FIRST ON FOX: At the second Senate Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) caucus meeting, Chairwoman Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, led discussions on how they can most effectively and quickly begin cutting waste across the government.
The new 18-member caucus convened on Thursday morning and strategized on how to avoid some of the pitfalls other similar efforts have run into.
“The Senate DOGE Caucus is hitting the ground running on day one of the Trump administration to downsize government,” Ernst told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Biden’s bloat has created a target-rich environment for finding ways to eliminate waste and make the bureaucracy accountable to the people. Now is the time for results, and after today, I feel confident that we have plans in place to serve as the action arm in Congress to deliver for taxpayers.”
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Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, is chairwoman of the DOGE caucus. (Reuters)
For years, Ernst has been taking inventory of government waste, which has given the caucus a list of places to begin eliminating excess bureaucracy and making the government run more efficiently.
Some specific targets for the caucus are federal telework, IRS agents with unpaid taxes and U.S. funding going to foreign laboratories with little accountability.
Caucus members mapped out how they can address these items in a way that ensures they can get “multiple bites at the apple,” per Ernst’s office.
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Ernst audited the IRS herself. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
To do this, the Republican members plan on taking advantage of tools such as the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which can be used to overturn rules put in place by federal agencies, and budget reconciliation.
The budget reconciliation process is already expected as a key vehicle for Republican tax and immigration policy objectives, and the party has…
