Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA)
Elon Musk and DOGE are not making the government more efficient or effective—they are breaking it without any rational plan. Federal workers, 30 percent of whom are veterans, are being fired without any notice or consultation—many of them top performers. Instead of focusing on areas of actual waste, such as fossil fuel subsidies, prescription drug costs, Medicare Advantage overpayments, or defense contractors fleecing taxpayers, the administration is attacking the working class while pursuing tax breaks for the ultra-rich.
In just one month, DOGE has fired thousands of federal workers who have dedicated their careers to delivering services and benefits to those who need them most. Last week, DOGE announced that at least 12 percent of jobs would be cut at the Social Security Administration, a program that keeps 22 million Americans, including children, out of poverty. Twenty-four hundred workers have been fired from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and DOGE aims to fire almost all employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—an agency that protects people from fraud and has returned billions to consumers. DOGE also put the public at risk by accidentally firing employees who were working on critical projects, such as nuclear safety and preventing bird flu.
I recently spoke with a group of fired federal workers from states across the country, including North Carolina, Kansas, and Pennsylvania. Their stories were heartbreaking. I heard from disabled veterans and parents with young children who were passionate about their service and are now struggling to pay the bills. Some had even voted for Trump. In their jobs, they were preparing our country for natural disasters, helping veterans manage debt, and supporting our nation’s farmers and ranchers. Many were fired on Valentine’s Day, in what they described as a “Valentine’s Day Firing Massacre.”
House Republicans just passed Trump’s budget plan that would add $2.8 trillion to the deficit.
Not only are Musk and DOGE harming ordinary people, but they are failing to prevent waste anywhere close to the scale they are claiming. Forty percent of the contracts canceled by DOGE so far will result in no savings, as many of them were already completed. In one instance, DOGE reported saving $8 billion by cutting a contract to a company providing services to ICE that was shown to have only saved $8 million. Even with extreme cuts, Musk is not delivering what he promised.
The American people deserve answers. I am urging the House Oversight Committee to vote again to subpoena Musk to testify in Congress. The first vote in our committee to subpoena Musk failed when Democrats called a last-minute vote so that some Republicans would miss it. At the time, I was meeting with the ambassador to Mexico about Trump’s harmful blanket tariffs. A reporter falsely said on X that I “abstained” from the vote, which she has since deleted, causing division at a moment when we must be unified in stopping Musk and DOGE. Eight of us missed the vote because we could not get back to the committee room on time. When I expressed support for Musk to be subpoenaed, he said, “Don’t be a dick.” Despite this attack, I am undeterred in calling out the disastrous impact of DOGE’s actions.
And while DOGE and the administration claim to be against waste, House Republicans just passed Trump’s budget plan that would add $2.8 trillion to the deficit. It gives $4.5 trillion in tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and corporations while proposing hundreds of billions in cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. These cuts will rip away health care and food assistance from millions of low-income families. Recent polling shows that even 71 percent of Trump voters oppose cuts to Medicaid.
It’s no surprise that Republicans are avoiding town halls in their districts after getting booed and protested by constituents over these harmful cuts and Musk’s actions. In contrast, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has been rallying thousands of people in red states to stand up to Musk, Trump, and the economic royalists in power. As co-chair of Sanders’s 2020 campaign, I saw firsthand how his message transcends partisanship and gives people hope.
Starting March 24th, I will be going to three red districts in California to speak out against DOGE’s mass firings and the Republicans’ Medicaid cuts. This is a moment for progressives to speak directly to people across the country, especially in places that have been hollowed out by the offshoring of jobs and failed policies that have put billionaires over the working class.
We need to make the case that government can be good and effective. We need to continue fighting for Medicare for All, free public college, and a livable wage. That is how we overcome political nihilism and organize a movement to defeat DOGE and Trump.
