard not to like" Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.
"He puts country over party," Musk added.
He made the comments in response to footage of Fetterman saying that he admires Musk, who is "involved in very important parts of American society" such as artificial intelligence and SpaceX.
Fetterman said that Musk is "on a different team, but that doesn't make me an enemy."
President-elect Donald Trump has tasked Musk and former GOP presidential primary contender Vivek Ramaswamy, who self-identifies as a "small-government crusader," with working on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The two entrepreneurs aim to place Washington D.C.'s profligate spending in the crosshairs.
"If we don’t tackle the exponential growth in national debt, there will be no money for anything, including essential services!" Musk warned in a tweet.
In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece last month, they noted, "We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We’ll cut costs."
Ramaswamy and Musk met with lawmakers in D.C. on Thursday.
"Great discussion today with @elonmusk on his goals for the @DOGE. Looking forward to working together to improve government efficiency and get America back on track," Senate Republican Leader-elect John Thune, R-S.D., said in a Thursday post on X.
"Excellent discussion about solving the national debt crisis," Musk responded.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressional Republicans are planning to work closely with Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, the pair co-leading Trump's newly formed spending cuts project, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The DOGE duo made their rounds with lawmakers in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, spending the morning with members of the Senate DOGE Caucus before heading to a meeting with House GOP leaders and House DOGE Caucus representatives.
The pair, who will spearhead efforts under President-elect Trump to slash government spending and strengthen government efficiency under the incoming Trump administration, wrapped up their day on Capitol Hill by addressing a joint meeting with Republicans of both chambers.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., incoming chair of the DOGE House subcommittee, revealed that, during the meeting, Musk said there would be a "naughty list" and a "nice list" for lawmakers.
"There will be a lot more that is expressed in the days ahead," Johnson said as he left the meeting. "Stay tuned for more to come."
Co-chairs of the DOGE House caucus said there was a "big discussion" during the meeting with Musk and Ramaswamy about education and the redundancy of government workers.
"There is so much waste, fraud and abuse. There is so much inefficiency. Where do we begin?" DOGE Caucus co-chair Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., said.
He suggested there was already "low-hanging fruit" for improving government efficiency that Republicans could agree on that included the issues of education and the federal workforce.
"There was a big discussion about education. There was a big discussion about redundancy of government workers as they exist in programs across the country. This was not a ‘pick your program and select it and get agreement.’ This was the idea forum," said co-chair Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas.
Sessions also highlighted how the timeframe for DOGE, which is expected to conclude no later than July 4, 2026, on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence's signing, will help ensure agency efficiency.
Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, walking out of the meeting, told reporters that "we’re going to gut the fish."
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, however, was skeptical of them relying on the new department to cut costs.
"It's a little rich to go, ‘Oh DOGE, save us.’ What, from ourselves?" Roy told reporters. "What I told them is, their best role is to expose the absolute stupidity coming out of this body."
But Rep-elect Mike Haridolopos, R-Fla., argued it was good to have an outside eye looking at how the federal government is run.
"The lowest-hanging fruit, one overall thing we need to do is eventually pass a balanced budget amendment," he said of where Congress could help cut waste. "I think the second one is that people have to show up to work. Everybody else in America, they don't show up to work, they don't get paid. And so these government employees need to show up to work."
Ahead of the meeting with Congress, Musk was asked if he wanted Democratic members to be part of DOGE conversations, to which he was heard answering "yes."
Musk sat down with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Thursday morning, while Ramaswamy met with the Senate DOGE Caucus to hear from chair Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa., who unveiled a 60-page proposal for potential spending cuts.
Many Americans don't trust the federal government, and Elon Musk — an eccentric billionaire business tycoon tasked by President-elect Donald Trump with helping slay the unwieldly bureaucratic leviathan — thinks that's just the right attitude.
"I think we should not trust the government," Musk has previously declared.
Apparently, people are way ahead of him.
"As of April 2024, 22% of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right "just about always" (2%) or "most of the time" (21%)," Pew Research Center noted earlier this year.
