Q: Why did President Trump create the Department of Government Efficiency?
A: The American people delivered a resounding message in November. They’re fed up with lawlessness at our southern border and sick and tired of being the bottomless piggybank for partisan spending sprees. President Trump won the popular vote for a historic second term and Republicans secured a congressional majority in both chambers of the people’s branch. The president wasted no time delivering on the electoral mandate. That includes strong fiscal stewardship. He created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to comb the ledgers of the sprawling federal bureaucracy. As a taxpayer watchdog, I’ve worked to root out wasteful spending since my first term in the U.S. Senate, no matter who was in the White House.
Holding government accountable is a tall order that previous administrations have tackled with limited success.
During the Obama administration, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff warned: “The most significant threat to our national security is our debt.” Fifteen years later, interest payments on the debt are now more than federal defense spending. Decades of deficit spending have saddled our children and grandchildren with a $36 trillion debt. The fiscal ramifications impact Americans every day. Burdensome debt service costs crowd out resources for other priorities, including tax relief and government services, as well as undermine the nation’s economic resiliency. High interest rates pinch private investment, job creation and prosperity from Wall Street to Main Street. We can’t afford to keep sweeping the nation’s debt under the rug from one year to the next.
The federal government hasn’t balanced its budget since the Clinton administration. Back then, we had a three-year budget surplus from 1998-2001. President Clinton joined Republicans to tackle wasteful spending, “end welfare as we know it” and cut bloated government programs. Clinton campaigned on a platform to Reinvent Government (RIGO).
After the Republican Revolution kicked Democrats out of the House majority for the first time in four decades, Clinton declared the “era of big government” is over. Between January 1993 and September 2000, the Clinton administration cut 426,200 jobs from the federal workforce. During that time, I led efforts to beef up customer service at the IRS and modernize its antiquated computer systems. During the Bush administration, I spearheaded reforms to cut rampant credit card abuse among federal agencies. Across administrations, I’ve hounded the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services about improper payments. Just last year, I pressed the Biden administration to account for tens of billions of dollars in improper health care payments, including my oversight efforts to root out fraud and abuse in the Affordable Care Act.
Taxpayers deserve stronger stewardship of their hard-earned money. The Trump administration is taking decisive action to cut wasteful spending. That’s what President Obama claimed he would do by launching “the Campaign to Cut Waste. Its stated mission: “to hunt down and eliminate misspent tax dollars in every agency and department across the Federal Government.” President Trump is breaking through the bureaucratic inertia to root out wasteful spending and hold government accountable to the people it serves.
Q: What about people facing uncertainty during the Trump administration’s top-to-bottom review of the federal bureaucracy?
A: When I hear about people losing their jobs, whether from the federal government or in the private sector, I understand the financial stress and despair that job loss has on individuals and their families. During my years working in Iowa factories before getting elected to Congress, I was laid off from work on three different occasions, including from a job I’d held for 10 years before the company closed its doors. As the president’s team goes through its initial review of federal agencies, I’m keeping close tabs on the process to ensure the government continues to provide services to the American people and fulfills its responsibilities to keep the American people safe. As always, I’m keeping in touch with Iowans and sharing their concerns and questions with relevant federal agencies to advocate on their behalf.
Since day one of his second term in the White House, the 47th president has made clear he intends to deliver on his promises. The review currently underway has delivered an undeniable message to Washington, D.C.: the era of business-as-usual is over. Contrary to what alarmists are saying, America is not in a constitutional crisis. Article II of the Constitution vests all executive power in one person, the president of the United States. That means the power to hire and fire within the executive branch is constitutionally delegated to the president. Of course, our system of checks and balances empowers each branch to keep check on the others; the separation of powers reins in overreach to protect the fundamental rights of the people. My congressional oversight work is one example. These constitutional guardrails have endured for nearly 250 years to ensure government is of, by and for the people.
The sky’s not falling, and neither is our republic.