Crypto lobbyists blanket the Hill
LIFE'S SWEET FOR THE CRYPTO LOBBY: Crypto lobbyists are mounting a full-court press in Washington ahead of a pivotal week for the industry. On Monday, the House will return from its July Fourth recess for what's been dubbed 'Crypto Week,' during which GOP leadership hopes to tee up votes on the Senate-passed stablecoin bill, a more sweeping market structure measure, and a bill to block the Fed from creating a central bank digital currency.
— House passage of the Senate's GENIUS Act, which would stand up a U.S. regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of the dollar, would deliver major crypto legislation to the Oval Office for the first time ever. And passing the CLARITY Act — which would divvy up oversight of the digital asset market among various financial regulators — would represent the next step toward an even bigger payoff for the industry's hundreds of millions in political spending over the last few years.
— So it's no surprise crypto groups are pulling out all the stops. If you were near the Hill or the National Mall today, you might have seen a mass marketing activation by the crypto exchange Coinbase featuring branded vending machines doling out more than 5,000 customized chocolate bars to 'create a sugar rush for crypto across the Capitol,' Coinbase vice president of U.S. policy Kara Calvert said in a statement.
— The machines on the mall and at Columbus Circle and North Capitol Street are meant to be a literal sweetener in Coinbase's attempt to get the House to package the stablecoin and market structure bills together (a strategy that diverges from that of the rest of the crypto lobby and the White House). And starting this weekend, the chocolate bars will also be available at certain Compass Coffee shops around town.
— 'Stablecoins and market structure are sweeter together,' said Calvert. 'We don't currently have laws on the books protecting crypto consumers - we wouldn't want that for our chocolate, and we don't want it for our crypto.'
— Coinbase's chocolate bar gimmick follows a six-figure ad buy launched earlier this week that included ads in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, on bus stops and billboards around D.C. and across social media calling for lawmakers to support the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act.
— Other crypto power players are taking a more subtle approach. In a letter to House leadership today, the heads of three of the industry's top lobbying groups came together to laud the 'inclusive and collaborative effort' on the crypto bills from lawmakers in both parties.
— The bipartisan approach 'underscores the seriousness with which Congress is approaching these complex issues to preserve U.S. leadership in responsible innovation and regulatory clarity,' leaders from the Blockchain Association, Crypto Council for Innovation and Digital Chamber wrote, calling for the Senate to bring market structure legislation to the floor 'as soon as possible.'
— Blockchain Association spokesperson Curtis Kincaid told PI that the association has been busy engaging the Hill and stressing the stakes of next week. 'I think missing this opportunity is a reverse Sputnik, and would drive innovation abroad rather than letting it thrive at home,' he said in an email.
— One Coinbase-backed advocacy group is already looking ahead. On Wednesday — the day after House leadership hopes to have passed its crypto bills — Stand With Crypto is flying in local chapter presidents to take the lobbying blitz to the Senate.
— The fly-in will focus on urging senators from Georgia, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada and Minnesota to support the market structure bill, which hasn't elicited as much bipartisan support due in part to concerns over President Donald Trump's various crypto business ventures.
TGIF and welcome to PI. Send lobbying tips: Add me on Signal at caitlinoprysko.17, email me at coprysko@politico.com, and be sure to follow me on X: @caitlinoprysko.
FLATTERY GETS YOU EVERYWHERE: 'Praising his golf game. Nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Calling him 'daddy.' International politicians coming face-to-face with President Donald Trump have leaned into a new tactic for currying favor during his second term,' POLITICO's Nicole Marcus writes.
— 'The nominations and praise for the president aren't coincidental, especially after Trump triggered global leaders' agita through much of his first term. Foreign heads of state have learned that one of, if not the best ways to secure U.S. good fortune in the Trump era is to stroke its leader's ego.'
— 'There's a long history of international adulation being a key part of diplomacy; it is customary for foreign dignitaries to exchange gifts after meeting with their international counterparts.'
