A top Republican in the Pennsylvania legislature is drafting plans for a Department of Government Efficiency modeled after the work of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and congressional DOGE lawmakers, but with one major difference.
State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, said in a Tuesday interview his plan entails PA DOGE being a legislative branch project, not that of the executive, which is currently helmed by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro.
At the federal level, Trump and Musk say they are working from the executive branch to slash government bureaucracy and inefficiency, but Mastriano said Pennsylvania’s legislature is the chief appropriator and therefore the fitting home for PA DOGE.
“It doesn’t make any sense why we always defer to the executive branch seeing it for these kinds of decisions,” said Mastriano, the 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee.
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State Sen. Douglas V. Mastriano rallies in Latrobe. (Bloomberg)
“We have oversight of the purse strings. We control the budget. It only makes sense, therefore, that we have a DOGE by the legislature with oversight to make cuts where we can.”
State Treasurer Stacy Garrity and Auditor General Timothy DeFoor would, however, have a say in some of its membership, he noted.
Mastriano, who ran as the 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee against Shapiro, said that when Musk unveiled his original DOGE proposal, he thought, “No kidding, we absolutely must have this in Pennsylvania.”
The lawmaker, who is also a retired Army colonel and veteran of the Desert Storm Battle of 73 Easting – history’s last major tank battle – said his DOGE committee plan was also inspired by his experiences with the federal military bureaucracy.
“I remember in the ’80s when Reagan came in, and there was accountability done when reporters found out the U.S. Air Force had spent $800 on toilet seats for the airplanes and another case of a hammer [reportedly costing hundreds of dollars] that they wanted to buy – so that kind of fraud, waste, abuse has been extant throughout my career.”
“And in DoD, we always had a fraud-waste-abuse hotline – then you see what Elon Musk is doing. We need that in Pennsylvania.”
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Elon Musk in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Getty)
Mastriano added that if legislation to create PA DOGE is passed, it will be Shapiro’s “ultimate test” of bipartisanship to consider it.
In separate remarks to Chambersburg’s 103.7FM, Mastriano quipped that some state cabinet departments are run “like USAID” in that they take in a lot of money and put out very little of value – and would therefore be a prime target of PA DOGE.
Mastriano suggested PA DOGE is also the panacea to bloated executive budget proposals the legislature has been handed over the years.
Under the proposal, three of PA DOGE’s 10 members would be House lawmakers, three would be senators, the state treasurer would name one member, the auditor general would name one member and two would be civilians.
Any ties would be broken by the state treasurer; currently Garrity – a Republican.
“This committee will have teeth,” Mastriano said. “If the committee sees fraud, waste and abuse and decides to eliminate elements of the state budget or even departments within the state, they have the power to do so.”
Fox News Digital reached out to leaders on the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee – which oversees and manages relationships within state government and would be the relevant panel should the DOGE plan come to fruition.
Chairman Jarrett Coleman, R-Allentown, told Fox News Digital it is “well past time to examine how state funds are being used.”
Coleman said he will support any effort to highlight or minimize government waste.
“Oftentimes, I question whether or not elected officials would be so wasteful if it were their own money,” he said.
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Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee Chairman Jarrett Coleman of Lehigh County (Comm. of PA)
The chairman, who is a pilot by trade, suggested DOGE could target what he described as a hefty executive branch tab for use of the state plane, which he dubbed “Shapiro-Davis Airlines; Operated by PennDOT.”
Clint Barkdoll, a Waynesboro attorney, told NewsTalk 103.7 that he supports the idea of a Keystone DOGE.
“We need this at all levels of government, we’re seeing the benefits that it can bring. Obviously, if it’s set up in a way through the General Assembly, they don’t have to accept the recommendations,” Barkdoll said.
“But why not have a body empaneled to make recommendations and make it a diverse group? Get some lay-people on there. It doesn’t have to be all elected officials: Get some business people.”
The idea of having civilians on the board alongside public officials would offer wider insight into key issues and considerations, he said.
State Sen. Tina Tartaglione, D-Philadelphia, the ranking member on Coleman’s committee, did not respond to a comment request.
Shapiro also declined comment.
