“I wanted to cut real waste in the government, but the DOGE effort failed. Elon Musk and his team did not save money. Instead, they fired 300,000 workers, shut down important services, and cost taxpayers $10 billion. If we want to cut real waste, we should look at the Pentagon instead of firing people who keep us safe.”

“Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of the 119th session, I was ready to work with anyone to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in the government. We are here to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, and we should want our government to be efficient. That is not what happened. We started with a bipartisan congressional effort, and then President Trump appointed Elon Musk, who stood there with a chainsaw, brought in a bunch of unqualified DOGE bros, who said that they were going to make $2 trillion in savings from the Federal budget, but made no meaningful impact in spending. They tortured and went after our public employees that cost the taxpayers $10 billion through the deferred resignation program. Mr. Speaker, 300,000 Federal workers were fired or urged to retire, including 100,000 veterans. This wasn’t done in a strategic way. People were fired without understanding what their jobs were. For instance, off the Oregon coast, they fired the people who knew how to operate the tsunami warning system. That isn’t rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse. They shut down promising innovations, like direct file, at the request of big businesses that stood to financially benefit. That hurt low-income and working Americans who now have to pay to file their taxes. They slowed response time to complaints made to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which had previously helped return $21 billion to Americans. They purged USAID by getting rid of 83 percent of USAID projects. Impact Counter estimates that 757,000 people died, mostly children. We lost the benefit of soft power that we had when we invested in this very effective program. They tried to end NIOSH and canceled $3.8 billion in NIH grants. They laid off 1,300 critical Federal workers from NOAA. If you want to talk about government overreach and small government, that is not what happened with DOGE. They gained access to personal data, like our Social Security numbers, our tax returns, and our health records. Waste, fraud, and abuse still exist in the Federal Government. For instance, if we want to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, let’s start with the Pentagon that failed the last eight audits. There is a ton of waste, fraud, and abuse. They have awarded more than $208 billion in contracts to companies that have been cited for repeated or willful violations. Why are we not addressing that? We should want government to be more efficient. We should want to root out waste, fraud, and abuse. I will work with anyone to make that happen. Instead, we gave a chainsaw to a trillionaire who made his money off of Federal grants, Federal research, and Federal projects, and we cut critical investments to make our government work better for the working people. On July Fourth, DOGE shut down. It doesn’t intend to publish a final report because they would have to report a giant failure that cost taxpayers $10 billion. I say, good-bye, good riddance, and let’s not do this again.”

“I voted to block $3.3 billion in foreign military aid. That money should be spent on needs at home like housing, roads, and child care, not on bombing civilians. I also celebrate the end of DOGE. Instead of saving money, it fired thousands of veterans and key workers, hurt public services, and cost billions of dollars. We will investigate what this program and this administration did.”

“Mr. Speaker, there are so many things to be said about DOGE and the waste of money and lives that happened over the course of the year and a half that it was officially on the books. Mr. Speaker, I also want to take a moment to talk about our country at a crossroads. Do we continue to use American taxpayer dollars to fund the killing of civilians, children, and families abroad, or do we finally say, enough? Today, I took a vote for the children, for peace, and for the future of this country, by voting ``yes’’ on an amendment to block $3.3 billion in offensive military aid. This is money that should be used to build roads, to build housing, and to lower the cost of food and childcare for families who are struggling right here in the United States. I did not come to Congress to write blank checks to the military. I did not come to Congress to write blank checks to foreign militaries to bomb civilians, and I did not come here to support an unending and illegal war in the Middle East. That is why I chose today to block offensive military aid. Today, I choose our people over weapons. I choose peace over war. I choose accountability over silence, and I will continue to choose that every single time. Now, Mr. Speaker, as we close out this debate and the broken promises of DOGE and this administration, let us be reminded that when President Trump and Elon Musk first created DOGE, the American people were promised that it would cut waste, fight fraud and abuse, and save the taxpayers $2 trillion across the government. Many of us hoped that was actually true because cutting waste, fraud, and abuse is not a partisan issue. It is just good government. All of us want a government that actually works for the people of this country. Actions speak louder than words. When it comes to the legacy of DOGE and this administration, its actions speak for themselves. Instead of cutting waste, they cut over 100,000 jobs of veterans across the Federal Government, veterans in my district who worked at the VA and across our Federal agencies, who wanted nothing more than to continue their service to this country. They cut workers in charge of maintaining our nuclear stockpile, only to scramble to rehire them. They fired some of our Nation’s top scientists, who were responsible for making sure our national security is taken care of. They attacked Social Security. They fired thousands of workers across the Social Security Administration, including in my district where people were struggling just to get access to their basic needs being met. DOGE cut back hours and fired hundreds across New Mexico. It pushed seniors, children, and veterans to the brink. Instead of saving taxpayers money, DOGE cost taxpayers billions of dollars in lost productivity, lost revenue, and the cost to hire essential civil servants they fired. Instead of fighting abuse, DOGE gave the richest man on planet Earth direct influence over government decisionmaking and access to our personal and financial data. We will never know the true damage that DOGE did because the administration won’t even release the final information or final report explaining what they did. This is not okay. Let me say this to this administration: You better bet we will be investigating every inch of what you did through DOGE and your behavior in the administration. The American people deserve transparency. The American people deserve a government that works for them. The American people deserve a government and leaders who tell the truth. The American people deserve accountability for their taxpayer dollars. The American people deserve respect, especially those who have served this great Nation. Even though DOGE’s disaster is officially over on the books, we already have another agency whose job is to find waste, fraud, and abuse. We will continue to investigate what happened through DOGE. We will continue to do the work of improving our government, and we will continue to investigate what has happened. Our question is: After all that has been said and done, will the Republicans of this body continue to support the lies that this administration has put forward through DOGE? Will they continue to support the dismantling of our Federal agencies, as is happening right now at the Department of Education, as we stand here, and the Education Committee? Will they continue to raid agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and steal money from the taxpayers? Will they continue to allow this administration to steal your taxpayer dollars and give it to the military to bomb civilians overseas? Will they continue to allow an out-of-control President to make billions of dollars in self-dealing while lining his pockets and demolishing the White House or will they actually stand up for the American people? That is the real waste, fraud, and abuse, and that is the real corruption, a President who is wasting our taxpayer dollars on an unending and illegal war, painting a pool filled with algae, a golden ballroom, and trying to put his name on the Kennedy Center, spending millions of dollars, taxpayer dollars litigating over illegal actions he has taken since taking office, all while giving private contracts to his own family members and the very man who started DOGE in the first place. While DOGE may be over, let the lesson be that when we take back the House, we will hold them accountable. We will build a government that works for the American people, that is stronger. We will stop billionaires from coming in and using their money to achieve their own political ends and line their own pockets. We will stop the self-dealing not only in the White House, but that happens in this Chamber. We will work to get big money out of politics, to end Citizens United, and to ensure that we have a system that actually represents the people of this country. We will rebuild better the agencies that were dismantled. We will create a whole new generation of public servants who want to serve this great Nation, and we will bring a new deal for this country that is about results, that is about dignity, that puts people and services ahead of profits and not empty promises. That is why, Mr. Speaker, we are here today to celebrate the end of this dark chapter and bring DOGE to a conclusion. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.”