— But the gushing over Trump has hit a new level, and 'was on full display this week, when African leaders at the White House said Wednesday that Trump 'deserves' a Nobel Peace Prize. Israeli and Pakistani leaders took it one step further, each nominating the president for the 2026 prize.'
WARNING SHOTS FIRED: 'Gail Slater, who heads the Justice Department's antitrust division, on Thursday warned against increasing wireless consolidation in a U.S. market dominated by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile,' per POLITICO's John Hendel.
— 'The warning came in a broader statement explaining DOJ's sign-off of a deal allowing T-Mobile to acquire wireless operations of UScellular, a regional carrier, for $4.4 billion.' Even as she defended that decision, Slater cautioned that 'we stand at a pivotal moment for the wireless industry,' which she described as being under the control of an 'oligopoly' in the Big 3 carriers.
— 'Slater's warning comes as the GOP recently handed wireless carriers a major win in the party's recently signed reconciliation law. That legislation included a spectrum deal directing the government to free up 800 megahertz of spectrum for the wireless industry, a set of provisions expected to raise $85 billion over the next 10 years.'
TREASURY'S HAHN TO DO COMMS CONSULTING: Julia Hahn is leaving the Treasury Department where she has been assistant secretary for public affairs. Hahn, who served all four years in the first Trump administration, plans to start her own communications consulting firm.
— White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to PI Hahn has been 'a fierce advocate for President Trump's America First agenda,' and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement he was grateful for her 'unwavering dedication and exceptional service.'
OPENAI GOES AFTER MUSK: 'OpenAI is asking California's political finance watchdog to investigate a nonprofit that challenged its multi-billion-dollar business plans, alleging violations of state lobbying laws and again raising questions about the group's connections to rival Elon Musk,' POLITICO's Chase DiFeliciantonio and Christine Mui report.
— 'The complaint to the California Fair Political Practices Commission, first obtained by POLITICO, accuses the Coalition for AI Nonprofit Integrity of likely fronting a fake leader and failing to report lobbying payments related to a now-gutted state bill that would have potentially prevented the ChatGPT maker from converting to a for-profit entity.'
— 'It's the latest escalation in OpenAI's scrutiny of the group, amid a simultaneous court battle with Musk — a former business partner — over the company's plans to restructure to raise more money, which the tech billionaire argues goes against its original nonprofit mission to serve the public good.'
HOW THAT MET COAL BREAK SNUCK IN OBBB: West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice was a key advocate for language in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that would extend a lucrative tax credit to a sector of the fossil fuel industry with which his family has financial ties. The Republican denies that his support for the provision had anything to do with potential personal gains.
— Under the reconciliation law, 'companies angling to dig up metallurgical coal used for making steel — including those tied to Justice's family — are eligible for the advanced manufacturing production credit, known as 45X, first established in the inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to boost domestic production of energy components and critical minerals,' E&E News' Hannah Northey and Amelia Davidson report.
— Justice and fellow West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito spearheaded the push, which benefits a company now owned by Justice's son, according to Hannah and Amelia.
— 'William O'Grady, Justice's communications director, said that congressional leadership worked to get the provision into the bill 'because it was a priority of the President,' not because of any personal benefit to Justice,' who had been holding out his support for the bill late in the process over its cuts to Medicaid.
— ''This tax credit will keep metallurgical coal miners employed and is right in line with the President's EO designating coal as a critical earth mineral,' O'Grady said. 'The perception that this coal tax credit was pushed to benefit the Senator is an empty condemnation by people who really just don't like the bill all together,' he added.'
Jobs report
— Liam Goodwin is joining the Flex Association as director of policy. He was previously at The Hawthorn Group.
— Cody Tucker is joining Milne, Weiner & Shofe Global Strategies as senior vice president. He was most recently vice president of federal affairs at the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, which he will continue to represent at MWS.
— William Shelby has joined AxAdvocacy as a government relations associate. He previously was an intern for former Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) and former Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).
