WASHINGTON — The House Oversight Committee announced Thursday that Republicans plan to create a subcommittee that would work with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on President-elect Donald Trump's recently announced advisory group, the "Department of Government Efficiency."
The GOP-controlled panel said in a post on X that the subcommittee, which would be formed for the next Congress starting in January, would be chaired by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told Fox News that the subcommittee would "align with the Trump administration’s priorities to eliminate government waste, streamline the federal government’s operations and cut red tape that’s stifling jobs and increasing costs for the American people."
Greene and the Trump team didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Greene posted on X about it Thursday morning.
The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, criticized the new subcommittee and Greene for working with "two unvetted billionaires who stand to receive billions more in government contracts and subsidies from the government under Trump."
"That’s why Democrats will stay focused on waste, fraud, abuse and corruption. The government belongs to the people, not the billionaire oligarchs," Raskin said in a statement.
Trump announced this month that he had tasked two close allies, tech billionaire Elon Musk and conservative activist Vivek Ramaswamy, with leading the "Department of Government Efficiency" to help slash federal spending and regulations, a key campaign promise. The group's initials, "DOGE," are a reference to an internet meme and a cryptocurrency boosted by Musk.
The lawmakers have already met and are working with the team, including Ramaswamy, a person familiar with the effort said.
"We’re going to work very closely with Elon Musk and Ramaswamy," Comer said in an interview with Fox Business on Thursday. "We’ve had initial conversations. We are serious about reducing the size of government.”
"We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees," Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in an op-ed published by The Wall Street Journal. "Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We’ll cut costs."
They said they are working with the Trump transition team to hire a "lean team of small-government crusaders" for the initiative, which they said would collaborate with the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Greene has served on the Oversight Committee since Republicans retook the House majority in 2023. She was previously kicked off her committees after the House voted to remove her because she had spread dangerous and racist conspiracy theories.
