Ernst on DOGE: The E Stands for Efficiency

“The American people are best served by an efficient workforce full of good employees, and there are many.”
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), chair and founder of the SenateDOGE Caucus, advocated for a more efficient government for American taxpayers by ensuring public servants are actually serving the American people.
During a U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs hearing, Ernst pointed out several bureaucrats that herinvestigationsexposed who should receive a “Reductions in Force” notice, including:

Watch Senator’s Ernst full remarkshere.
“We need people that care about our constituents. They need to show up to work and do their work. We should reward good employees and get rid of those that truly don't want to work for Americans and only are working for themselves,”said Ernst.
Ernst asked Director for the Office of Personnel Management nominee Scott Kupor and Deputy Director for Management for the Office of Management and Budget nominee Eric M. Ueland for their plans to empower agencies to not only dismiss bad employees quickly but reward good employees, stating that“taxpayers deserve better than bubble bath bureaucrats and self-interested therapists.”
Ernst alsocitedher personalexperienceworking to get the Social Security Administration’s field office in Sioux City, Iowa back to work after a whistleblower exposed the office’s habit of ignoring simple requests for weeks and not serving Iowans.
Background:
As chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, Ernst unveiled a$2 trillion planto save taxpayer dollars and downsize the government and hertelework reportthat exposed an absent federal workforce.
For years, Ernst has been working on getting bureaucrats back to work. In August 2023, Ernstdemandedinvestigations into 24 federal departments and agencies to determine the impact of telework on the delivery and response times of services. In December 2024, Ernstexposedthat, almost four years after COVID-19 temporarily closed federal buildings, not a single government agency was occupying even half their office space and called on Biden’s bureaucrats to deck the agency halls with federal workers or sell off unused facilities.
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