Trump tapped Musk and self-identified "small-government crusader" Vivek Ramaswamy to helm the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an effort that puts Washington D.C.'s profligate spending in the crosshairs.
"We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We’ll cut costs," the dynamic duo declared in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece last month.
Ramaswamy appears to share similar views to Musk on public trust in government.
"The reason the people don’t trust the government is that the government doesn’t trust the people. In God we trust and government we distrust," Ramaswamy declared in a post on X last year.
"Under President Trump, we will take a blowtorch to the administrative state and reduce the size and scope of government. House and Senate Republicans look forward to hosting Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy tomorrow to discuss how the Department of Government Efficiency can help us get it done," House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a Wednesday post on X.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Lawmakers told Fox News Digital they are "very impressed" with President-elect Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) framework amid meetings on Capitol Hill with agency appointees Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
In November, Trump tapped Tesla CEO Musk and former presidential candidate Ramaswamy to co-lead DOGE under his administration — a new federal department that will aim to reduce government waste and slash costs.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa., chair of the Senate's DOGE Caucus, led a meeting with senators Thursday to unveil a 60-page cost-cutting proposal. Ramawasy was present at the meeting, while Musk simultaneously sat down with incoming Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune of South Dakota.
"I'm very impressed with what Elon and Vivek want to accomplish," Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital after leaving the DOGE Caucus meeting. "I can't talk about what they are going to be proposing, but I've known them for a long time, and I think they're going to do a great job."
While senators who attended the meeting would not reveal specifically where DOGE intends to cut costs, they all agreed that the conversation was productive.
"It showed a lot of us are on the same page," Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., said of Thursday's chat. "We need to make government serve people again."
Budd added that he believes Musk and Ramaswamy are "the right people for the moment" to cut government costs.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Fox News Digital that DOGE is rolling out "hundreds of ideas" aimed towards achieving a "balanced budget."
"It was just a great conversation," Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said after leaving the meeting.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said, "We talked about a lot of things. This is the very beginning of a process that, if we do it right, will be ongoing. So right now, we are just talking about the art of the possible."
Tillis added that he believes Democrats will come on board with DOGE.
Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska said his top priority in addressing costs is fixing "the regulatory burden and litigation abuse to do anything in America."
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine also told reporters that it was a "good meeting."
During Thursday's DOGE caucus meeting, Ernst proposed the federal government relocate Washington’s workforce across the country, and for Congress to set a goal for all federal government agencies to achieve a 60% daily occupancy at their headquarters.
Ernst's report found that only 6% of workers currently report in-person on a full-time basis, with nearly one-third working remotely, according to a copy shared with Fox News Digital.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are expected to visit Capitol Hill Thursday morning to meet with Republican lawmakers in both chambers of Congress to discuss ways to reduce waste in the federal government just weeks after the creation of the Trump-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate and biotech entrepreneur, are the co-heads of the new agency created by President-elect Trump to root out government waste.
The two will visit Washington, D.C., for meetings with top lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the Senate, signaling they will work alongside Congress to slash abuse of taxpayer money.
Musk and Ramswamy are expected to attend the first Senate DOGE Caucus meeting Thursday morning. The caucus is chaired by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
Later, the pair will cross to the other side of the Capitol for a bicameral event hosted by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who invited legislators from both the House and Senate to the event.
Johnson, in his save-the-date announcement, said he plans to discuss "major reform ideas" with Musk and Ramaswamy to "achieve regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions, and cost savings," while also reviving "the principle of limited government."
Johnson declared that Trump "has made this possible."
Musk and Ramaswamy are wasting no time laying out their vision for slashing government bloat through DOGE. The pair penned an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal last month, explaining how the outside-government agency will operate to determine suggestions for cuts.
The entrepreneurs have vowed to scrap entire government agencies through the DOGE initiative, which they intend to wrap up by July 4, 2026.
In their op-ed, Musk and Ramaswamy largely focused on how DOGE could assist in identifying waste and regulations that could be eliminated through the executive branch.
