The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Congressional DOGE Caucus are more than ready to eliminate government waste, but one question remains: Where does it start? Representative Aaron Bean (R-FL) told The Floridian that "there is no wrong answer" as the federal government has operated on continuing resolutions (CRs) for so long that the budget is never adequately assessed.
"There is no wrong answer on where to start, where to begin, what to cut. Certainly, I am a fan of low-hanging fruit, but we have to recognize that in over 25 years, there has not been not only a balanced budget but there has not been any budget. We have been operating on continuing resolutions, and that does not give us a chance to review what our priorities are as a country; we just set it and forget it," said Rep. Bean, jokingly referencing the late TV pitchman Ron Popeil.
As a result, he continued, "We never evaluate. We never say, 'Are we getting our money's worth?' We do not read labels. We do not evaluate what the endgame process is. So that is what we are going to do, hopefully, with DOGE. We can do that; we want to. We have launched this caucus, which has just caught fire in the last 10 days; we have over 50 members. I think every time I ask my staff, we have got another five or six members who have joined. We have got our third Democrat, [for] which we are excited. So it is not only bipartisan, but it is also bicameral."
Rep. Bean referred to the Senate DOGE Caucus under Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), who said in late November, "The tables are finally turning, the knives are out, and waste is on the chopping block."
While the Florida Congressman did not name the third Democratic member of the House DOGE Caucus, fellow Florida Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) was the first Democrat to join the caucus, telling The Floridian that "I joined the caucus because there are where the conversations are going to be happening. Why not have a seat at the table? I am sure they are going to have ideas that I am going to disagree with; that is okay, right? But there are ideas that I have about reforming the government as well. I do not think that there is a single American in the country who thinks government is perfect, so Democrats should not fear the conversation. In fact, we should run into the conversation where there is agreement."
