Democrat Rep. Jared Moskowitz to Join House DOGE Caucus

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) speaks during the full task force hearing on the first assassination attempt of former President Donald J. Trump in Washington on Sept. 26, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) on Dec. 3 became the first Democrat to join a House caucus dedicated to supporting the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“I believe that streamlining government processes and reducing inefficient government spending should not be a partisan issue,” he said in a statement.

“I’ve been clear that there are ways we can reorganize our government to make it work better for the American people.”

Moskowitz also said that he wanted the Secret Service and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to be split out from the Department of Homeland Security.

“It’s not practical to have 22 agencies under this one department,” he said.

The Delivering on Outstanding Government Efficiency (also called DOGE) Caucus is a bicameral effort founded by Reps. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.), Pete Sessions (R-Texas), and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).

Launched in the House on Nov. 19 and in the Senate on Nov. 22, the caucus will work to support the new cost-cutting government agency headed by tech billionaire Elon Musk and pharmaceutical entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Citing the “staggering $36 trillion” national debt, Bean said in a press release that the new agency will work to “dismantle the out-of-control bureaucracy, cut wasteful programs, slash excess regulations, and restructure federal agencies.”

The caucus has already garnered the support of 37 Republican members of the House, as well as Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.).

Although Moskowitz is the first Democrat to join the congressional arm of DOGE, he may not be the last. Two days before he joined the caucus Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote a post on X agreeing with Musk’s assessment of government waste.

“Elon Musk is right,” he said. “The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It’s lost track of billions.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said he was also ready to join the military economizing effort.

“Cutting wasteful funding and saving taxpayer money is not a partisan issue,” Khanna said on X.

“We need to work with @elonmusk and @DOGE to breakup the five primes’ oligopoly and hold defense contractors accountable.”

“Five primes” is a reference often used by Khanna referring to the five largest defense contractors in the U.S.: Lockheed Martin, RTX, General Dynamics, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman.

Khanna also posted an interview with CNBC in which he stated that he still disagreed with Musk on other issues, such as the role of the Consumer Financial Credit Bureau.

But he also said that those who want to abandon the fight to cut defense spending simply because Musk is involved are “being hypocritical.”