Two DOGE caucuses have taken hold on Capitol Hill. Here's what they're hoping to accomplish.
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- From the start of President Trump's second term, DOGE has dominated politics in Washington.
- After the 2024 elections, Republicans created DOGE caucuses on both ends of the Capitol.
- The caucuses are aiming to work with administration and Elon Musk to identify government waste.
During the 2024 elections, Republicans won back the Senate and retained their House majority, with Donald Trump also winning a second term as president.
It is just the scenario that the GOP envisioned to enact a sweeping conservative agenda, with Elon Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency" in mind to pare down the size and scope of the federal workforce.
Two caucuses — the House DOGE Caucus and the Senate DOGE Caucus — were formed last year as a way to work with the White House DOGE office to cut spending. However, there are two key distinctions to note: the caucuses are not a part of DOGE nor are they official congressional committees.
With Trump now in office for a second term, and with a growing number of critics and lawsuits facing DOGE, here's a look at what the congressional DOGE caucuses are aiming to accomplish.
Who's a part of the DOGE caucuses?
Republican Reps. Aaron Bean of Florida, Blake Moore of Utah, and Pete Sessions of Texas are the co-chairs of the House Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus.
"Our national debt has surpassed a staggering $36 trillion and should be a wakeup call for all Americans," Bean said in a statement when the caucus was launched in November 2024. "Our DOGE Caucus, will work closely with the Department of Government Efficiency to help rein in reckless spending and stop the abuse of taxpayer dollars."
Dozens of GOP lawmakers have joined the House DOGE caucus, with membership spanning the US, including members like Reps. Juan Ciscomani of Arizona, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Beth Van Duyne of Texas, and Nick Langworthy of New York.
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Although DOGE is a conservative-led effort, there are currently two Democrats in the DOGE caucus: Reps. Jared Moskowitz of Florida and Steven Horsford of Nevada.
Rep. Val Hoyle of Oregon, a Democrat, announced in December 2024 that she would join the caucus, arguing that government efficiency wasn't a partisan affair and that she wanted "to be in the rooms where the tough conversations are happening."
However, Hoyle departed the caucus in February 2025 after she accused Musk of seeking to "line his own pockets and rip off Americans." The congresswoman was especially critical of DOGE staffers' access to sensitive financial data on millions of Americans.
Republican Joni Ernst of Iowa — who came to Washington vowing to "make 'em squeal" — chairs the Senate DOGE Caucus.
Conservatives have long complained about the size of the federal government in Washington and have largely backed DOGE's cuts to staffing and federal agencies like the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and departments like the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Education.
In January 2025, Ernst unveiled a trio of bills to address spending, including the "Drain the Swamp Act," which would relocate at least 30% of federal workforce away from Washington and mandate a 30% or higher cut in federal real estate in the nation's capital.
The dream team! The Senate DOGE Caucus had a productive meeting with @elonmusk, now let’s get to work! pic.twitter.com/zOyEFqz5S3
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) February 27, 2025
Some of the higher-profile members of the Senate DOGE caucus include Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mike Lee of Utah, and Rick Scott of Florida.
What's the mission of the DOGE caucuses?
Both the House and Senate DOGE caucuses were crafted to work with the Trump administration to identify inefficiencies.
In the platform of the caucuses, the chairs state that the federal government is "too large, costly, controlling, ineffective, inefficient, and unaccountable."
Members of the caucuses also said they are committed to finding ways to prevent increased spending, and they've decried federal rules and regulations that they feel have hampered economic growth.
The House and Senate DOGE caucuses are separate from the GOP-run House DOGE subcommittee, which is chaired by Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, with Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico serving as the ranking member.
The House subcommittee is part of the larger Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and as such has oversight jurisdiction over DOGE.