— Eileen Braden has been named the new head of U.S. government relations at JPMorgan Chase, where she'll be tasked with leading the integration of the bank's federal and state government relations. Braden joined JPMorgan in 2017 and previously led the bank's state and local government relations team.
— M&T Bank Corp. has named Sam Mayper as a senior vice president of federal government relations. Mayper was previously a vice president at the Independent Community Bankers of America.
— Evan Wolff is now a partner at Akin and co-head of its cybersecurity, privacy and data protection practice. He previously was a partner at Crowell & Moring.
— Nick Weinstein is joining Cygnal as a pollster and principal. He previously was political director at the Republican Attorneys General Association and is a Daniel Cameron and Tom Reed alum.
New Joint Fundraisers
Silver and Shore Victory Fund (MITTEN PAC, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto)
Whitesides, Tran, Min JFA (Reps. George Whitesides, Derek Tran, Dave Min)
New PACs
Blue Ribbon PAC (Super PAC)
Majority Democrats PAC (Hybrid PAC)
Middle 60 PAC (Hybrid PAC)Acg Advocacy: Civicactions, Inc.
Acg Advocacy: Lactalis
Acg Advocacy: Vassar College
Acorn Consulting: International Franchise Association
Actum I, LLC: Housing For US
Adams And Reese, LLP: Louisiana Endowment For The Humanities
Adams And Reese, LLP: Ube C1 Chemicals America
Amanda Kadilak: American Horse Council
Ballard Partners: Dr. Jonathan Walker
Bass Public Affairs: Mantra Ventures Limited
Bgr Government Affairs: Alibaba Group Holding Limited
Bgr Government Affairs: Intersystems Public Sector Corporation
Bgr Government Affairs: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Bgr Government Affairs: Sur Holdings
Bgr Government Affairs: The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation
Bgr Government Affairs: Universal Navigation Inc.
Boundary Stone Partners: Impulse Labs, Inc.
Breakaway: Bipartisan Policy Center Action
Breakaway: Mr. Cooper
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Sunrun Inc.
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Pc: Middle East Forum
Capitol Hill Consulting Group: Communications Eaton Corporation
Capitol Hill Consulting Group: Johnson Controls International
Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Allied Universal Security Services LLC
Covington & Burling LLP: Xona Space Systems, Inc.
Craig Jeffries: Homestyle Direct
Craig Jeffries: US Urology Partners
David L. Horne, LLC: Arnall Golden Gregory (For Cms)
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP: Curepsp, Inc.
Fahmy Hudome International, Inc: Acuity International
Fahmy Hudome International, Inc: Human Rights And Democracy Foundation
Fahmy Hudome International, Inc: Orion Power
Fahmy Hudome International, Inc: The Population Council
Fahmy Hudome International, Inc: Veratis Limited
Fahmy Hudome International, Inc: Wellspring Capital Group
H.A. Cumber & Company, Inc.: Prologis, L.P.
Harbinger Strategies, LLC: Petsmart LLC
Iqom Strategic Advisors, LLC: Amphenol Corporation
Jgb & Associates, LLC: Cornerstone Government Affairs Obo Allied Universal Security Services LLC
Liberty Partners Group, LLC: Honest Health
Marshall & Popp, LLC: Bridgebio Pharma
Mayer Brown LLP: Ouraring Inc.
Mehlman Consulting, Inc.: Cdw Corporation
Mehlman Consulting, Inc.: The Research Foundation For The State Of New York
Michael Best Strategies LLC: Nielsen Kellerman
National Security Action: National Security Action
Porter Group, LLC: United Cerebral Palsy
Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville, P.C.: Service Coordination, Inc.
The Halcrow Group LLC: Mtsi
Troutman Stategies (Fka Troutman Pepper Strategies, LLC): Oracle America, Inc.
