Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has teed up a package of bills known as the DOGE Acts that will, among other things, freeze federal hiring and salaries for one year in support of the federal cost-cutting measures of the new Department of Government Efficiency.
Blackburn said she will introduce the legislation next week. The bills “coincide with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan to make the federal government more efficient.”
“Specifically, these bills would cut discretionary spending, move federal agencies out of the swamp, freeze federal hiring and salaries for one year, begin the process of a merit-based compensation structure for federal employees, and require agencies to get employees back in the office,” her office said in a statement on Thursday.
Blackburn said her legislation will not impact public safety, national security, or public health services. Further, the DOGE Acts would give Cabinet secretaries, appointed by President-elect Donald Trump, the opportunity to reform federal agencies how they best see fit and allow for the hiring of political appointees by the Trump administration.
Blackburn joined Newsmax on Thursday to say that Musk and Ramaswamy “will be successful” in their efforts to cut as much as $2 trillion from the federal budget.
“This is something that needs to happen day one so that on the way out, the Biden administration is not piling on a lot of salaries and new hires and we are able to begin cutting into that base of the federal government to make certain that we’re reducing the number of employees and the number of expense that is there,” she told Newsmax.