Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Ore., said on Thursday that she is leaving the congressional Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus due to Elon Musk’s cost-cutting measures in the executive branch.
Hoyle made the announcement via a statement and said her intentions on the caucus were to serve as a good steward for her constituents’ tax dollars and to make the government more streamlined and efficient.
However, she said Musk’s actions, which are separate from the congressional caucus, have made that impossible, and she claimed DOGE’s work is to find funds to give tax breaks to billionaires at the expense of working people.
‘I joined to be a voice for working people and their interests. But it is impossible to fix the system when Elon Musk is actively breaking it, so I have made the decision to leave,’ Hoyle wrote on X late Thursday.
‘It is impossible for us to do that important work when unelected billionaire Elon Musk and his lackeys [insist] on burning down the government—and the law—to line his own pockets and rip off Americans across the country who depend on government services to live with dignity,’ she wrote in an accompanying statement.
The newly minted agency, a key promise of President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, is tasked with slashing government waste and providing increased transparency when it comes to government spending. It was created via executive order and is a temporary organization within the White House that will spend 18 months until July 4, 2026, carrying out its mission.
Hoyle said she was alarmed about Musk’s team accessing sensitive Department of Treasury payment systems. She also accused his team of using intimidation tactics to ‘terrorize the hard-working public servants’ who deliver these services.
A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the DOGE from obtaining access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained within the Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Service. On Wednesday, the Justice Department agreed in a proposed court order to limit access to the sensitive records to only two ‘special government employees’ within DOGE, who will have read-only permission.
Hoyle said that if she thought that she, or Democrats or Republicans on the caucus had any influence, then she would stay.
‘But, fundamentally, I don’t see how we can actually do this work when Elon Musk is blowing things up,’ she told NewsNation Thursday. ‘It’s like trying to replace your roof when someone’s throwing dynamite through the window.
‘So I’m leaving the DOGE Caucus, I will continue to do the work to find efficiencies, but right now I just don’t think it’s possible with what’s happening.’
DOGE has riled Democrats, particularly around USAID, and Hoyle’s announcement comes just days after DOGE targeted the agency, leading to the firing of 50 top officials and the organization being folded into the State Department. The actions came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio, acting on Trump’s executive order, paused all U.S. foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and USAID.
The 90-day pause has halted thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development and security programs worldwide and forced aid organizations to lay off hundreds of employees because they cannot make payroll.
DOGE has focused much of its initial work on canceling DEI programs, consulting contracts and lease terminations for federal buildings.
The agency wrote on Tuesday that it canceled 12 contracts with the Government Services Administration and the Department of Education, resulting in a total savings of about $30 million. It also canceled 12 underused leases for savings of $3 million. On Monday, DOGE said it canceled 36 contracts, leading to savings of about $165 million across six agencies.
DOGE posted on Jan. 28 that the group is saving the federal government around $1 billion per day, mostly by stopping the hiring of people into unnecessary positions, deletion of DEI and stopping improper payments to foreign organizations.
Fox News’ Eric Revell, Greg Norman, Anders Hagstrom, Greg Wehner, Chris Pandolfo, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.