Tsg Advocates Dc, LLC: Cigent Technology, Inc. (Formerly Known As Brett Hansen)
Westmoreland160, LLC: Ravian
New Lobbying Terminations
Acg Advocacy: Jonathan Rose Companies
Acg Advocacy: League Of Women Voters Of The United States
Acg Advocacy: News Corporation
Acg Advocacy: Solestiss
Acorn Consulting: Tallgrass
Barker Leavitt, Pllc (Ska Mr. James C. Barker): Beach Cities Health District
Barker Leavitt, Pllc (Ska Mr. James C. Barker): Spread The Word Nevada
Bgr Government Affairs: Care Action Now, Inc.
Bgr Government Affairs: Nassau Health System Corp.
Dentons US LLP: Skincure Oncology, LLC
Exigent Government Relations: Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company
Hart Health Strategies: Association Of Women In Rheumatology
Heterodox Academy: Heterodox Academy
Holland & Knight LLP: Inupiat Community Of The Arctic Slope
Holland & Knight LLP: Northern Ponca Housing Authority
Holland & Knight LLP: Ponca Tribe Of Nebraska
Kinetic Solutions Group: Carbon Sink LLC
Live Oak Strategies: Newsmax
Mayer Brown LLP: US Chamber Of Commerce
Mehlman Consulting, Inc.: Nomi Health, Inc.
Monument Strategies, LLC: Hyosung Americas
Strategic Health Care: Hackensack Meridian Health
Strategic Marketing Innovations: 3D Glass Solutions, Inc.
The Duberstein Group Inc.: Mastercard
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Business Insider
23 minutes ago
- Business Insider
DOGE cuts are now a Trump loyalty test
The push to get DOGE cuts passed through Congress is only becoming more dramatic. Senators still have questions about the $9.4 billion in cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting funding. Some are warning that passing the cuts, known as a "rescission," could upend bipartisan government funding negotiations. And now, President Donald Trump is turning the cuts, at least those that would affect PBS and NPR, into a political litmus test. "It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR)," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday night. "Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement." The package, which includes $1.1 billion in cuts for public broadcasting and $8.3 billion in foreign aid cuts, narrowly passed the House in June on a party-line vote. But multiple GOP senators have expressed concerns about the rescissions, which will impact HIV/AIDS prevention programs and could affect rural public radio stations. Senators may seek to amend the package when it comes up for a vote next week. A White House official, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, told BI that the administration wants senators to pass the rescission package in its current form. If the package is amended before passing the Senate, then it would need to pass the House again. And if no bill is approved by the end of the day on July 18, the administration will be required by law to spend all of that money. 'Absurd for them to expect Democrats to act as business as usual' In addition to pressure from Trump, GOP senators will have to weigh an ultimatum from Senate Democrats. In a letter to colleagues this week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer argued that making the DOGE cuts on a party-line basis undermines efforts to fund the government for the next fiscal year. Because of the Senate's filibuster rule, it takes 60 votes to clear most bills through the upper chamber. That means that government funding bills are typically negotiated with significant input from both parties, with the minority often able to secure priorities that the majority party otherwise wouldn't support to ensure passage. But rescissions only take 51 votes, and the administration has said that this could be the first of several. That raises the possibility that Republicans could move to unilaterally defund Democratic priorities after government funding bills are passed in the future. "It is absurd for them to expect Democrats to act as business as usual and engage in a bipartisan appropriations process to fund the government, while they concurrently plot to pass a purely partisan rescissions bill to defund those same programs negotiated on a bipartisan basis behind the scenes," Schumer said in the letter. If lawmakers can't agree on how to fund the government in the coming fiscal year by September 30, a government shutdown would take place. Some Republican senators have acknowledged the validity of Democratic senators' argument. "If we get to the point where the Democrats look at this and say, 'We can put it in the bill, but they're not going to fund it, or they're not going to use it,' then there's no reason for them to work with us to get to 60 votes," Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota told BI last month. However, not every Republican is worried about the integrity of the current appropriations process, particularly those who remain concerned about high government spending. "The appropriations process should be undermined," Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told BI, saying the current process is "bankrupting" the country. "That needs to be busted up."
