The Fulcrum introduces Congress Bill Spotlight, a weekly report by Jesse Rifkin, focusing on the noteworthy legislation of the thousands introduced in Congress. Rifkin has written about Congress for years, and now he's dissecting the most interesting bills you need to know about, but that often don't get the right news coverage.
Though it’s been cutting left and right, could DOGE itself be cut next?
The Bill
The BAD DOGE Act would repeal Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The acronym BAD DOGE, a pun on the pet reprimand “bad dog,” stands for Bolstering American Democracy and Demanding Oversight and Government Ethics.
The House bill was introduced on February 24 by Rep. Dave Min (D-CA47). No Senate companion version appears to have been introduced yet.
Context
Elon Musk, the richest person on earth by a wide margin, leads President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. Despite its name, DOGE is not actually an official “department,” but a special unit tasked with reducing bureaucracy, fraud, and waste.
(The acronym DOGE comes from an internet joke referencing a digital cryptocurrency called dogecoin, which Musk had previously promoted.)
In its nascent existence, DOGE certainly courted controversy. First, for moving to defund or eliminate USAID, which provides food and healthcare to low-income nations overseas, but which Musk called “a criminal organization” and accused of corruption. Then, for seeking access to millions of American taxpayers’ personal information through the IRS.
Many criticize Musk personally, for wielding political power despite not being elected himself, nor even being Senate-confirmed like Cabinet members. Others accuse Musk of using his position to benefit himself and his companies: for example, proposing to eliminate an electric vehicle tax credit that Tesla’s auto competitors use, or steering more NASA contracts towards SpaceX.
However, a few of DOGE’s ideas have also received bipartisan praise or at least bipartisan consideration, such as ending daylight savings time and discontinuing production of the penny. Not long after Musk first suggested it, Trump ordered the government to stop minting new pennies, even earning some Democratic support.
Congressional Democrats have tried to subpoena Musk, joined protests against him, asked viral questions about him during committee hearings, written letters about him to top government officials, and confronted the Speaker of the House in his office about Musk. But in terms of actual legislation, as the minority party in both chambers, there’s not much they can do.
What Supporters Say
Supporters argue that the government provides important – sometimes lifesaving – resources, which are now being eliminated by unaccountable and arguably unconstitutional means.
“Elon Musk and DOGE are attacking the very foundations of our democracy,” Rep. Min said in a press release. “An unelected and unvetted billionaire violating our privacy and deleting federal agencies does not promote good governance, it violates the Constitution. [The bill would] rein in the blatantly illegal and unconstitutional activities.”
What Opponents Say
Musk himself counters that DOGE stands against an ever-metastasizing government bureaucracy, which wastes too much of people’s hard-earned money.
He also contends that D.C.-area feds too often go against mass public opinion. After all, Republicans just won the White House and Congress, yet Democrats won more than 90% of Washington, D.C.’s presidential vote.
“If you say ‘What is the goal of DOGE?’ I think a significant part of this presidency is to restore democracy,” Musk said in remarks alongside Trump from the Oval Office. “This is not to say that there aren’t some good people who are in the federal bureaucracy, but you can’t have an autonomous federal bureaucracy. You have to have one that’s responsive to the people. That’s the whole point of a democracy.”
Similar Bills
House Democrats have also introduced other similar bills targeting DOGE, though without repealing it entirely. Here are five:
- The Taxpayer Data Protection Act would ban DOGE’s actions at the IRS, though not everything it’s been doing throughout the rest of the government. Introduced by Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI11), it’s attracted exactly 200 cosponsors, all Democrats.
- The MERIT Act would reinstate all federal workers fired by DOGE, with back pay. The acronym MERIT stands for Model Employee Reinstatement for Ill-advised Termination. Introduced by Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ10), it’s attracted 71 Democratic cosponsors.
- The Stop Musk Act would protect federal employees from legal retaliation if they attempt to thwart DOGE. Introduced by freshman Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-OR3), as her very first bill, it’s attracted three Democratic cosponsors.
- The LEASH DOGE Act would require DOGE to publicly list all its employees and advisors. The acronym LEASH DOGE stands for Legislative Enforcement Against Setbacks from Harmful DOGE. Introduced by Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10), it’s attracted 17 Democratic cosponsors.
- The CLEAR Act would make DOGE subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, so more information about it could be released to the public when asked. The acronym CLEAR stands for Consistent Legal Expectations and Access to Records. Introduced by Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI3), it’s attracted 51 Democratic cosponsors.
Odds of Passage
The BAD DOGE Act to repeal it entirely has attracted five cosponsors, all Democrats. It awaits an unlikely vote in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, controlled by Republicans.
The Opposite Bill
Vice versa, a Republican bill would codify DOGE in federal law, making it harder for Congress or a future president to repeal.
That bill, which does not have a title, was introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA48) and has attracted one Republican: Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL7). It awaits a potential vote in the same House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Jesse Rifkin is a freelance journalist with the Fulcrum. Don’t miss his weekly report, Congress Bill Spotlight, every Friday on the Fulcrum. Rifkin’s writings about politics and Congress have been published in the Washington Post, Politico, Roll Call, Los Angeles Times, CNN Opinion, GovTrack, and USA Today.
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First image: Moreno and Joe Medina in the mail room. Medina has worked there since 2019 and was a former Keys to Change client. Second image: Medina sorts through envelopes to find mail for the unhoused community the facility serves. Ash Ponders for ProPublica