It comes as a bit of a surprise spendthrift Democrats are now talking about joining the House committee overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency, Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., told Newsmax on Thursday.
"It does [surprise me] a little because the Harris-Biden plan was to spend another $1.5 trillion next year, and that was supported by the Democrats in the House and the Senate," Meuser told "National Report." "Meanwhile, we're bringing in DOGE to reduce spending by over $1 trillion, which we think is actually doable. So, we'll see what they bring to the table.
"If they're there just to raise concerns that we're going too far, well, they're going to be surprised because we're certainly not going to.
"There's no reason to touch Social Security, no reason to touch Medicare," he said. "Now, everyone will be for creating efficiencies and rooting out waste, abuse, and fraud. And also, what about the $150 billion that we overspend on the border issues, on illegal immigration? So, the list is actually endless. We can get to $1 trillion, and if Democrats want to be part of that, they're welcome."
"There's some really exciting plans in place," he continued, in terms of "growth opportunities and growth initiatives and policies" for the U.S. economy balanced out by DOGE, which has "a lot of authority under Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy."
As co-chairs of DOGE, Musk and Ramaswamy were scheduled to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday to lay out cost-cutting measures with the goal of reining in federal spending.
"Today we're going to hear from them how they're going to take action, the participants, the areas of focus and the list goes on," Meuser said. "We've been having various meetings with our whip and with our speaker and within committees on where we can cut, where we can reduce, where there's waste, abuse, and fraud.
"And frankly," he continued, "it's endless. We just got to stop. Start at the low-lying fruit, which, in some cases, is contracting — certainly waste, abuse, and fraud."
Meuser pointed to "over 7,000 buildings" owned by the federal government "that are completely unoccupied," as well as a federal workforce that simply does not commute to the office as areas for improvement.
"Get this: Prior to COVID, 3% of the federal workforce would not, basically, on a daily basis, show up for work," he said. "You know what it is today? Over 90%. Federal workers don't come in to work.
"So, there are some things that need to be corrected."
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