OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) – Gov. Kevin Stitt announced his support for President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Initiative, which seeks to slash federal spending.
Stitt and 25 other Republican governors signed a letter to congressional leaders saying they support 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.”
The letter states that fiscal discipline is urgently needed at the federal level to ensure economic growth and national security.
Trump appointed billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead DOGE, which will not be an actual federal department, despite the word “department” being part of its name, but instead serve as an advisory committee designed to save taxpayers money.
The governors said in the letter that they support Trump’s appointment of Musk and Vivek.
“[We] agree with their assertion that the federal government needs to be cut down to size,” the letter states.
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.
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 recently 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.
The Republican governors’ full letter is shared below:
