WASHINGTON, D.C. - Before heading back to the White House, President-Elect Donald Trump announced Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). It’s not a federal department, but more of an advisory role in which the two business titans will look to drive up productivity, reduce bureaucracy, slash excess regulations and cut wasteful spending. On Thursday, Ramaswamy and Musk met with members on the Hill to begin talks about DOGE.  

The idea and workings similar to DOGE are not new. Many administrations and congresses under both parties have looked to change or overhaul bureaucracy and the federal budget. Now that Republicans will have control in the House, Senate and  White House, they see this as an opportunity for major adjustments. We asked members what areas of government need to be more efficient, their thoughts on DOGE and why some want a seat at the table in the new DOGE caucus.  

“That’s the reason why I joined DOGE quite frankly because that's where the conversation is going to be headed and that’s going to happen so I might as well go there,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D- FL). “There's gonna be things that I'll fundamentally disagree with obviously and I'll fight against those things but if we’re gonna talk about government efficiency we have Homeland Security, it’s a great idea it should exist but it's become too big in these past couple of years. So, I think we need to remove some of those agencies like Secret Service [from DHS]. I think FEMA should directly report to the president. That’s what it did when it was created. I think it needs to be quick. It doesn’t need to be a giant bureaucracy to ask 20 people to make changes to the agency.” 

“I'd like to remind people it's not an original idea,” said Sen. John Fetterman (D- PA). “We've been talking about for as long as I can remember: can we make things cheaper? Can we do things with more efficiency? Why would we want to waste anything? American families in Pennsylvania do that too. They're like, ‘hey can I get a better deal on the internet?’ And they say ‘yes’ and can save 30 bucks. That is not revolutionary. We all want to budget and make sure we are not wasting any money. So, anyone part of that conversation- I'm going to be part of that conversation and I think that's pretty much a bipartisan issue.” 

“I'm a private sector guy and if a company has a good business model it changes over time,” said Rep. Jack Bergman (R- MI). “But the point is you adjust [inaudible], manufacturing so the whole company needs to be considered to move forward. Our whole government needs to be considered as we move forward.” 

“There is a lot of ways we can look towards efficiency but I don't want to spend money to get there,” said Rep. Mike Kelly (R- PA). “I want to look at programs that could be cut back and re purpose that money. It's the same thing I would do- I've been in business my whole life. If there’s something you’re not getting a return on but you used to, how used to you are and how else you could use that same funding for that would always have a better result. Its always going to be better, right?”