Why are (some) Democrats backing DOGE?

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have attracted a lot of attention (not all of it positive) for the government-slashing proposals from their Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE. A few Democrats are ready to jump on the bandwagon.

DOGE is attracting lawmakers like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) who see a "chance to reduce defense spending and cut red tape," said the Financial Times. The defense industry has been "fleecing the American people for far too long," said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). That doesn't mean Khanna and other Democrats like Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) are fully behind cost-cutting proposals from Musk and Ramaswamy. The California congressman told the Financial Times he "fiercely opposes" any ideas to cut social programs "such as Medicare, Social Security and benefits for veterans"

Not everybody is happy. In a podcast appearance, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) asked why his Democratic colleagues have decided to "take this government efficiency task force seriously," said The Hill. DOGE is "not a department," Murphy said — it's an advisory board that is really an attempt "by the billionaire class to privatize government to benefit themselves." Democrats, he said, should not act like the effort is "legitimate."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

What did the commentators say?

Defense contracting is plagued by "waste and abuse," Khanna said at MSNBC. Democrats can work with Musk and Ramaswamy to trim bloated programs like the F-35 fighter jet and other systems where costs have been allowed to soak taxpayers for "egregious" sums of money. The Pentagon needs resources to "counter increasingly sophisticated threats from our adversaries," Khanna said. Democrats should "put politics aside and work with DOGE to reduce wasteful defense spending."

DOGE-friendly Democrats should "tamp down some of this naivete," said Ja'han Jones, also at MSNBC. Musk and Ramaswamy are "right-wingers" who have used "pretty ominous language" to describe their goals. Ramaswamy has talked about his desire to "crush the bureaucracy" while Musk has said the radical austerity he envisions will cause some temporary "hardship" to Americans. That is the "language of destruction," Jones said. DOGE is designed to "kneecap the government." Democrats thinking about joining the group's efforts should ask if it "will do anything but that."

What next?

Republicans are trying to bring more Democrats aboard, said Yahoo Finance. The GOP objective is to "create a safe harbor where everybody feels welcome," said Rep. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.). One of the obstacles may be Musk himself, especially after he "all but single-handedly killed" a bill to avoid a government shutdown late in 2024, Yahoo said. It's also a real question whether bipartisanship will be possible in Congress when "new heights of partisan bickering" are expected. "It will take both parties" to pass big cuts, Bean said.

Any Democratic backing DOGE could give Musk and Ramaswamy a "serious bipartisan boost," said Business Insider. Moskowitz, though, said he'd vote against any "stupid" stuff that comes out of the effort. If the DOGE conversation is going to happen, he said, "I'm happy to be at the table."