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Exclusive: Former Astronaut Terry Virts Reveals Plan to Turn Texas Blue
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Colonel Terry Virts has been an Air Force pilot, a NASA astronaut, and even a International Space Station commander. But now he's embarking on what could be considered his most challenging mission to date—becoming the first Democrat in decades to break the Republican stranglehold over Texan politics. It's been more than 30 years since Bob Bullock was re-elected as Texas Lieutenant General in 1994, the last time a Texan Democrat won a statewide election. Since then a succession of Democrats have sought to revive their party's fortunes in the Lone Star State, the second most populous in the Union, but thus far all have been vanquished. In January, Virts became the latest Democrat to challenge the Republican hegemony when he announced he is running for the Senate in 2026, targeting the seat currently occupied by the GOP's John Cornyn. With the Texas Republican Party rocked by infighting, Democrats hope now is their time to achieve the decades-long dream of turning Texas purple and eroding the GOP's wafer-thin Senate majority. NASA Career Virts was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1967. After leaving high school he joined the U.S. Air Force, graduating from the Air Force Academy in 1989 to begin a career as an F-16 pilot. In 2000, Virts was selected to join NASA as part of Astronaut Group 18, going on to pilot the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station in 2010, before returning to the ISS in December 2014 and serving as its commander for part of 2015. Photo-illustration by Newsweek/AP/Canva Virts told Newsweek it was through NASA that his association with Texas began, moving to the state 25 years ago to be near the Johnson Space Center in Houston. He said: "I've lived in Asia, Europe, Middle East. I've lived around the planet. I've lived off the planet. I've lived in Texas longer than anywhere on or off Earth. So this is my home." Texas Floods Virts said that the devastating Texas floods, which killed at least 120 people, including children at a summer camp, and has left another 170 reported missing, were one of the reasons he had decided to run for the Senate. "When I was a kid, I went to church camp," he told Newsweek. "My kids growing up went going to summer church camp when they were Country of Texas is a beautiful place, so I mean, as a parent, I just can't imagine these poor girls... swept away." The Democratic hopeful criticized President Donald Trump's administration for cutting what he called "life-saving science," including weather monitoring and forecasting. "On the day that this tragedy happened, Trump stood there in the White House and signed this bill that cut 40 percent from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including zeroing out research," Virts said. "Trump literally wants to destroy our weather at the same time we have Texas kids being killed by floods and understaffed National Weather Service offices," he added later in the interview. "This administration and the Republican Party is actively cutting life-saving science, and it's horrific. This is one of the reasons why I'm running for Senate right now." Texas Republicans Divided Virts' Senate bid takes place against the backdrop of deep divisions within the Republican Party of Texas. In April, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is widely seen as being on the Republican right, announced a primary challenge against incumbent Republican Senator Cornyn, saying, "It's hard to think of the things that he's done good for Texas or the country." Cornyn's team almost immediately hit back with a statement that said: "Ken Paxton is a fraud." Paxton was impeached by the Republican control Texas House in 2023 on bribery charges, although he was subsequently narrowly acquitted by the state Senate. