Hoyer Remarks at FSGG Member Day Hearing
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) delivered opening remarks prior to Member testimony at the FSGG Member Day hearing. Below is a transcript of his remarks:
"Mr. Chairman, thank you very much…and this is for being here. I look forward to hearing from them. Mr. Chairman, as I've - you and I have discussed, given what is happening in government today, this committee has particular relevance in that so much activity is being done with the Treasury Department, particularly the IRS, with OMB, with the White House budget, and DOGE. Not sure where DOGE comes, we’ll find out, I suppose. And with GSA, I just saw the list of buildings that they want to put up for possible sale.
“And for the past six weeks, America has watched Donald Trump and Russell Vought and Elon Musk and their DOGE ‘disruptors’ wreak havoc throughout the federal government. DOGE has acted without, [in] my opinion and the court's opinion, in many cases, statutory authority, without transparency, without regard to the law, without any understanding of how their actions hurt the American people and crucially, without any oversight from this Congress. I would hope that because I think we have that responsibility as a first of the co-equals in government, the Article One agency: we have the responsible to oversee, particularly in light of so many cases - I see this morning, one of the first headlines I read was that the Supreme Court ruled that contrary to DOJ's direction or somebody’s direction, federal U.S. aid abroad could not be stopped by them.
“This ought to concern every member of this body. Mr. Chairman, I know you're concerned about it, and I expect many will express these concerns before us today. As the subcommittee that oversees DOGE’s funding, we have a duty to get to the bottom of what it is doing. DOJGE has sacked federal employees without knowing what they do. No sooner had DOGE fired certain employees from health care providers for 9-11 first responders, to workers who maintain our nuclear arsenal. Then it had to start rehiring them because they were necessary.
“Uncredentialed DOGE ‘disruptors’ have forced their way into secure government systems and taken the American people's highly sensitive data, including their Social Security numbers, home addresses, immigration status, credit card information, health records, IRS voting records, and more. Now, very frankly, we're not sure where that information went. If it went to private servers, however, that's clearly against the law and we need to make sure that did not happen. We do not know the full extent of this breach because DOGE continues to operate essentially out of the public eye. What little information they provide is dubious at best. And let me say as an aside, we heard a string of facts - that must taken five minutes - about Social Security. Absolutely false. Those folks are not being paid, unfortunately, because their computer operation is so old, if they strike them, it affects the whole system. So, while they no longer pay them, they're still on the rolls. And obviously, maybe some young kid, I don't know, got in there, saw they were on the rolls [and] hypothesized that they were still being paid. Not true. It didn't - and it would have taken five minutes to find out that that was not true.
“DOGE has over reported savings as well, that the President mentioned yesterday, in billions, billions, and billions of dollars. In the past week, DOGE erased or altered more than 1000 of the supposedly canceled contracts it had listed on its website. Now, my presumption is because they found out they made a mistake and they're moving so quickly, so rapidly, with essentially people with little knowledge, like the 19-year-old kid who was hired and fired. That's about 40% of all the contracts listed on DOGE's site, Mr. Chairman. That includes the five largest purported cuts, which were all found to be inaccurate. It remains unclear how much, if any, DOGE has saved American taxpayers.
“We need to get rid of fraud, waste, and abuse, period. And we all agree on that. I'm sure there's nobody on the committee who wouldn't agree with that. DOGE will more likely end up costing Americans more for fewer services as the Trump Administration turns to privatization and contractors to pick up the slack. Mr. Chairman, it's very easy to say we're not doing this with federal employees, but the service needs to be done. [They] put it in contractors a s if that didn't cost more money because obviously there's more overhead and a profit, presumably with the contractors. You're about to gavel me down.
“We need to remind DOGE that it is accountable to the Congress and to the American people. That is vital not only to countering these destructive policies, but also to preserving this institution's authority and power. That's what the founders had in mind. We have the power of the purse, not the president. I've got some other comments here that I would submit to the record, because I don't want to tread on the Chairman's patience. But I do want to say, Mr. Chairman, you and I have a very good relationship. I have great respect for you. And I believe that this committee by circumstance has an extraordinary responsibility. And I look forward to working with you to carry out that responsibility. Thank you.”