The White House is taking aim at Democratic critics of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), highlighting that the new agency’s work was once championed by prominent Democrats.
“To all of the Democrats who are planning to protest this week, here’s an explanation on DOGE, from your party’s own beloved leaders,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X Sunday while sharing a video of former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden calling for reforms similar to those being made by DOGE.
“Budget reform is not an option, it’s a necessity,” Obama says in the video. “We can’t sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness or exist solely because of the power of politicians, lobbyists or interest groups.”
“The American people are entitled to transparency,” Biden says in the video. “They’re entitled to be able to figure out where their dollars are going, and they’re entitled to accountability to make sure that we’re using the dollars for what we said it was for.”
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President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a viewing of the launch of a SpaceX Starship rocket on Nov. 19, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Democrats have ramped up their attacks on DOGE and its leader, billionaire Elon Musk, over the past week, arguing that Trump’s project is a violation of the Constitution and filing several lawsuits in an effort to bring the new department’s momentum to a halt.
But Leavitt pointed out that many of DOGE’s priorities used to be the same across the aisle, especially for the two most well-known Democratic leaders.
“We are going to go through our federal budget… page by page, line by line, eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those that we do need operate in a sensible, cost-effective way,” Obama says during a speech in one portion of the video.
Elon Musk speaks during an event in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Images)
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“What should be easy is getting rid of the pointless waste and stupid spending that doesn’t benefit anybody,” Obama says during another point of the video from the Oval Office, where the then-president is seated next to a large stack of papers. “No amount of waste is acceptable, not when it’s your money.”
“We hope to be instilling an entire new culture, that not only our administration, but every succeeding administration will in fact pursue,” Biden says at another point in the video.
Former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden (Getty Images)
Recent polling shows Americans may side with Trump and Musk on DOGE. In one poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group, 49% of respondents said they approve of DOGE’s efforts compared to 44% who indicated they disapprove.
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Similar numbers were seen in a recent Economist/YouGov poll, which shows 42% of respondents view DOGE favorably, while 38% indicated they had an unfavorable opinion of the department.
