(NewsNation) — The newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is up and running now that President Donald Trump has taken office and has plenty of options for where to begin cutting government spending.
The group, led by Elon Musk, is tasked with reducing federal spending by at least $2 trillion. Three lawsuits have already been filed over the formation of DOGE, which has targeted budget items such as health care and education for cuts, according to U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who sits on the House DOGE subcommittee.
Burchett said he expects DOGE to go after Pentagon spending, which he told NewsNation is “bloated” and said the group must also look at health care and Medicare, where he said there is fraud and duplication that needs eliminating.
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Burchett also said education could be a target for spending and believes funding being devoted to the U.S. Department of Education should be returned to the states.
“I don’t know if we’ve got the guts to (eliminate the Department of Education),” Burchett said. “I’ve got the guts to do it. We can pay our teachers more and that’s what the unions are supposed to be about — not about promoting bureaucrats. …they’re worse than the mob.”
With so many areas to consider spending cuts, however, Burchett is not confident DOGE can reach its goal of eliminating as much spending as it has been tasked with by the time Trump leaves office.
“Heck, no. It’s going to be a constant fight,” Burchett said. “People up here have no guts. They run on this, they go home to their districts to their MAGA and Reagan Day dinners and they’ll focus on things like Nancy Pelosi’s stock portfolio. … It’s all a diversion and then they come up here and they vote you down the river.”
