WASHINGTON, D.C. – The new congressional DOGE Caucus is laying out their initial plans to cut spending and make the government more efficient. A group of protesters at the Capitol are alarmed at DOGE’s methods of doing business.
Members in the new Caucus are introducing legislation to cut back spending on things like animal testing, reclaim unspent COVID money and closing welfare loopholes to make sure wealthy people do not qualify for things like food stamps.
“For too long Washington has treated taxpayer dollars like monopoly money spending without accountability, racking up 35 trillion dollars hard working Americans,” said Rep. Ben Cline (R- VA).
DOGE, which is spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk, has come under fire recently for mass firings, limiting federal employees’ access to their work or offices, access to sensitive data, among other things.
Protesters at the Capitol are pushing back against DOGE. They are concerned about DOGE limiting congress’ role in having the power of the purse and are alarmed about the mass firings.
“Cutting federal workers is just not right,” said DOGE protester Donna Powell. “Whether it’s cutting researchers at the NIH, cutting folks at the Department of Labor, cutting members at the FBI or even cutting people from NASA- what do you think Elon Musk is going to do if he cuts people from NASA? He’s going to take it all and put it into Space X so he can become the new NASA. This is just terrible.”
“We need to follow the rule of law that’s been in place to keep our government functioning independently as three separate pieces so that the American people can trust the rule of law,” said DOGE protester Don Powell. “And if people don’t trust the rule of law then our society won’t stand.”
According to online sources, about 50 percent of government spending goes towards defense, Medicare and social security. The DOGE Caucus said social security is not on the table for these cuts but they added they will look at all agencies to see if there is some wiggle room to slash spending and trim down the national debt.