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing. Referring to Texas Republican infighting Virts said: "Well as Napoleon said, never interrupt your opponent when he's doing something stupid and certainly the Republicans are doing plenty of that these days." Terry Virts pictured at the Creative Coalition's Tenth Annual Television Humanitarian Awards Gala Luncheon at LadyHawk Restaurant on September 14, 2024 in West Hollywood, California. Terry Virts pictured at the Creative Coalition's Tenth Annual Television Humanitarian Awards Gala Luncheon at LadyHawk Restaurant on September 14, 2024 in West Hollywood, California. Olivia Wong/GETTY During the interview Virts branded Cornyn a "eunuch" and "just the most pathetic person in the Senate." He added: "He just posted a picture of himself reading [Trump's] Art of the Deal. He's trying to grovel and beg Trump for his approval... They hate him. They despise John Cornyn because he doesn't stand for anything. He knows what's right, and he doesn't do it." Turning to Paxton, Virts said: "And then on the other hand, you have Ken he wins the Senate race, he'll instantly become the worst human being in the Senate." He added: "He's suing the federal government to get women's health records. I think most Texans don't want Ken Paxton in their bedroom or in the doctor's office with their wife or with their daughter or with their sister or whatever. So it's quite a race." Cornyn campaign senior adviser, Matt Mackowiak, told Newsweek on Friday that the senator nearly always voted with Trump, who has significant support in the state. "President Trump strongly won Texas by 13 percent in 2024, which shows how deep his support is here," he said. "Senator Cornyn has voted with President Trump 99.2 percent of the time as President and he is proud to have helped advance that agenda which Texans clearly align with." Newsweek contacted Attorney General Paxton for comment on Friday via online inquiry form respectively. Immigration The one issue where Virts sharply criticized his own party's record was illegal immigration, an issue he attributed to Trump's 2024 presidential election victory. Figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded an estimated 7.2 million suspected illegal migrant encounters with law enforcement during the Biden administration to January 2024. Referring to voters Virts said: "They voted very clearly they don't like it. Democrats for the last several years have told the country, hey, illegal immigration is not a problem. The country told them, yes, it is." Virtz said some Mexican-American communities he knows near the Mexican border had "voted for Donald Trump en masse." "You would think Trump is calling them rapists and murderers. Trump is saying the most racist, heinous stuff about them, and yet they don't want illegal immigration," he said. However Virtz defended legal immigration, commenting: "If you live in Texas, you're an immigrant. It doesn't matter where you're from." NASA Cuts Virts was sharply critical of Trump's most recent spending package, which cut funding for NASA and various scientific research projects, calling it a "disaster." "The last I read, there's 19 probes that NASA has in the solar system operating functional on Mars, at Jupiter, beyond the solar system. They're costing pennies on the dollar to operate. The expense of these things is the rocket to launch it, to build the satellite. Once you spend all that money, you just pay some scientists and engineers to run the satellite," Virts said. "They're going to cancel all of that stuff, which is insane. They're cancelling important undergraduate and graduate research at universities, tens of thousands. I just saw we had 90,000 research positions is getting cut down to 20,000. That destroys the American science institution for medicine, for space, for weather, for all kinds of science. This administration and the Republican Party hate science. They hate knowledge." Turning to Trump's much publicized falling out with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, his former close ally, Virtz described it as, "It's like going back to King George." Could U.S. Lose Second Space Race? The U.S. is currently locked in a second space race with China, which has vowed to land three astronauts on the Moon by 2030. NASA's Artimus program is currently aiming to land American astronauts in 2027, though the date has already been pushed back. Asked whether China could beat America back to the Moon, Verts warned, "Absolutely. Have you seen America's political system recently? They absolutely might." "If China wins that race to the moon, if they send the next astronauts to the moon, the whole world is going to say, wow, America had a great century," he added. "The 20th century was a great American century. The 21st century is the Chinese century."
