A new congressional caucus on Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency (DOGE), which will work to advance President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, held its first meeting on Tuesday.
"We had 29 sign up to come, so we met in a small conference room. But it was packed – we had over 60 members attend," DOGE Caucus co-chair Rep. Aaron Bean (R-FL) told Fox News Digital. Three Democrats were among those who attended: Reps. Steven Horsford (D-NV), Val Hoyle (D-OR) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL).
Bean and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) said the first meeting was largely organizational and focused on building trust between the two parties. They spoke about how Democrats and Republicans can work together to discuss and debate all the ideas members have on how to make the government more efficient.
When Fox News’ Martha MacCallum pressed for specifics, Bean and Sessions agreed that federal workers must get back to the office.
In a new report titled “Out of Office,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, highlighted how most agency headquarters remain largely abandoned even after the pandemic ended.
“Bureaucrats have been found in a bubble bath, on the golf course, running their own business, and even getting busted doing crime while on taxpayers’ time,” the report’s summary states. “Members of President Biden’s own cabinet claimed to be on the clock while being out of office and unreachable. Just three percent of the federal workforce teleworked daily prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, six percent of workers report in-person on a full-time basis, while nearly one-third are entirely remote. Most federal employees are eligible to telework and 90 percent of those are. Some come to the office as infrequently as once a week.”
“Noses are gonna have to be counted,” Sessions told MacCallum.
After today's House DOGE Caucus meeting, Co-Chairman @RepAaronBean and I joined Fox News's Martha MacCallum to discuss priorities members shared in the meeting and the importance of getting federal workers back in the office as a first step towards government efficiency. The… https://t.co/rzLefFTdps pic.twitter.com/ET4uNYnRHQ
— Pete Sessions (@PeteSessions) December 17, 2024