Haridopolos Talks DOGE: 'When You Put Spending in the Sunshine, People Spend Smarter'

WASHINGTON—Representative Mike Haridopolos (R-FL) spoke with The Floridian about Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), describing how Florida has had a similar state-level program describing precisely how state funds are spent, saying, "When you put spending in the sunshine, people spend smarter."

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) recently announced the launch of a state-level version of DOGE, which is meant to eliminate redundant and inefficient areas of the Florida government.

The Floridian pointed out that, as Florida Senate President, Rep. Haridopolos helped create the Transparency Florida website, which he called "so important."

"You go there, see how we raise the money in-state, how we spend the money in-state, even down to the salaries for state employees down through the contracts being led by the state." Rep. Haridopolos added, "This is that full transparency that makes Florida such a special place. What I said back in 2010, 2011, and 2012 is pretty simple: We are the government in the sunshine, [and] we also need to have spending in the sunshine."

"I felt that there is a lot of spending in the shade, and so we really opened up our process so that everyone sees where those dollars are being spent," he continued, suggesting that the spending at USAID uncovered by DOGE would not have happened "if people are willing to be watchdogs like today in Florida because everything is right there."

After all, "when you put government in the sunshine and spending in the sunshine, people spend smarter this way," Haridopolos continued.

The Floridian suggested that the Florida government has grown in recent years, and cutting back is the goal of DOGE.

Haridopolos agreed, however, saying, "the President and Elon Musk have given the renewed emphasis, I mean that obviously, the pressure is not there as much in Florida because they actually have a surplus, which is fantastic, and I love the fact that they are fighting over how to cut taxes. These are dream scenarios for me."

"I did not have that luxury when I was [Senate] President. We actually had a budget shortfall, so we spent less if you recall. We actually spent $4 billion less than the previous year when I became Senate President. Because one, we had a backbone, meaning we had the constitutional amendment that requires a balanced budget. And second, is that we really felt that reduced government spending would attract a lot of business to Florida, and that is exactly what happened because we offer businesses stability and certainty, let alone families," Haridopolos concluded.