Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida became the first Democrat to join the House’s GOP-led DOGE Caucus.
"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.
The Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency Caucus will support a new advisory commission with the same acronym led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The Department of Government Efficiency will seek to cut regulations and reduce wasteful government spending.
"I've been clear there are ways we can reorganize our government to make it work better for the American people. Specifically, the Department of Homeland Security, while necessary, has gotten too big," the Florida Democrat said.
"The caucus should look at the bureaucracy that DHS has become and include recommendations to make Secret Service and FEMA independent federal agencies with a direct report to the White House," he continued. "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."
JARED MOSKOWITZ is the first Democrat to join the DOGE caucus. pic.twitter.com/PKu7JCUsz1
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) December 3, 2024
Reps. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Aaron Bean (R-FL) launched the caucus shortly after President-elect Donald Trump announced the creation of DOGE.
“Our national debt has surpassed a staggering $36 trillion and should be a wakeup call for all Americans. We must take action to avoid diving headfirst off the cliff of fiscal ruin,” Bean said at the time. “I’m thrilled with President-elect Trump’s appointment of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead DOGE, but taking on Crazy Town will be no easy task—they will need partners. Our DOGE Caucus, will work closely with the Department of Government Efficiency to help rein in reckless spending and stop the abuse of taxpayer dollars.”
Sessions, meanwhile, pointed to a GAO report finding more than "$2.7 trillion in fraud and improper payments since 2003," which he called an "unacceptable misuse of taxpayer dollars."
“Hardworking Americans deserve a government that works efficiently and effectively," he said.