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The House Subcommittee connected Delivering connected Government Efficiency held its archetypal ever proceeding Wednesday, arsenic Republicans criticized the soaring $36 trillion nationalist debt, arsenic good arsenic Democrats' condemnation of Elon Musk's effort to slash waste.
In her opening statement, Chairwoman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-S.C., said the committee indispensable beryllium "brutally honorable astir however this monolithic indebtedness came to beryllium successful the archetypal spot – it came from Congress and from elected statesmanlike administrations."
"We arsenic Republicans and Democrats tin inactive clasp tightly to our beliefs, but we are going to person to fto spell of backing them successful bid to prevention our sinking ship," Greene said. "This is not a clip for governmental theatre and partisan attacks. The American radical are watching. The legislative subdivision can't beryllium connected the sidelines. In this subcommittee, we volition combat the warfare connected discarded enarthrosis to enarthrosis with President Trump, Elon Musk and the DOGE team."
Greene said, "enslaving our federation successful debt" is 1 of the "biggest betrayals against the American people's ain elected government" and vowed that her subcommittee, operating nether the House Oversight Committee, would enactment with President Donald Trump's recently created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is spearheaded by Musk arsenic portion of the enforcement branch.
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"The national government, authorities employees, and unelected bureaucrats bash not unrecorded by the aforesaid rules arsenic the large American radical and backstage businesses," Greene said. "The national government's income is the American people's hard-earned taxation dollars. Their literal blood, sweat and tears and taxes are collected by instrumentality astatine gunpoint. Don't wage your taxes and you spell to jail. The national authorities does not person to supply fantabulous lawsuit work to gain its income. It takes your wealth whether you similar it oregon not. And national employees person their paycheck nary substance what."
The subcommittee's highest ranking Democrat, Rep. Melanie Stanbury of New Mexico, utilized her opening connection to slam Trump and Musk's efforts, contempt agreeing to a bipartisan attack to "digging into the much than $236 cardinal successful improper payments that we spot going retired the doorway each azygous year," arsenic good arsenic "putting into spot rigorous oversight and controls to forestall fraud and abuse, and, of course, to spell aft atrocious actors."
"We can't conscionable beryllium present contiguous and unreal similar everything is mean and that this is conscionable different proceeding connected authorities efficiency," Stanbury said. "Because portion we're sitting here, Donald Trump and Elon Musk are recklessly and illegally dismantling the national government, shuttering national agencies, firing national workers, withholding funds captious to the information and well-being of our communities, and hacking our delicate information systems."
One of the witnesses, Stephen Whitson of the Foundation for Government Accountability, testified that DOGE's efforts person exposed $59 cardinal paid to luxury hotels successful New York City to location amerciable immigrants, $1.5 cardinal to beforehand diversity, equity and inclusion successful Serbia's workplaces, $32,000 for a transgender comic publication successful Peru, $10 cardinal worthy of nutrient assistance funneled to al Qaeda and "the database goes on."
"But alternatively than applauding the enactment of DOGE, the near has launched a coordinated run to effort to demonize Mr. Musk with the anticipation of shifting absorption distant from the disastrous waste, fraud and maltreatment that occurred connected Biden's watch. But conjecture what? It's not working," Whitson said.
He shifted to the absorption of Wednesday's subcommittee hearing, Medicaid discarded and fraud, testifying that much than 80% of improper Medicaid payments are owed to eligibility errors, which Congress indispensable address. Whitson testified that 1 successful 5 dollars spent connected Medicaid is improper, and Medicaid fraud and mismanagement is connected way to outgo U.S. taxpayers $1 trillion successful the adjacent 10 years.
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Whitson besides offered Congress 3 ways to enactment Trump's DOGE effort. The archetypal is for Congress to fortify the Medicaid programme done legislative action. He testified that some the Biden and Obama administrations issued rules and guidance that made it harder for states to verify eligibility for Medicaid. He said repealing Biden's Medicaid streamlining rule, which restricts eligibility verification that states tin perform, would prevention $164 cardinal implicit 10 years.
In a aboriginal exchange, Whitson said the Biden-era regularisation prohibits states from verifying eligibility much than erstwhile a twelvemonth and prohibits in-person oregon telephone telephone interviews to verify the recipient's identity.
It besides opens "lengthy reconsideration periods," opening the doorway for illegal immigrants to person benefits.
"A authorities has to hold astatine slightest 90 days" earlier verifying whether a recipient is an amerciable immigrant, Whitson said. "And really what we're seeing is it's fto immoderate states to hold arsenic agelong arsenic 13 years."
Secondly, Whitson said Congress could assistance DOGE by "ensuring that entrenched partisan bureaucrats don't basal successful the mode of reform." To bash that, Congress indispensable codify the president's authorization "to occurrence unproductive oregon insubordinate bureau employees arsenic needed," arsenic good arsenic assistance the president authorization to permanently destruct vacant positions and consolidate nonessential positions crossed agencies and departments to assistance beforehand efficiency, Whitson said.
"Personnel is policy, and without competent unit to faithfully execute the president's agenda, the DOGE task volition fail," helium said.
Thirdly, Whitson called connected Congress to walk the REINS Act to "make President Trump's DOGE cost-cutting and de-regulatory reforms permanent."
"There's lone 1 large occupation with the DOGE effort. Most of its enactment tin beryllium undone by a aboriginal president with the changeable of a pen," helium said, adding that the REINS Act would "return Article One budgetary powerfulness of the purse to Congress portion promoting deregulation. It would besides assistance fastener successful the DOGE reforms and cement President Trump's bequest arsenic the astir consequential de-regulatory and cost-cutting president successful U.S. history."
At different constituent successful the hearing, Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., played retired archived video of erstwhile President Bill Clinton successful 1997 and erstwhile President Barack Obama successful 2011 pledging to trim the national workforce and adjacent hundreds of authorities offices extracurricular of Washington. Obama spoke successful 2011 of his administration's "Campaign to Cut Waste," saying astatine the time, "We thought that it was wholly due for our governments and our agencies to effort to basal retired waste, ample and small, successful a systematic way." From the Oval Office, Obama added that "a batch of the enactment is successful Congress and legislative, but successful the meantime, we don't request to hold for Congress successful bid to, bash thing astir wasteful spending that's retired there."
Burlison said the video was meant to "remind my Democratic friends astatine a constituent successful which you erstwhile had the bulk of the American radical connected your side."
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