Ode to Doge

Floor Speech

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Ms. STANSBURY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give an ode, perhaps a eulogy, to the downfall of DOGE and to the people's movement that brought about its demise.

As we say good-bye to the departing, we take solace in knowing that our democracy endures in our people and our communities.

The centralized Department of Government Efficiency, imagined in the insane mind of Elon Musk and empowered by those around him, which wreaked havoc on the vital programs that sustain our communities appears to no longer exist.

In fact, the Director of OPM said just a couple of weeks ago: It doesn't exist. Even Musk himself downplayed his involvement this weekend, calling it merely a very interesting side quest. While the administration claims DOGE is now integrated into the agencies themselves, its existence as a formal priority appears to finally be dead.

Even in Congress, the future of the DOGE Subcommittee, created by once eager and enthusiastic GOP allies on the Oversight Committee, is uncertain. The explosive breakup of Musk and Trump just a few months ago, and now the sudden pending retirement of the subcommittee chairwoman over the Epstein files and GOP threats and lies, leave the DOGE congressional arm uncertain and rudderless, but perhaps with the opportunity to be repurposed.

Services for the departed will not be held. In lieu of flowers, please, America, continue to organize and fight for our democracy.

As we reflect on DOGE's short but destructive life, we remember how it laid waste to vital programs despite its lofty promises of cost- cutting and efficiency. Unfettered by the rule of law and driven by unchecked hubris, DOGE unleashed chaos, illegally dismantled agencies, conducted mass firings, canceled contracts, and mined the sensitive data of millions of American people.

The speed with which DOGE brought destruction to lifesaving agencies was matched only by the ferocity of the public outcry. Americans refused to sit idly by while children went hungry, while services for veterans, families, and elders were slashed without cause. In fact, in unison people across the political spectrum stood up to say: Hands off our data, hands off Social Security, and hands off the vital programs that keep our families alive in this country, and they showed Elon Musk the door.

Millions marched, attended townhalls, wrote letters, made calls, and demanded that Congress stop DOGE's disastrous work. When the hypocrisy of this so-called efficiency agency was exposed in the President's big, ugly bill, even Trump and Musk split up, and ultimately the Chairwoman herself announced her departure from this body in the wake of broken promises and threats by the administration.

The administration, while claiming to pursue savings, was cutting services for the most vulnerable not to reduce the debt, but ultimately, as has been shown, to fund tax breaks and giveaways to billionaires and those with the most.

Even in its final moments, DOGE found comfort in self-dealing and everyday grift. As it dismantled agencies and fired workers, it seized opportunities to privatize public assets and laid the groundwork for billions in private contracts and self-dealing for the ages.

Despite the Trump administration's claims that DOGE is still alive, and even its own X page dismissing the news as fake, we all know the truth: DOGE as the grifting scam it was imagined is dead, and its demise is a victory for the American people.

Not only is its formal office gone, but its downfall demonstrated the strength of our unity. Americans rejected DOGE because they recognize a dirty deal when they see one.

Now, let us be clear: We want to address the national debt, root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and build a government and programs that can serve everyone, but when the fraudsters themselves claim to have the fix, the American people see right through it.

Yet, DOGE's end does not mark the end of our work. We know that the time to organize is now, that we must stay focused and resist the barrage of distractions designed to sap our resolve, that we must continue to mobilize like our democracy depends on it because it does, and we must continue to do this work every single day.

This is not a time for despair. It is a time for action because the American people are strong. We are resilient, and we are ready for the fight ahead.

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