Rep. Val Hoyle (D-Ore.) on Thursday announced to NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that she is leaving the fledgling, efficiency-seeking DOGE Caucus in Congress — and she directly blamed billionaire Elon Musk’s actions in President Donald Trump’s second term for her resignation.
Hoyle argued it is “just not possible” for the bipartisan group of lawmakers that make up the caucus to have any success with their mission to cut fraud and public spending waste and be “good stewards of taxpayer dollars” when Musk is just “blowing things up.”
“It’s like trying to replace your roof when someone is throwing dynamite through the window into your living room,” she said.
“It’s just not possible. So, I’m leaving the DOGE Caucus,” Hoyle revealed to Cuomo. “I will continue to do the work to find efficiencies, but right now, I just don’t think it’s possible with what’s happening.”
Watch the interview here:
President Donald Trump has tasked Musk, the world’s richest person, with running the non-official Department of Government Efficiency that seeks to identify and then eliminate red tape and public spending.
Hoyle said the caucus wasn’t working alongside Musk and its members were “operating in good faith” in trying to find cost savings. Musk, though, has caused controversy with many of his moves, including his relentless attacks on and bid to nix the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Cuomo tried to convince Hoyle to remain in the caucus.
“You have to stay,” the anchor said. “You guys are going to be the first line of defense.”
But she wasn’t having it. “If I thought that I had any influence, or my Republican colleagues hadn’t influence I’d stay. But we don’t have influence,” she replied.
“If I could control or even give feedback to Elon Musk that I thought he’d listen to, I’d stay,” Hoyle added. “But I don’t see that’s productive because, again, he’s just blowing up the system and he’s accountable to nobody. President Trump handed over the keys to the White House, to the Treasury, to government, to an unelected billionaire, and you know, it’s, quite frankly, very disturbing.”