Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the creation of a state DOGE to cut costs, eliminate inefficiencies, and align with federal efforts.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday she plans to launch a state version of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project that President-elect Donald Trump created to cut wasteful federal spending and help reduce America’s ballooning national debt.
Reynolds revealed her plan for a state-level DOGE during the annual Condition of the State
address at the Iowa Capitol on Jan. 14, in which she laid out her legislative priorities for the year. Besides seeking to cut government spending, Reynolds outlined plans to boost energy production, ban cell phones in K-12 classrooms, and increase child care capacity.
The governor said she plans to issue an executive order that will set up an Iowa DOGE task force that will focus on finding ways to reign in the cost of government at the state and local level, and to support similar efforts federally. Her office said in a
statement that, over the past three years, Reynolds has streamlined her cabinet, cutting 21 agencies, centralizing programs, and eliminating 1,200 regulations.
“In just eighteen months, our alignment and efficiency efforts have saved taxpayers $217 million, already surpassing our initial projection for the first four years,” Reynolds said in the address, adding that Iowa DOGE would build on these efforts.
“I like to say that we were doing DOGE before DOGE was a thing,” she said. “And to build on our success, I’m launching our own State DOGE, to find even greater savings and efficiencies in both state and local government.”
Emily Schmitt, general counsel of Sukup Manufacturing, has been tapped to lead the Iowa DOGE effort. Schmitt said in a social media post that she’s up for the challenge.
“Let’s go,” she
wrote on X.
Since Trump announced the creation of DOGE, which is to be led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Republican presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy, several states have taken steps in a similar direction.
For example, New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte on Jan. 9 announced the Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE) in her
inaugural address, emphasizing lean, waste-reducing principles. Similarly, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos announced the formation of the Governmental, Oversight, Accountability, and Transparency Committee (GOAT) in December in order to enhance government efficiency.
In a November statement
announcing DOGE, Trump tasked Musk and Ramaswamy with finding ways to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”
Musk said he expects the initiative to send “shock waves” through bureaucratic systems and “anyone involved in government waste.” Initially, Musk said he hopes DOGE-related efforts could cut $2 trillion from the federal budget though he recently sought to temper expectations for that target.
“If we try for $2 trillion, we’ve got a good shot at getting one [trillion dollars],” Musk told political strategist Mark Penn, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton, in a
conversation on X.
“And if we can drop the budget deficit from $2 trillion to $1 trillion and kind of free up the economy to have additional growth—such that the output of goods and services keeps pace with the increase in the money supply—then there will be no inflation,” Musk said. “So that, I think, would be an epic outcome.”
