The holiday season is upon us! Hopefully everyone has finally accepted the November election results, found yourselves among friends and family imbibing delicious Thanksgiving delectables and warm conversations, and are mentally prepared for the shopping rushes of December!
But not everyone is talking about how to spend money! President-elect Donald Trump quickly announced how he would address his campaign promise of shrinking spending and federal government size by the creation of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency.
An advisory committee that will be headed by billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, it has been tasked with the seemingly impossible mission of getting the United States government to drastically reduce the deficit and bureaucratic inefficiency that has plagued our country for far too long.
Musk has already come out suggesting the commission can identify ways to cut the U.S. budget by as much as $2 TRILLION by reducing waste, abolishing redundant agencies, and downsizing the federal workforce. Ramaswamy has concurred, and even harkened back to echoing former representative and presidential candidate Ron Paul (whom Musk has said could work with DOGE) in calling for eliminating entire federal agencies, and the consolidation of others (of which there are hundreds that most people could not even name, let alone tell you who runs them and what they do) to help reach their lofty targets.
Make no mistake about it, DOGE is a scary idea to many! When you disrupt the status quo of federal dollars, people are forced to find funding sources in other places. Jobs will undoubtedly be removed, meaning current livelihoods of friends and family will come to an end. These are true short-term consequences to government shrinking in size, but they don’t compare to the consequences of failing to address an out-of-control system.
It is estimated that by 2033, interest on the federal government debt will outpace major federal funding programs such as Social Security and Medicare. With increasing debt and interest, the U.S. becomes even riskier to loan money, so the government, consumers and businesses all get hit with higher interest rates, which slows economic growth. Furtherance of debt and government printing of money will continue to hurt seniors, as it infuses inflationary pressures with the waning confidence in the dollar, and money saved for their golden years loses value at no fault of their own.
Then as seniors suffer, our next generations get hit with financial burdens for which they had no responsibility in creating, but all the responsibility in repaying/managing.
The stark reality is nearly 100 years of heavy government spending has always been justified in the short term with the acknowledgement that “one day” we will need to address it. The depression of the 1930s brought about massive federal spending and welfare programs, and World War II spending skyrocketed and cemented the notion that government can be the fastest provider of resources in times of need. The 1960s brought about the Great Society programs, vastly expanding social safety net spending while concurrently funding the Vietnam War, and the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan ushered in the beginning of massive government spending, deficits and national debt growth that has continued today, with the latest being pandemic-related spending. But every administration would argue that the spending was legitimate and necessary, and the burden of these legitimate acts continues to be laid at the feet of future generations.
The Republican Party has a monumental task ahead, but it could also be the defining moment in our nation’s history in reshaping and rethinking the role of our government. Elected officials from both sides of the aisle acknowledge spending is a huge problem. There is just consistent disagreement on what spending should be cut. But with a White House, Senate and House of Representatives all in Republican-controlled hands, the successes, and the failures, of DOGE and their potential policy recommendations, could very well be their own to bear.
The true testament to the success of DOGE will be if one day, it is simply no longer necessary. Currently the commission has been given an expiration date of July 4, 2026, America’s 250th birthday. Let’s hope that on America’s semiquincentennial birthday, DOGE is gone, government and its deficits/debt have shrunk, but its effectiveness and efficiency has grown!
But before the year is out and we see what is next for our country, take a walk through the Wakefield Winter Wonderland, attend the beautiful Christmas concert at Grace Baptist Church, and enjoy a chilly night with your loved ones by the fireplace. May you all have a beautiful holiday season, and will see you in 2025!
Jason Gibbs is a member of the Santa Clarita City Council. “Right Here, Right Now” appears Saturdays and rotates among local Republicans.
