For the most part, Democratic officials at the state level have expressed deep disdain for DOGE.
Democrats work to oppose DOGE
In California, a Democratic legislator on Thursday reacted to DOGE’s mission with anger as he announced legislation to launch a new state agency to fund scientific research. The California Institute for Scientific Research, state Sen. Scott Wiener said, would fill in healthcare gaps he claimed had been created by DOGE and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“As Trump, Musk, and RFK Jr. tear apart federal science leadership, California must step up for science. California must lead,” Wiener said. “California is a global leader on science in our own right, and we must step in to protect our scientific institutions from the new Administration’s anti-science, Make America Sick Again onslaught. Scientific research is absolutely essential to our efforts to lower costs for families, respond to the threats of climate change, and protect the health of our children. For California to thrive, we must defend science.”
Wiener isn’t the only Democrat outraged about federal funding cuts.
When the Trump administration announced this week deep cuts to pandemic-era health funding, Wiener’s party erupted.
“Senselessly ripping away this funding Congress provided will undermine our state’s ability to protect families from infectious diseases like measles and bird flu and to help people get the mental health care and substance use treatment they need,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said.
Amid the Trump administration’s push to save taxpayer dollars, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention‘s move to rescind billions in COVID-19 funding for health departments nationwide would cut more than $160 million in funding that has already been awarded to Washington, the senator said, and would put more than 200 jobs in the state at risk.
In Colorado, state officials said the CDC’s move affected $250 million in ongoing and planned federal funding for public and behavioral healthcare in the state.
Democratic state Rep. Shannon Bird, vice chairwoman of the state Joint Budget Committee, in comments to CPR News, warned that Colorado would not have the capacity to keep programs alive that had previously relied on federal funding.
Democratic state Sen. Judy Amabile similarly told the outlet that residents “who are in desperate need of the services that they provide won’t be able to get them and that will hurt them.”
Democratic attorneys general have led perhaps the most public fight against DOGE in the states. On Feb. 7, 19 Democratic attorneys general led a lawsuit seeking to block DOGE from scrutinizing the Treasury Department’s payment system for waste and inefficiencies, saying the effort violated the law and people’s right to data privacy. A few days later, another coalition of Democratic attorneys general followed with another lawsuit alleging DOGE was operating unconstitutionally with “virtually unchecked power.”
State Republicans embrace the initiative
However, from Georgia to Iowa, many lawmakers are also cheering on DOGE and even trying to copy Musk’s initiative in their own communities.
Republican and libertarian officials in at least 18 states, counties, and towns across the country are pushing bills or programs mimicking DOGE, a Business Insider analysis found earlier this month.
In North Carolina, Republican state Senate Leader Phil Berger announced on Monday a proposal to create the Division of Accountability, Value and Efficiency led by the state auditor. The bill would require the DAVE to review every state agency’s spending and staffing levels in an effort to root out government waste and inefficiency.
North Carolina had previously announced the creation of the interim House Select Committee on Government Efficiency to probe state agencies. The committee has focused on issues such as scrutinizing diversity, equity, and inclusion programming within government as it seeks to eliminate “unnecessary government bloat and waste” and “restore state and local governments across North Carolina to their proper, limited roles.”
The DOGE-inspired initiative in North Carolina has gained some bipartisan support.
“I think there’s a real opportunity to do something that is bipartisan and really benefits everyone in North Carolina, and if that’s what we’re doing, I’ll be supportive,” Democratic state Rep. Phil Rubin, who sits on the House Select Committee on Government Efficiency, told the Daily Tar Heel earlier this month.
Even North Carolina’s Democratic governor has expressed support for cutting government waste, albeit in a less aggressive manner than Musk has embraced.
“Let’s use a scalpel, not a chainsaw” to save taxpayer dollars, Gov. Josh Stein (D-NC) said during his State of the State address on March 12.
Deep red states such as Florida have fully embraced DOGE as a model to cut spending and waste.
That attitude was on full display during a meeting Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) held Wednesday with the Florida Board of Governors, the body that oversees the state’s public universities. DeSantis reminded attendees of his DOGE-like February executive order directing the Board of Governors and the State Board of Education to “identify and eliminate unnecessary spending, programs, courses, staff, and any other inefficiencies within the State University System and the Florida College System.”
“It’s not only important, but it’s our duty to work with the governor’s office and those he appoints in a DOGE-like task force to ensure we meet our obligations as governors under the constitution,” board member Eric Silagy told the Tampa Bay Times.
DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEYS GENERAL EMERGE AS SOME OF THE ONLY REAL RESISTANCE AGAINST TRUMP 2.0
“We’re going to find many examples of efficient and productive spending, but I’m also certain there’ll be examples that we may not be as proud of,” he added.
Last month, DeSantis also unveiled the state’s DOGE task force, which will evaluate how to cut waste and fraud at the state and local levels.