Republicans will control the White House and both chambers of the legislature when Trump returns to office in January, and many GOP lawmakers have already expressed interest in assisting the agency.
In the House, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said he will establish the Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee, which will be chaired by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to work with DOGE.
The subcommittee is expected to investigate wasteful spending, examine ways to reorganize federal agencies to improve efficiency and identify solutions to eliminate bureaucratic red tape.
Sources told Fox News Digital Comer and Ramaswamy have already met to discuss how best to work together.
Trump said last month he hopes DOGE will become the "Manhattan Project of our time," a reference to J. Robert Oppenheimer’s secretive atomic bomb endeavor during World War II.
"Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of DOGE for a very long time," Trump said.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — the duo President-elect Donald Trump tapped for the effort known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — have indicated that they plan to examine funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
"We need to scrutinize U.S. government funding of 'non-government organizations,'" Ramaswamy noted in a post on X. "It's an oxymoron that represents a waste of taxpayer dollars, but the real problem runs deeper: Americans deserve transparency on opaque foreign aid & nonprofit groups abetting our own border crisis."
He also agreed with his brother Kimbal Musk, who suggested that NGOs are "mouthpieces" for governments that "need to go."
"NGO’s are the govt’s way of creating mouthpieces that promote their agenda and push for censorship without the normal checks and balances that govt has to follow. They need to go," Kimbal Musk declared in a tweet.
Musk and Ramaswamy noted in a Wall Street Journal piece last month that they "will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees."
Trump had said in a statement that DOGE "will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before."
EXCLUSIVE: House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer is expected to establish a subcommittee that will work with the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to eliminate government waste, Fox News Digital has learned.
A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., will chair the Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee, which will focus on rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.
The subcommittee is expected to investigate wasteful spending, examine ways to reorganize federal agencies to improve efficiency and identify solutions to eliminate bureaucratic red tape.
A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Comer had a meeting with Ramaswamy and his incoming DOGE team.
And Ramaswamy confirmed the meeting with Comer and Greene to Fox News Digital.
"A key step to driving greater efficiency in government is exposing the problem to the public—we are grateful that the House Oversight Committee has created a subcommittee to focus on this work," a spokesperson for Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital. "We look forward to working together."
The source said Ramaswamy is "supportive of the Oversight Committee’s endeavor and are already working together."
Comer told Fox News Digital that President Trump’s "landslide victory reflects a clear mandate to address inflationary spending that’s driving up the cost of living for hardworking Americans."
"Wasteful government spending must end, and taxpayers deserve to see their money used effectively and efficiently," he said.
Comer told Fox News Digital that the new Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency "will align with the Trump administration’s priorities to eliminate government waste, streamline the federal government’s operations and cut red tape that’s stifling jobs and increasing costs for the American people."
"I look forward to working with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to deliver on these goals to Make America Great Again," Comer said.
Greene told Fox News Digital that the House Oversight Committee "is the perfect place to support the DOGE mission."
"I’m excited to chair this new subcommittee designed to work hand in hand with President Trump, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy and the entire DOGE team," Greene said. "We will identify and investigate the waste, corruption and absolutely useless parts of our federal government."
Greene said the subcommittee will provide "transparency and truth to the American people through hearings."
"No topic will be off the table," she said. "The goal of DOGE is to bring accountability and GUT useless government agencies."
Greene said she expects the subcommittee’s work "will expose people who need to be fired."
"The bureaucrats who don’t do their job, fail audits like in the Pentagon and don’t know where billions of dollars are going, will be getting a pink slip," Greene said. "Chairman Comer and I are focused on delivering the mandate voters sent on Nov. 5th, and I can’t wait to get to work."
Trump this month tapped Musk and Ramaswamy to lead DOGE, which Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, has widely touted. DOGE has already started soliciting civilian help in the agency.
Trump said last week he hopes DOGE will become the "Manhattan Project of our time," in reference to J. Robert Oppenheimer’s secretive atom bomb endeavor during World War II.
"Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of DOGE for a very long time," Trump said.
