Doug Mastriano calls on Congress to support DOGE as he backs state-level DOGE bill
State Sen. Doug Mastriano speaks at the Pennsylvania Capitol. Justin Sweitzer
The former candidate for Pennsylvania governor has sponsored legislation seeking to create a state-level Department of Government Efficiency.
GOP state Sen. Doug Mastriano is calling on Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation to support the Department of Government Efficiency’s sweeping effort to reform the federal government.
In a statement released Wednesday, Mastriano urged legislators at the federal level to coalesce behind DOGE, the effort to remake the federal government and cut spending that has been spearheaded by President Donald Trump and his advisor and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.
“For too long, taxpayer dollars have been wasted on bloated bureaucracies, redundant programs and outrageous foreign expenditures that do nothing for the hardworking people of Pennsylvania,” Mastriano said in a Wednesday press release. “Government inefficiency is a hidden tax on every citizen. Billions of dollars have vanished into fraudulent programs and unnecessary contracts. Critical resources have been misallocated while Pennsylvanians struggle to make ends meet.”
To date, DOGE claims to have saved taxpayers approximately $105 billion through a combination of asset sales, the cancellation of government contracts and leases, the identification of fraud and improper payments, workforce reductions, and grant cancellations. That amounts to roughly $652.17 saved per taxpayer, according to DOGE’s website. However, those claims – and many others like them – have come under increasing scrutiny, with numerous inaccuracies and falsehoods reported.
The Trump administration’s decisions to pause the flow of federal funds and lay off federal workers at the departments of Education, Veterans Affairs and other agencies have resulted in legal challenges, including one lawsuit alleging that the administration unlawfully fired thousands of probationary workers, according to The Associated Press.
In the wake of DOGE’s wide-ranging efforts to remake the federal government, multiple states have sought to implement DOGE programs of their own. Oklahoma Gov. J. Kevin Stitt signed an executive order creating an Oklahoma Division of Government Efficiency in February, and in Louisiana, Gov. Jeff Landry signed an order in December 2024 creating a fiscal responsibility program within the governor’s office.
Mastriano wants to bring a similar effort to the Keystone State. Not only has he sponsored a resolution calling for Congress to support the federal government initiative, but he has also introduced legislation that would create a Pennsylvania Department of Government Efficiency.
According to a co-sponsorship memo circulated by Mastriano, the Pennsylvania DOGE would report to the General Assembly, and would have the power to audit state agencies, immediately suspend payments from state agencies or departments and recommend that “wasteful” agencies or departments be dissolved.
On Wednesday, Mastriano said DOGE can serve as a model for the public sector. “Following this model, the public sector can eliminate waste, streamline operations, adopt data-driven decision making and use technology to reduce costs and improve services,” he said in his statement. “Government cannot be bogged down by outdated bureaucracy and broken systems any longer. Let’s stand together, demand results and push for a government that works for us.”
At least one state senator has vocally opposed Mastriano’s Pennsylvania DOGE proposal. Democratic state Sen. Vincent Hughes, who is the minority chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told ABC 27 News that a state-level version of DOGE is “a dumb idea.”
“Any replication of what Musk and Trump (have) created in Washington, D.C. to come and cause the kind of chaos that they caused at the federal level, at the local level – unacceptable,” he told the outlet.
At the federal level, itemized savings listed on the DOGE website suggest that the initiative has resulted in roughly $15 billion in savings from contract terminations, $15 billion in savings from cancelled grants and $468 million in savings from terminated real estate leases.
Journalist Judd Legum, the founder of Popular Information, an independent newsletter on Substack, recently launched a new publication dedicated to holding Musk and DOGE accountable, known as Musk Watch. In a post published on Wednesday, Legum wrote that the savings listed on the DOGE website are overinflated.
“The total Verifiable Canceled Funding, as calculated by the Musk Watch DOGE Tracker, is currently $8.6 billion. This means the top line claim of savings by DOGE, $105 billion, overstates the verified savings by 92%,” he wrote.
Musk has remained optimistic about the potential for more savings throughout Trump’s second term. He told Fox Business this week that he thinks DOGE will reach the $1 trillion mark. “Yeah, I mean, unless we’re stopped, we will get to a trillion dollars of savings,” he told the outlet, without offering any substantiation of the claim.