Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene kicked off the inaugural DOGE subcommittee hearing with a plea to her colleagues to set aside the political theater and partisan attacks in their quest to identify waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending.
But Democrats largely ignored the Georgia Republican’s request and instead spent the better part of the two-hour meeting accusing President Trump and Elon Musk of breaking the law and claiming Republicans want to cut programs for the needy to offset the cost of providing tax breaks to the rich.
They criticized Mr. Trump’s firing of agency watchdogs, suggesting they were partly done to stop ongoing investigations into some of Mr. Musk’s lucrative contracts with the government.
For her part, Ms. Greene, a loyal Trump ally who leads the new subcommittee, sought to keep the hearing’s focus on trillions of dollars of improper entitlement payments and the changes that could be made to save taxpayer dollars and prevent the money from making its way into criminal organizations.
Ms. Greene said Mr. Trump is fulfilling his promise to reduce the size and scope of government, tackle the soaring national deficits and take the fight to entrenched bureaucrats whom she said have routinely thwarted needed reforms.
“No matter how bad the federal government fails the American people —it still takes your money, it still pays its own federal employees, and it never, ever goes out of business,” Ms. Greene said. “There are no consequences for bad customer service, total failure and for enslaving the American people against their will, and the ever-growing and future all-consuming national debt.”
“We, as Republicans and Democrats, can still hold tightly to our beliefs, but we are going to have to let go of funding them in order to save our seniors,” she said. “This is not a time for political theater and partisan attacks.”
Rep. Melanie Stansbury, the committee’s ranking member, said Democrats were open to working with Republicans but that they will continue to fight to stop the moves Mr. Trump and the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency have made to reduce the size and scope of the federal bureaucracy.
“While we are sitting here, Donald Trump and Elon Musk are recklessly and illegally dismantling the federal government — shuttering federal agencies, firing federal workers, withholding funds vital to the safety and well-being of our communities and hacking our sensitive data systems,” the New Mexico Democrat said.
Meanwhile, Haywood Talcove, chief executive officer of LexisNexis special services, testified that federal agencies — including Medicaid, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, and SNAP — have made $2.7 trillion in improper payments since 2003 that could be fixed with more vigorous identity verification, and putting an end to applicants certifying their eligibility.
“The fraud rate that the criminals are taking advantage of in the public sector is around 20%. In the private sector, it is around 3%, and it is really because the tools that are used in the private sector are not used in the public sector,” Mr. Talcove said.
Mr. Musk and DOGE have been pushing full speed ahead in their mission to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”
A senior administration official said the list of recently canceled federal contracts included:
-$486 million to the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening, including $22 million for “inclusive and participatory political process” in Moldova and $21 million for voter turnout in India.
-$47 million for “improving learning outcomes in Asia.”
-$40 million for a “gender equality and women empowerment hub” within USAID.
-$29 million to “strengthening [the] political landscape in Bangladesh.”
-$20 million for “fiscal federalism” in Nepal.
-$19 million for “biodiversity conservation” in Nepal.
-$14 million for “improving public procurement” in Serbia.
-$10 million for “Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision.”
On Wednesday, though, Democrats were most focused on Mr. Musk.
Rep. Gregorio Casar, Texas Democrat, questioned why Mr. Trump fired 18 inspectors general tasked with holding federal agencies accountable — including five that he said were looking into Musk-led companies.
“When Republicans talk about government efficiency, they are not talking about billionaires who don’t pay their taxes. They are not looking into billionaires who get rich on government contracts. They are not looking into Elon Musk firing watchdogs who are supposed to keep him accountable,” Mr. Casar said. “They are looking at cutting your public schools. They are going straight for your Social Security. They are coming straight for cancer research.”
Republicans were frustrated with the response from Democrats.
“The gravy train for a lot of these folks is on biscuit wheels and is about to run off the … tracks — and it is about time,” said Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee. “Can you imagine standing up here and defending waste, fraud and abuse?”
Rep. William Timmons, South Carolina Republican, said it is “unforgivable” that Democrats are filing lawsuits trying to stop Mr. Trump from rightening the fiscal ship.
“I would just ask my colleague across the aisle to get out of the way if you don’t want to help,” he said. “Stop filing lawsuit after lawsuit.”
Ms. Stansbury said that is wishful thinking on the GOP’s part.
“We do not work for an unelected billionaire. We work for the American people,” she said. “So if an unelected, unvetted, individual private citizen is hacking government systems, breaking the law, firing federal employees, dismantling statutorily created agencies, withholding funds, we are going to fight you in the courts.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.