Trump’s DOGE push finds support from some Democrats on Capitol Hill

(CNN) — Elon Musk’s promise to severely slash government spending has found glimmers of support from some unlikely allies: Democrats.

Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz joined a Republican-led congressional caucus supporting President-elect Donald Trump’s newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, co-led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna has said he will work with Musk on certain issues, and Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders recently posted on X that “Elon Musk is right.”

Moskowitz wants to work on making the Secret Service and FEMA independent federal agencies that report directly to the White House, an idea that has bipartisan support, while Sanders and Khanna want to slash the Pentagon budget, citing failed audits.

Efforts to dismantle federal bureaucracy and cut wasteful spending at the direction of Trump could lead to rare moments of unlikely alliances on Capitol Hill in the new year, though there are concerns among some members that the push to overhaul government could devolve into reflexive partisanship.

Moskowitz may not be the only Democrat who joins the DOGE caucus, sources told CNN. The DOGE caucus is emerging as a viable option for Democrats, presenting an opportunity for lawmakers to participate in a forum without having to take votes on official positions.

Democrats are signaling that they want to be part of the conversation on overhauling government while also serving as a check on Republicans if they try to use their power in Congress and the White House to make cuts to programs like Medicare or Social Security.

The new subcommittee on the House Oversight panel specifically tasked to work with DOGE and led by Trump ally GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, however, is a different story.

“I don’t want to be a part of anything Marjorie might be in charge of,” Moskowitz, who has a history of sparring with Greene, told CNN.

As Democrats look to find instances where they can work across the aisle to cut government spending, there is broader skepticism about the overall effort, even from Republican appropriators who support the underlying principles of DOGE, but caution that arbitrary cuts without a full understanding of the functions of governmental programs are not the answer, a source familiar with the conversations told CNN.

The Senate has launched a companion DOGE caucus, and House Speaker Mike Johnson is hosting joint meetings with Musk and Ramaswamy on Thursday with lawmakers from both chambers, in an effort to kickstart the work.

Trump announced last month that Musk and Ramaswamy would lead the newly formed department. It was not immediately clear when Trump made the announcement how the department – which he said would “provide advice and guidance from outside of Government” – would operate.

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, who is leading the Senate DOGE caucus, said Thursday’s meetings will be “a great collaboration I think to find out where we want to go as caucuses and to mesh that or nest that with the goals of the administration.”

Sanders said he wouldn’t join the caucus, but he said Musk makes a good point on the Defense Department specifically.

“I think there’s massive amounts of waste …. Let’s go after that,” he said. “So I will work with them on the specific areas where we can make some positive change.”

GOP Sen. Cynthia Lummis told CNN, “I think that this commission that is chaired by Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk is the most exciting thing that has happened in government in decades.”

“This is going to be, in my opinion, the true masterpiece of Trump 47,” she said.

Oversight Committee Democrats in search of a new leader – since Rep. Jamie Raskin is now vying to be the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee – have not started staffing up or planning how to handle Greene’s subcommittee, a source told CNN, and are waiting to see how their committee’s leadership race plays out before deciding who will serve on it.

CNN’s Lauren Fox, Ted Barrett and Danya Gainor contributed to this report.

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