WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, is opposing the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency and Elon Musk’s cuts, while Alabama’s Republicans have mostly embraced the effort.
Musk’s “DOGE” has become a constant talking point on Capitol Hill. Democrats, like Sewell, are working to find their best message to rally against Musk while Alabama Republicans extol the benefits of the operation created to implement a more efficient federal government.
Sewell held an ‘emergency telephone town hall’ Tuesday night for her constituents in response to the White House’s actions on federal programs and workers.
“Americans’ privacy is being invaded, federal workers are being attacked and Black history is being erased, that is why I want to take this moment to speak directly with you and to let you know what Democrats and myself are doing to fight that,” Sewell said.
The DOGE is not a traditional government agency, but created by President Donal Trump through an executive order.
Sewell has honed in on Musk and DOGE obtaining access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems that contain personal, sensitive data. A federal judge over the weekend blocked DOGE from accessing the systems for now. Sewell also led a letter to the IRS acting commissioner, along with other House Ways and Means Democrats, asking for details on the type of access they had.
“No one, including DOGE, should be rummaging around in the confidential tax information of private citizens or deciding whether and when American families receive their tax refunds,” the letter read.
Sewell said during a press conference last week about the letter that she has heard from Alabamians who are also concerned about Musk’s power in the Trump Administration.
“Our phones have been ringing off the hook with constituents who are horrified and frightened that their personal information has been handed over to an unelected billionaire with no accountability to the American people, ” Sewell said.
On the other side of the aisle, U.S. Senator Tommy, R-Ala., continues to show his full-throated support for DOGE.
“Elon Musk, he’s a genius with a proven track record making businesses more cost efficient,” Tuberville told Alabama Daily News.
Tuberville has stood by even as the government slashing hit close to home with the now-paused National Institutes of Health funding cuts that could slow research at UAB and other Alabama institutions.
“I’m all in for funding research to help Americans live longer and healthier lives,” Tuberville said. “But we have to get rid of the liberal pet projects that have been bankrolled by the taxpayers.”
U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, in a post on X applauded the work of DOGE and Elon Musk saying they are “working to end woke, weaponized and wasteful government programs.”
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., used the first part of her questioning of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell during a Judiciary hearing to combat Democrats’ concerns over DOGE slashing government spending.
“We’re $36 trillion in debt – that’s not only fiscally irresponsible, it is actually morally irresponsible,” Britt said. “The difference in this administration and the last administration is that President Trump is actually the final arbiter.”
However, Britt has taken a slightly less fiery tone on DOGE when it comes to the NIH funding cuts, saying she will ensure “groundbreaking research” will continue.
Assistant House Democratic Leader Rep. Joe Neguse, D-CO, joined Sewell’s town hall to talk about the ways Democrats, who are in the minority in the House and Senate, can push back against the president’s actions on things like federal spending. He mentioned the need for legislation, oversight and the use of the courts, which have paused some of the administration’s orders and actions, such as the pause on NIH funding cuts.
Sewell, who is the first Black woman to serve in a leadership role on the Ways and Means Committee, used some of her time during a hearing Tuesday on IRS modernization to emphasize her concerns about DOGE’s access to the Treasury payment system and the importance of funding the agency.
“The IRS can do it more efficiently and more effectively, but I just want this committee to know we cannot do it when funds are frozen and we’re not getting access to the IRS to actually complete any of these tools,” Sewell said.
The House Subcommittee on Delivering Government Efficiency also held its first hearing Wednesday, with chair Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-GA, calling it the start of the “war on waste.”