Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) announced she would create a statewide Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in her Tuesday address, making her the latest governor to signal efforts to slash wasteful spending in a measure modeled after the newest federal agency.
“I like to say that we were doing DOGE before DOGE was a thing,” Reynolds said.
“And to build on our success, I’m launching our own state DOGE to find even greater savings and efficiencies in both state and local government,” she added.
The Republican governor said Emily Schmitt, general counsel of Sukup Manufacturing, would lead the department.
“In just a few short years, we’ve turned our state into a national model for bold, get-it-done government. And we’re not stopping,” she said.
Similarly, last week New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) announced her decision to launch a DOGE commission to “slash” wasteful spending in her inaugural gubernatorial address.
“We need to make sure that the government is operating more like the lean process in manufacturing, where waste is eliminated each step in the process for a better result,” she said.
“And to help us do this, because I know there is nothing harder than politicians and asking them not to spend money. So today, I’m announcing the creation of the Commission on Government Efficiency, or I like to call it the COGE,” she stated.
Wisconsin State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) also introduced the Governmental, Oversight, Accountability and Transparency Committee (GOAT) in December, structured similarly to DOGE.
“I think that we can look at a lot of ideas and try to find ways to make the government do a better job than we currently are,” Vos told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at the time.
“I’m super excited that we’re going to now kind of focus on, not just how do we layer more things on, but how do we make the things that we already have work better,” he added.
President-elect Trump announced the formation of DOGE, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, last year. The two are slated to take more concrete actions against government agencies following Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, which may encourage more local municipalities to create pathways to government accountability.
