Blackburn unveils 'DOGE Acts' to cut spending, freeze federal hiring and salaries

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has unveiled her “DOGE Acts” to cut spending and freeze federal hiring, as well as salaries.

“Senator Blackburn is planning to introduce a package of bills – known as the DOGE Acts – aimed at holding the federal government more accountable for managing taxpayer dollars next week,” Blackburn's spokesperson said in a statement. “The DOGE Acts coincides with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan to make the federal government more efficient.”

The legislation “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,” according to the statement.

The bills in the package would create a commission centered on the relocation away from D.C. of some federal agencies; cause a yearlong pause in federal hiring and salaries; and make the federal government have a pilot program in which civilian employees would be compensated in relation to their merit.

Last month, President-elect Trump said tech billionaire Elon Musk and former GOP presidential primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would serve as the heads of the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), which aims to “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures” and restructure federal agencies.

DOGE would “provide advice and guidance from outside of government” and work alongside the White House Office of Management and Budget, the president-elect said.

“It will become, potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time,” Trump added. “Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of ‘DOGE’ for a very long time.”

Musk and Ramaswamy were on Capitol Hill on Thursday meeting with Republican leaders like incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

“I think we should be spending the public’s money wisely,” Musk told reporters Thursday at the Capitol.