BY REP. TODD CARVER
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an idea which should not invoke a partisan divide the way it has. We can argue about the implementation or the methods, and there is a time a place for that discussion. This article is not the time or place for that discussion. Today, I’d like to share my thoughts about the idea at the root of DOGE and its role in North Carolina.
First. let’s make some distinctions which must be understood. The federal debt is over $36 trillion. The federal debt makes our country weaker. In real terms and symbolic terms, it tells the world we cannot mange our own finances. The federal debt must be dealt with for us to continue to be a world leader.
This is a problem that weakens our ability to fight off potential foes. We need to face our debt issue and identify areas where we can reduce or eliminate wasteful spending.
North Carolina is not in the same situation as the federal government. The North Carolina budget must be balanced with every budget year. The State of North Carolina does not possess the ability to print money or issue debt against the state. If our state takes in $100 in revenue, it can authorize the spending of $100. At the end of each budget session, we must reconcile the difference between what we want to spend and what we have to spend.
North Carolina is also different from the federal government in that we have a position called the NC State Auditor. That person, Dave Boliek, is charged with rooting out wasteful and inefficient spending in our state budget. We should all be supportive of the work he is tasked to do because he is charged with protecting our tax dollars. The federal government does not have a cabinet level position charged with ensuring the tax dollars are spent wisely.
The other difference in what’s going on in Washington versus what’s taking place in Raleigh is fundamental to the checks and balances’ system of our government. The Washington DOGE effort is being initiated by the executive branch. The Raleigh DOGE effort is a joint effort between the General Assembly and the State Auditor. The other difference is the money appropriated by the General Assembly comes with oversight by its very nature.
The idea behind DOGE is not something which should be controversial in Washington or Raleigh. We all want our tax money to be spent wisely. We all want our tax dollars to be spent on wise and fruitful purposes. Republicans and Democrats are both vested in the future of our country. No one wants our money and the money of future generations to be spent on waste. With that said, we should all be supportive of the effort. We should be willing to lend a hand to identify wasteful, inefficient spending.
I am not naïve enough to think that waste only occurs in Washington. I am willing to help look for it. When and where we find it in Raleigh, I am willing to do my part to make sure it gets stopped. Finding waste and stopping it is a sense of duty we should all share, no matter what we call the group looking for it.
Rep. Todd Carver represents the 95th District in the N.C. House.
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Two points:
One, the vast majority of the huge deficit can be blamed on Republicans giving huge tax breaks to billionaires. And two, you don’t fix the problem by using a pathetic billionaire that wasn’t elected or knows anything about how government operates to do the job.
https://taxfoundation.org/blog/super-rich-pay-effective-tax-rates/
You should make your comments based on fact not emotion. Failed socialist regimes around the world have blamed the wealthy to arouse revolts from the poor and uneducated, all failed. Also, if the government operated more like a business instead of a welfare state there would be far less debt. With what Musk has accomplished, he is more than qualified to do what he’s doing
One last thought, democrats and Republicans are equally to blame for the deficit. No matter which party is in power government gets bigger, rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. The cool thing about Trump/Elon is they are not politicians. In the end it’s the parasites that feed off of our government that seem to be the most upset.
Have a nice day
First: Learn the definitions of “socialist” and “communist” and what the terms “We the People” and the “Constitution” have to do with representation in Congress for OUR (We the People’s) government which is suppose to be OF, BY, and FOR We the People – not business and not any one group or person.
The bottom line of business is nothing but Profit.
The bottom line of our government is We the People.
No one runs a business as if it were a government and no democratic government is run as if it were a business – unless you have a grifting, corrupt dictator.
Thank you for what you are doing and thank you for sharing this common sense article. I’m thankful to have you and Dave Boliek trying to make sure NC isn’t wasting our tax dollars and stay within budget!
It’s like you’re excited about being exploited. Where is the proof? He said he found so much fraud after a month in office, and we have yet to hear testimony as to what he found. People are already having difficulty with the government due to his haphazard and childish decision-making. And where is this extra money going to? I haven’t heard how that money would be dispersed to the common folks (not the ones who will get the tax break. Don’t lie). You guys want us to trust him, but we can’t even trust you to have our back when you KNOW that your constituents do not like how this is playing out.
