LARRY PROVOST: Congress Needs To DOGE Itself

While the Executive Branch has justifiably received a lot of attention regarding the decisions of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), there is another branch that could use DOGE even more; an entity that by its very actions made DOGE necessary.

That branch is the United States Congress and, if it wishes to regain any credibility, as well as strengthen America’s credit rating and further a sound dollar, Congress needs to DOGE itself. 

Executive Departments would not have become so bloated without congressional appropriations of the money of the American people.

Members of Congress likely do not tell their children to spend money they do not have, so they should not as guardians of the people’s dollars spend more money than they take in. Unfortunately, they have done the opposite and at ever increasing levels.

To combat this, the people of the United States should demand that every candidate for Congress pledge to make it a top priority to pass a Constitutional Amendment that the Legislative branch, including staffers, do not get paid during a government shutdown and during a year where there is not a balanced budget. Further, there will be no back pay. There will be no way for Congress to put a stop to its monstrous spending unless this happens because even if members of Congress are wealthy, their staffers are not and members will feel the heat for not doing their collective job.

Congressional salary is the subject of one Constitutional Amendment, the 27^th.

A DOGE Amendment should be the next one. The only exceptions to this proposal, clearly spelled out in the amendment, are during times of actual declared war (not congressional authorizations for the use of military force) or a 2/3 vote of both, full houses of Congress.

In 2011, during the middle of the Iraq and Afghan wars, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said that America’s greatest threat was its national debt.

That same year, America’s credit rating was downgraded for the first time ever, sparking a government investigation against S&P, but the effect was already in motion. A series of warnings and downgrades by other financial entities began and continue to this today.

Our debt has exploded even beyond those egregious times of the chairman’s warning, and we cannot even pay the debt itself.  We can only pay interest on it; an interest that is projected to become the largest part of our taxpayer budget.

This weakens the dollar tremendously and makes America vulnerable. The government cannot even afford to make pennies without a loss and there is not much time left for Congress to get our fiscal house in order before another downgrading or negative dollar impacting event happens.

DOGE for Congress is not Jimmy Carter’s idea that Americans should live with less and everyone should sacrifice but rather Ronald Reagan’s idea that government is the problem, being too large and wasteful. While going after the Executive Branch is important, ultimately the hurts being experienced are due to Congress and need to be dealt with by them.

The only further burden on the people should not be higher taxes but rather holding Congress accountable for this calamity. Such accountability is an imperative because, without fiscal sanity, Congress will in the future either raise taxes tremendously on Americans or see the dollar continually weakened, sparking inflation.

And the fiscal stakes are only going to get higher. With the retirements of the last of the Baby Boomers upon us the main Social Security trust fund will only be able to pay 100% of benefits until the year 2033, at which time at most close to 80% of projected benefits would be paid out.

This is not even considering Medicare and other parts of Social Security.

Programs such as Social Security, a Ponzi scheme which most people do not get back the money they put in, are difficult to change due to being non-discretionary spending. Further, the program has become too popular in the minds of people that the idea of taxpayers being able to keep their own money and invest it as they see fit has not caught on in Congress (wise as it would be).

Due to this fiscal and political reality, it will actually be easier and more productive for Members of the House and Senate, as well as the American people, to demand a DOGE for Congress in the form of a balanced budget Constitutional Amendment that also affects the salaries of Members of Congress and their staff in the Legislative branch.

*Views expressed are those of the author and not any government agency.

Larry Provost is a Columnist and Commentator in Washington, D.C. A 25 year Army Veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, he holds a Masters of Divinity from Liberty University, an M.P.S. in Legislative Affairs from The George Washington University and an M.A. in Defense and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.