As DOGE sweeps across the nation, Republicans and even some Democrats say it’s a good idea — but that the only thing original about it is its branding.
Multiple states have already launched agencies and projects akin to Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. There could be more to come: 26 Republican governors earlier this month signed a letter to congressional leadership expressing their support for DOGE. Some of those governors have gone even further, taking a page out of Donald Trump’s book to create their own state-level DOGEs or DOGE-like tools.
“It’s DOGE season right now, so everybody’s taking advantage of it, everybody’s curious about it,” said Rep. Aaron Bean, who co-chairs the House DOGE caucus.
The DOGE-mania has allowed Democrats and Republicans to find some common ground at the state level. It helps that government efficiency is something most politicians can get on board with, at least on a surface level. Most states have balanced budget requirements in their constitutions — and some states mandate that they can’t carry a deficit into the following fiscal year — meaning they have to keep spending in line with or without a special agency to do it.
And while these state-level DOGE efforts may lead to cuts Democrats balk at, so far many expect the same spending debates under a new name.
In New Hampshire, Gov. Kelly Ayotte created the Commission on Government Efficiency, or COGE, via executive order on Jan. 9. The purpose, according to the order, is to “streamline government, cut inefficient spending, and find the most efficient ways to serve the people of New Hampshire, especially the most vulnerable citizens.”
New Hampshire Rep. Chris Pappas, a Democrat who voted to impeach Trump and has been critical of several of the president’s policies, said he supports finding ways to make government more efficient. But he said his state has cut back out of necessity — New Hampshire has a lower state tax revenue than most other places in the country and the state government has sought to save on spending.
“New Hampshire has a reputation of being a fiscally prudent state. We’ve been that way for a long time,” Pappas said.
Most state agencies are modeled after federal ones. But the trickle-down of DOGE — which isn’t actually a government department, despite its name — is part of a larger, more recent wave of mostly Republican state leaders copying some of Trump’s first moves and aiming to boost the president’s policy priorities through special sessions, gubernatorial executive orders and symbolism.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry launched a fiscal responsibility program inspired by DOGE. In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that the state DOGE’s work would coincide with the state legislature’s goals to lower property taxes and local spending. Republican state lawmakers created government efficiency entities in Wisconsin and Arizona, both of which are Democrat-led.
Others could come soon: In Idaho, a state lawmaker is touting a DOGE-like bill that would trim down the state’s administrative code.
But cutting red tape and government spending predate DOGE and extend to both parties. Idaho Gov. Brad Little has slashed 95% of state administrative regulations since taking office in 2019.
Last month, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis rescinded over 200 obsolete state executive orders dating back to 1920.
“Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who have routinely blown up budgets by giving handouts to the wealthiest have a lot to learn from Democratic governors who are passing balanced budgets and increasing government efficiency to support working families and grow their state economies,” Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Devon Cruz told NOTUS in a statement.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz — DOGE’s first Democratic ally at the federal level — cited his use of government efficiency principles when he led Florida’s emergency management division in the years following Hurricane Michael.
“I think if states want to look at how do they continue to make themselves and their departments more efficient, they should absolutely do that. I did that when I ran the Florida Department of Emergency Management. I had my own budget. I had hundreds of staff, and we looked at ways of making the department always more efficient,” Moskowitz told NOTUS.
Even some Republicans have said the idea isn’t entirely original.
Asked how he feels about state governments taking notes from Trump’s governance, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy applauded former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who he said spearheaded government efficiency in his state long before Trump took office. Jindal helped eliminate fraudulent enrollees in a state program by making enrollees prove they were real through a fingerprint verification process, Cassidy said.
“If there’s more of that to do in federal government and state government, I’m OK with that,” Cassidy said.
It may be too soon to say how much state DOGE-style projects will differ from past efforts to prevent government waste. Some of DOGE’s biggest critics are less enthusiastic about “government efficiency” becoming the latest craze.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she isn’t surprised that state leaders are flocking to follow Trump’s guidance on DOGE, but they shouldn’t be applauded for it.
“A lot of Republican states, especially Republican-leaning states, tend to adopt similar structures to what the party is doing on a national level,” she told NOTUS. “They’re using the term efficiency, but what they really mean is cuts. They mean cuts to health care, cuts to education, cuts to some of the most essential services that Americans rely on.”
—
Shifra Dayak is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.