In the federal government, the role of inspector generals in each department is to look for security issues, waste and inefficiencies and make recommendations. DOGE and Trump have fired those inspector generals who have served during republican and democratic presidencies. As someone said we don’t need an unelected billionaire who knows nothing about government and who has spent no time in learning the role of various federal programs and projects eliminating jobs and having access to our confidential information. Furthermore it is a conflict of interest for Musk to have access to departments with whom he has contracts. Look at Social Security and the chaos DOGE has created. In addition, we have a congress whose responsibility is to create departments, approve funding and appropriate those funds who will not standup to Trump. As for the auditor working with the state legislature, Carver forgot to mention why they are working so closely with the auditor. It’s because they passed legislation taking away some powers of the governor after Josh Stein was elected. Josh Stein was elected to fulfill the powers of the governorship as we knew them. Ask yourselves if the republican candidate had won, would they have weakened the governor’s responsibly and given more responsibilities to the auditor?
I agree. Everyone, Republican Democrat, independent, Libertarian, etc. No one wants to pay a contract that charges $1,000 for a run of the mill nut and bolt.
My hope is that our state elected representatives will take a common sense approach to the additional investigation into potential waste, mismanagement and fraud that may be present including people familiar with the department or agencies work, work load and best practices.
Unfortunately or fortunately, the methods do matter. What’s happened in DC with DOGE in its current iteration has left a really repulsive taste in a lot of folks mouths and real fear in many hearts and minds.
I’m trusting our State officials will be considerate and proper stewards of the peoples money and services as they go through this process.
A suggestion – Pleae don’t call it Doge.
We always look forward to your weekly columns, insight and what you’re doing for our area and state.
It is very clear that Trump and DOGE had to do something before we sank in financial debt. While we do not have an auditor at the cabinet level, congress does have the General Accounting Office (GAO) but fails to listen to them. As recent as Sep 24, the GAO estimated improper payments, and fraud was as much as $500 BILLION on 9 programs. We’ve heard the same old, same old like getting congressional committees to fix the spending spree, but we really have run out of time. Congress passed the Continuing Resolution for the remainder of the fiscal year. Without the cuts by DOGE we’d see another $2 TRILLION added to the debt. Our credit is going downhill and the cost to serve our debt will continue to rise until Social Security and Medicare are impacted. We can and should do something NOW, or we all will suffer the consequences. If you want more info on DOGE, I highly recommend the interview by Brett Baier and the DOGE team. I assure you that you will learn something.
Maybe fact checking from multiple reliable sources would be a good idea for you.
Take your PR piece somewhere else, Mr. Carver. Republican leaders think voters are idiots. Unfortunately, they do have many examples to draw upon.
First, over $7 trillion (or 20%) of that $36 trillion U.S. debt was added during the first Trump administration, partly due to the significant revenue reductions from the tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy. That resulted in large corporations like Duke Energy and Bank of America and Tesla often paying no federal income tax at all. And in fact, they often garner big fat refunds from additional tax credits. And do not be deceived. Any actual reductions that DOGE might achieve net of their own costs will be used to justify extending those tax cuts, not deficit reduction. It’s the stated purpose of Republican leadership. Any promise of a future benefit to regular taxpayers is just more propaganda.
Secondly, it sure helps to “balance” a state budget when billions of dollars of federal funding come into state, county, and local governments. I don’t see any of these entities clamoring to return this money, for which the state would have to make up the shortfall.
Finally, I do agree there are many opportunities to find efficiencies in federal and state governments. But indiscriminately firing government workers is not where fraud and waste is happening. The entire federal payroll is about $270 million a year. Even if you slashed 10% of the workforce, $27,000,000 in salary reductions isn’t even a molecule of a drop in the bucket of a $36,000,000,000,000 debt.
We certainly don’t need DOGE level incompetence as currently implemented at the federal level to tear down our state institutions as well.