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WASHINGTON — Even as President Trump signed an executive order officially creating the “Department of Government Efficiency” this week, basic questions are still swirling about the scope and structure of his government-slashing initiative spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk.
But one legacy of the project has already come into focus: a crop of imitators, sprouting up in state capitals around the country, hoping to apply the crusading, spending-slashing ethos of “DOGE” to their own governments.
In recent weeks, Republican officials in several states have announced formal efforts explicitly based on DOGE: New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Louisiana, and Arizona.
Upon being sworn in as New Hampshire governor on Jan. 9, Kelly Ayotte’s very first executive order created a Commission on Government Efficiency — “COGE” — which she argued in her inaugural address would “make us smarter than ever before” in running state government wisely.
In December, Wisconsin House Speaker Robin Vos announced his chamber would establish a Government Operations Accountability and Transparency (“GOAT”) committee. “We know that we need to shrink the size of government,” Vos told the Wisconsin press. Other states, including Arizona and Missouri, are also launching “DOGE” efforts through legislative committees.
Oklahoma House Speaker Kyle Hilbert also closed out 2024 by announcing a DOGE effort, folded into existing legislative committees, beginning with an online portal through which Oklahomans could report “examples of government waste or duplication.”
From Washington, leaders of the DOGE effort have been surprised — but validated — to watch the proliferation of imitators on the state level. “America has DOGE fever,” said Representative Aaron Bean, a Florida Republican who founded the US House’s DOGE Caucus. “The only cure is to cut.”
The rush in these state capitals to emulate DOGE is an early illustration of the considerable sway Trump holds among Republican policymakers nationwide as he begins his second term as president. State-level Republicans are eager to tap into the enthusiasm they see for Trump’s agenda — and the star power they see provided by Musk — to build public support for their own governing plans this year.
“This committee was created in response to demands of Wisconsinites who were, you know, following the popularity of DOGE,” said Wisconsin state Representative Amanda Nedweski, who is chairing the Legislature’s GOAT committee. “DOGE has made fiscal conservatism kind of cool again to the mainstream audience.”
Democrats in these states, meanwhile, are approaching these efforts with caution, wary of playing into efforts they believe could become partisan exercises. “It quite frankly feels a little bit like pandering,” said Representative Cyndi Munson, the Democratic minority leader in the Oklahoma State House. “What is it you’re willing to cut just so you can say you’re in line with Donald Trump?”
Like their federal inspiration, however, these state-level DOGE efforts are facing basic questions over what exactly they intend to accomplish, how they will approach the work, and whether they’ll make a real impact — or join a long list of heavily hyped reform efforts that amounted to little. (The federal DOGE is already facing turbulence: Musk’s co-chair, Vivek Ramaswamy, was reportedly ousted from the effort amid personality clashes.)
“It feels to me like an old wine in new bottles move,” said Dante Scala, professor of politics at the University of New Hampshire, who added that in the Granite State at least, “we’ve seen these sorts of special commissions come and go from different governors, Democratic as well as Republican.”
In public statements and interviews with the Globe, leaders of some emerging state-level efforts did not identify specific targets for spending cuts or big-picture metrics for their ultimate success. They stressed that these efforts remain in their earliest stages; none were willing to make any proclamations as sweeping or specific as Musk’s stated goal, for instance, to slash $2 trillion from the federal budget.
Politicians on the state level might be wary of courting political blowback by committing to such specific spending cut targets. But it’s also true that reforming the federal government’s practices is a fundamentally different task than doing the same for a state government.
Unlike the federal government, states do not have the ability to borrow or print money on a theoretically unlimited basis. Every state, save for Vermont, has some type of balanced budget rule, constraining its ability to rack up long-running deficits. States also have more direct revenue-raising tools to plug budgetary holes, like adjusting state sales tax rates.
These DOGE-style efforts, said Josh Goodman, an expert on state fiscal health at the Pew Charitable Trusts, are “in some ways… just sort of business as usual at the state level, where state leaders are always, to varying degrees and at different times, talking about, ‘Where can we save?’”
At this moment, however, several state governments are facing their worst budget crunch since the pandemic, Goodman said — a crucial piece of context for some Republicans’ eagerness to mimic DOGE.
In New Hampshire, a Republican-run state that prides itself on its frugality, the specter of spending cuts has loomed amid declining business tax revenue.
“Our state is facing a tough budget environment, and just like any family, what’s going out needs to match what’s coming in,” Ayotte said in a statement to the Globe. “I created the COGE to help us streamline government, cut spending, and ensure we’re doing everything we can to create value for taxpayers while honoring our unbreakable commitment to provide for our most vulnerable citizens who depend on the services our state government provides.”
Revenues are also declining in Oklahoma, a concern for Republicans despite the fact that the state has nearly $1.5 billion stashed away in its rainy day fund. “With the downturn, it’s time for us to really roll up our sleeves, sharpen our pencils, and dig in and see what we can do to reduce spending,” Hilbert, the House speaker, told the Globe. “This DOGE portal is going to be a great tool to help us with that.”
Wisconsin ended 2024 with a $4.6 billion budget surplus, and Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, claimed the state was in historically strong fiscal shape. Those involved with the “GOAT” committee have set a broader goal of improving government transparency and processes that don’t necessarily have to do with budgeting.
“We don’t necessarily have like, ‘Oh, we’re going to cut 10 percent across the board,’ or something like that,” Nedweski said. “It’s not a specific goal that we’re looking to, because it’s not just about efficiency and spending.”
Democrats insist that they want to help their state governments work better. But the broader budget context, along with the centrality of the highly divisive Trump and Musk to these efforts, has them skeptical. “If the execution is genuine, I think they will find willing partners on the Democratic side,” said Wisconsin state Representative Mike Bare, who will lead Democrats on the “GOAT” committee. “If it veers more into theater, I’ll certainly be willing to call it what it is.”
In Oklahoma and New Hampshire, Democrats feel largely in the dark. New Hampshire Representative Alexis Simpson, the Democratic House minority leader, told the Globe there had not been any outreach to Democrats from Ayotte about “COGE,” nor do they know if she will appoint Democrats to serve on the 15-member panel. (Ayotte’s office did not address more specific questions from the Globe about the scope and structure of her effort.)
“I want to be clear, Democrats also support government efficiency wholeheartedly,” Simpson said. “We need New Hampshire solutions to New Hampshire problems and this seems like an idea that’s transplanted from D.C.”
Champions of the DOGE concept, though, hope that if they succeed in Washington, it’ll spur on more imitators on the state level — or if states succeed, it’ll light a fire under Washington.
“Hopefully success breeds success,” said Bean, the DOGE caucus co-chair, “that if they did it in Iowa, then we can do it here in the [federal] government, or if they do it in the government, then they can do it in Tallahassee, Fla.”
Sam Brodey can be reached at sam.brodey@globe.com. Follow him @sambrodey.