San Francisco Chronicle
5 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
DOGE sprouts in red states, as governors embrace the cost-cutter brand and make it their own
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The brash and chaotic first days of President Donald Trump 's Department of Government Efficiency, once led by the world's richest man Elon Musk, spawned state-level DOGE mimicry as Republican governors and lawmakers aim to show they are in step with their party's leader. Governors have always made political hay out of slashing waste or taming bureaucracy, but DOGE has, in some ways, raised the stakes for them to show that they are zealously committed to cutting costs. Many drive home the point that they have always been focused on cutting government, even if they're not conducting mass layoffs. 'I like to say we were doing DOGE before DOGE was a thing,' Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in announcing her own task force in January. Critics agree that some of these initiatives are nothing new and suggest they are wasteful, essentially duplicating built-in processes that are normally the domain of legislative committees or independent state auditors. At the same time, some governors are using their DOGE vehicles to take aim at GOP targets of the moment, such as welfare programs or diversity, equity and inclusion programs. And some governors who might be eyeing a White House run in 2028 are rebranding their cost-cutting initiatives as DOGE, perhaps eager to claim the mantle of the most DOGE of them all. No chainsaws in the states At least 26 states have initiated DOGE-style efforts of varying kinds, according to the Economic Policy Institute based in Washington, D.C. Most DOGE efforts were carried out through a governor's order — including by governors in Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, New Hampshire and Oklahoma — or by lawmakers introducing legislation or creating a legislative committee. The state initiatives have a markedly different character than Trump's slash-and-burn approach, symbolized by Musk's chainsaw-brandishing appearance at a Conservative Political Action Committee appearance in February. Governors are tending to entrust their DOGE bureaus to loyalists, rather than independent auditors, and are often employing what could be yearslong processes to consolidate procurement, modernize information technology systems, introduce AI tools, repeal regulations or reduce car fleets, office leases or worker headcounts through attrition. Steve Slivinski, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute who researches state government regulatory structures, said that a lot of what he has seen from state-level DOGE initiatives are the 'same stuff you do on a pretty regular basis anyway' in state governments. States typically have routine auditing procedures and the ways states have of saving money are 'relatively unsexy," Slivinski said. And while the state-level DOGE vehicles might be useful over time in finding marginal improvements, "branding it DOGE is more of a press op rather than anything new or substantially different than what they usually do,' Slivinski said. Analysts at the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute say that governors and lawmakers, primarily in the South and Midwest, are using DOGE to breathe new life into long-term agendas to consolidate power away from state agencies and civil servants, dismantle public services and benefit insiders and privatization advocates. 'It's not actually about cutting costs because of some fiscal responsibility,' EPI analyst Nina Mast said. Governors promoting spending cuts Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry rebranded his 'Fiscal Responsibility Program' as Louisiana DOGE, and promoted it as the first to team up with the federal government to scrub illegitimate enrollees from welfare programs. It has already netted $70 million in savings in the Medicaid program in an 'unprecedented' coordination, Landry said in June. In Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt — who says in a blurb on the Oklahoma DOGE website that 'I've been DOGE-ing in Oklahoma since before it was cool" — made a DOGE splash with the first report by his Division of Government Efficiency by declaring that the state would refuse some $157 million in federal public health grants. The biggest chunk of that was $132 million intended to support epidemiology and laboratory capacity to control infectious disease outbreaks. The Stitt administration said that funding — about one-third of the total over an eight-year period — exceeded the amount needed. The left-leaning Oklahoma Policy Institute questioned the wisdom of that, pointing to rising numbers of measles and whooping cough cases and the rocky transition under Stitt of the state's public health lab from Oklahoma City to Stillwater. Oklahoma Democrats issued rebukes, citing Oklahoma's lousy public health rankings. 'This isn't leadership,' state Sen. Carri Hicks said. 'It's negligence." Stitt's Oklahoma DOGE has otherwise recommended changes in federal law to save money, opened up the suggestion box to state employees and members of the general public and posted a spreadsheet online with cost savings initiatives in his administration. Those include things as mundane as agencies going paperless, refinancing bonds, buying automated lawn mowers for the Capitol grounds or eliminating a fax machine line in the State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order in February creating a task force of DOGE teams in each state agency. In the order, DeSantis recited 10 points on what he described as his and Florida's 'history of prudent fiscal management' even before DOGE. Among other things, DeSantis vowed to scrutinize spending by state universities and municipal and county governments — including on DEI initiatives — at a time when DeSantis is pushing to abolish the property taxes that predominantly fund local governments. His administration has since issued letters to universities and governments requesting reams of information and received a blessing from lawmakers, who passed legislation authorizing the inquiry and imposing fines for entities that don't respond. After the June 30 signing ceremony, DeSantis declared on social media: 'We now have full authority to DOGE local governments.' In Arkansas, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders launched her cost-cutting Arkansas Forward last year, before DOGE, and later said the state had done the 'same thing' as DOGE. Her administration spent much of 2024 compiling a 97-page report that listed hundreds of ways to possibly save $300 million inside a $6.5 billion budget. Achieving that savings — largely by standardizing information technology and purchasing — would sometimes require up-front spending and take years to realize savings.
