[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 201 (Tuesday, December 2, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H4975]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              ODE TO DOGE

  (Ms. Stansbury of New Mexico was recognized to address the House for 
5 minutes.)
  Ms. STANSBURY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give an ode, perhaps a 
eulogy, to the downfall of DOGE and to the people's movement that 
brought about its demise.
  As we say good-bye to the departing, we take solace in knowing that 
our democracy endures in our people and our communities.
  The centralized Department of Government Efficiency, imagined in the 
insane mind of Elon Musk and empowered by those around him, which 
wreaked havoc on the vital programs that sustain our communities 
appears to no longer exist.
  In fact, the Director of OPM said just a couple of weeks ago: It 
doesn't exist. Even Musk himself downplayed his involvement this 
weekend, calling it merely a very interesting side quest. While the 
administration claims DOGE is now integrated into the agencies 
themselves, its existence as a formal priority appears to finally be 
dead.
  Even in Congress, the future of the DOGE Subcommittee, created by 
once eager and enthusiastic GOP allies on the Oversight Committee, is 
uncertain. The explosive breakup of Musk and Trump just a few months 
ago, and now the sudden pending retirement of the subcommittee 
chairwoman over the Epstein files and GOP threats and lies, leave the 
DOGE congressional arm uncertain and rudderless, but perhaps with the 
opportunity to be repurposed.
  Services for the departed will not be held. In lieu of flowers, 
please, America, continue to organize and fight for our democracy.
  As we reflect on DOGE's short but destructive life, we remember how 
it laid waste to vital programs despite its lofty promises of cost-
cutting and efficiency. Unfettered by the rule of law and driven by 
unchecked hubris, DOGE unleashed chaos, illegally dismantled agencies, 
conducted mass firings, canceled contracts, and mined the sensitive 
data of millions of American people.
  The speed with which DOGE brought destruction to lifesaving agencies 
was matched only by the ferocity of the public outcry. Americans 
refused to sit idly by while children went hungry, while services for 
veterans, families, and elders were slashed without cause. In fact, in 
unison people across the political spectrum stood up to say: Hands off 
our data, hands off Social Security, and hands off the vital programs 
that keep our families alive in this country, and they showed Elon Musk 
the door.
  Millions marched, attended townhalls, wrote letters, made calls, and 
demanded that Congress stop DOGE's disastrous work. When the hypocrisy 
of this so-called efficiency agency was exposed in the President's big, 
ugly bill, even Trump and Musk split up, and ultimately the Chairwoman 
herself announced her departure from this body in the wake of broken 
promises and threats by the administration.
  The administration, while claiming to pursue savings, was cutting 
services for the most vulnerable not to reduce the debt, but 
ultimately, as has been shown, to fund tax breaks and giveaways to 
billionaires and those with the most.
  Even in its final moments, DOGE found comfort in self-dealing and 
everyday grift. As it dismantled agencies and fired workers, it seized 
opportunities to privatize public assets and laid the groundwork for 
billions in private contracts and self-dealing for the ages.
  Despite the Trump administration's claims that DOGE is still alive, 
and even its own X page dismissing the news as fake, we all know the 
truth: DOGE as the grifting scam it was imagined is dead, and its 
demise is a victory for the American people.
  Not only is its formal office gone, but its downfall demonstrated the 
strength of our unity. Americans rejected DOGE because they recognize a 
dirty deal when they see one.
  Now, let us be clear: We want to address the national debt, root out 
waste, fraud, and abuse, and build a government and programs that can 
serve everyone, but when the fraudsters themselves claim to have the 
fix, the American people see right through it.
  Yet, DOGE's end does not mark the end of our work. We know that the 
time to organize is now, that we must stay focused and resist the 
barrage of distractions designed to sap our resolve, that we must 
continue to mobilize like our democracy depends on it because it does, 
and we must continue to do this work every single day.
  This is not a time for despair. It is a time for action because the 
American people are strong. We are resilient, and we are ready for the 
fight ahead.

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