As federal cuts spark protests across the nation, a Connecticut Republican called Monday to reproduce Elon Musk’s deeply unpopular “Department of Government Efficiency” — or DOGE — to enact cuts here in Connecticut.
State Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, used billionaire Musk’s social media platform, X, to argue that Connecticut needed its own version of Musk’s DOGE. The initiative, a hallmark of Republican President Donald Trump’s second term, has already resulted in millions in cuts to Connecticut classrooms, as well as steep reductions in public health and public safety funding.
These cuts and others like them have been unpopular with voters across the country. A national poll released last week by the University of Massachusetts Amherst found a majority of Americans distrust Musk and his DOGE.
“Given the unpopularity of Musk’s efforts to rein in federal spending, it is no surprise that many expect Musk to return to his businesses and to put Washington, D.C., in his rearview mirror,” said Tatishe Nteta, poll director and professor of political science at UMass Amherst.
While Americans disapproved of DOGE and Musk generally, the poll found they also opposed specific Republican cuts. For instance, the poll found voters opposed cuts to Social Security by a margin of 72 -11, cuts to Medicare by 71 – 12, and cuts to Medicaid by 67 – 16.
In addition to upsetting voters, DOGE has also been plagued by mistakes and mismanagement.
In February, DOGE fired as many as 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration, many of them charged with assembling nuclear warheads, which prompted the administration to scramble to re-hire staff, according to the Associated Press.
The administration also found itself seeking to re-hire a group of Department of Agriculture employees working on an H5N1 avian influenza program, who were fired despite an ongoing bird flu outbreak, according to NBC News.
Other mistakes include firing and re-hiring staffers at the Food and Drug Administration, who had been tasked with overseeing medical devices when they were terminated, according to the Associated Press.
Musk even admitted that his DOGE had “accidentally” cancelled an Ebola prevention program, according to NPR.
Here in Connecticut, voters have reduced the number of Republican legislators in each of the last several election cycles, making Sampson’s call for a “CT DOGE” unlikely to gain traction in the state legislature.
However, Musk’s DOGE is already having an impact on programs in services in Connecticut.
In addition to cuts to education, public health and public safety, Musk and his Republican allies have already fired the entire Department of Health and Human Services staff that administers the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Approximately 200,000 Connecticut residents rely on that program to keep their homes warm in the winter.
