OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) — Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Oklahoma-based attorney and economist Marc Nuttle to head up his DOGE-OK initiative.
Marc Nuttle will serve as senior advisor to DOGE-OK, which was inspired by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) federal cost cutting effort.
Stitt says he’s been cutting cost on the state level for years.
“I’ve been DOGE-ing in Oklahoma since before it was cool. We’ve stopped agencies from contracting with lobbyists and using outside PR firms, and we’re on track to have fewer state employees at the end of my term than when I took office,” Stitt said. “Marc Nuttle is volunteering his time to lead this effort and root out additional waste. With his help, we’ll leave state government leaner than we found it.”
The head of DOGE-OK will not receive financial compensation, according to governor’s office officials.
Nuttle, whose practice is in Norman, specializes in international trade, international foreign policy, and international political affairs. His professional career includes forecasting political and economic trends, according to his website.
His career includes the following:
- Serving on President Ronald Reagan’s Industrial Policy Advisory Committee for Trade and Policy;
- Advising the Reagan Administration on international trade and General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) for six years;
- Serving as legal counsel to Reagan’s United States Synthetic Fuels Transition Team;
- Advising foreign governments, including Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia and Guatemala, as well as corporations owned and controlled by the People’s Republic of China;
- Serving on Gov. Brad Henry’s Steering Committee for Economic Development Generating Excellence (EDGE) and the Chairman of EDGE’s International Markets Committee;
- Serving as a member of the Oklahoma Council of Bond Oversight;
- Chairing the Oklahoma Health Care Authority Board (current);
- Chairing Stitt’s Transition Team; and
- Representing the State of Oklahoma for international economic development.
Nuttle will use his experience in government to comb through agency budgets, legislative appropriations and contracts. Stitt’s executive order establishing DOGE-OK requires state agency directors take immediate steps to ensure DOGE-OK receives full access to agency records as well as software and I.T. systems.
“I’m honored to join Governor Stitt’s efforts to make Oklahoma the gold standard for government efficiency,” Nuttle said. “We recognize President Trump’s commitment, through DOGE, to restructure government spending. This includes federal funds co-managed with state funds. We will work to establish a new federal/state fiscal partnership to develop an acceptable plan to realize savings while maintaining critical services necessary to protect Oklahoma’s way of life. My mission is simple: to ensure every tax dollar is spent strategically with purpose and accountability. Time is of the essence.”
Stitt spoke about his DOGE-OK plan during his State of the State address earlier this month.
Trump appointed Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead DOGE, which is not an actual federal department, despite the word “department” being part of its name. It instead serves as an advisory committee designed to save taxpayers money.
“President Trump and Elon Musk, through DOGE, will determine the economic trajectory of our nation,” Stitt said during the State of the State. “By cutting the size of the federal government, we can finally start having an honest conversation about our nation debt.”
Stitt said he visited Mar-a-Lago recently and talked to Trump about a state-level version of DOGE.
“I’m excited about the momentum behind DOGE, and we’re going to build on it here in Oklahoma,” he said. “Today, I’m launching DOGE-OK to keep focus on flat budgets and limited government.”
Stitt previously joined 25 other Republican governors in signing a letter sent to congressional leaders expressing support for DOGE.
“As chief executives for our states, we know a thing or two about streamlining government, removing unnecessary bureaucracy, and bringing efficient, result-driven solutions to state government. We stand by President Trump as he works to do the same with the federal government,” the letter states. “We balance our budgets, lower taxes, leverage surpluses, pay down debt, improve the efficiency of state governments, and create an environment where our constituents can build a prosperous future for themselves, their family, and their community. It is past time for Washington to live within its means too.”
Musk and Ramaswamy coauthored an opinion piece that ran in The Wall Street Journal, pledging that DOGE will reduce the federal workforce by 75 percent and cut annual spending by $500 billion.
“The entrenched and ever-growing bureaucracy represents an existential threat to our republic, and politicians have abetted it for too long. That’s why we’re doing things differently. We are entrepreneurs, not politicians. We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We’ll cut costs,” Musk and Ramaswamy said in the opinion piece.
DOGE has already began cutting federal jobs and funds. A DOGE tracker on the Polymarket.com website claims that the cuts have already saved taxpayers $49.09 billion.
The government spent $6.75 trillion in Fiscal Year 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury. Musk vigorously supported Trump during his presidential election campaign and pledged during a campaign rally to cut the federal budget by $2 trillion.
However, most federal money is spent on mandatory programs like Social Security and Medicare, not federal payroll. Congressional Budget Office data for 2022 showed that approximately $271 billion (4.3 percent) of the federal budget was spent on paying federal employees and covering their benefits.
Trump previously said he would not slash entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who was chief economist in President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, told The New York Times that Musk and Ramaswamy have no authority over the size of the federal government. He told the Times that DOGE would be more of a thinktank.
“They don’t control the scope of government. They don’t control the size of government,” Holtz-Eakin said. “They have the bully pulpit, but that’s truly it.”
This is not the first time a president has brought someone from the business world into the federal realm to make spending cuts.
CBS News referenced President Ronald Reagan recruiting J. Peter Grace to recommend reforms. Grace made around 2,500 recommendations for cutting spending. Most of Grace’s recommendations were not implemented.
