A majority of Americans believe the government is inefficient, profligate, and “doing too much.” Every year, taxpayers foot the bill for programs that haven’t even been evaluated in decades. The newly formed House and Senate DOGE caucuses represent a fresh opportunity to smash the status quo.
But for these efficiency warriors to succeed, they must confront the same challenges that have long plagued government reformers: the public’s simultaneous disdain for “wasteful government spending” and their simultaneous support for specific programs — namely entitlements — they feel benefit them personally.
To overcome this obstacle, DOGE lawmakers should embrace three creative yet practical tactics.
- The burden of proof principle: A simple yet potent tactic the DOGE caucus can adopt is flipping the script on accountability. Instead of taxpayers having to prove a program is wasteful, the programs themselves should bear the burden of proving they are effective, sustainable, and necessary. A model for this already exists. When Congress passed the CLASS Act in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act, it included a unique provision requiring the program to demonstrate financial viability before it could launch. When it failed this test, the program was repealed in 2013 with bipartisan support, even earning the signature of President Obama, the same president who signed the program into law. This principle should apply across the board. Programs that can’t show measurable benefits or fiscal sustainability shouldn’t continue indefinitely. Taxpayers deserve accountability, and the DOGE caucus should fight to ensure every federal initiative is rigorously and regularly evaluated. Our failure to do this in many areas of government has led to unfunded liabilities—or checks we eventually can’t cash. This burdens not just present and future taxpayers, but beneficiaries, whose promised benefits are at stake.
- The Yellow Pages test: A concept borrowed from state governments, the Yellow Pages Test is straightforward. If a service can be found in the Yellow Pages, the government has no business doing it. This approach was successfully implemented in states like Texas, where officials identified government-run golf courses, liquor stores, and similar enterprises that could be privatized or eliminated. Adopting this principle at the federal level could yield significant savings while fostering a more competitive economy. For instance, why should the federal government operate facilities or services that private businesses can provide more efficiently? The DOGE caucus can champion this test as a commonsense way to reduce redundancy and focus federal resources where they’re truly needed. And the federal government can take the “Yellow Pages Test” a step further: When a service is already provided by state-level governments, why duplicate efforts? Federal-state partnerships can be effective, but federal bureaucracies in areas like education and energy could be significantly streamlined to maximize state control over flexible federal funds.
- Sunsetting as standard operating procedure: Ronald Reagan famously quipped that “the closest thing to eternal life on earth is a government program.” The DOGE caucus can prove him wrong by making sunsetting a routine part of federal law. By establishing automatic expiration dates for government programs, lawmakers would be forced to periodically reassess whether these initiatives are still serving their intended purpose or simply perpetuating bureaucracy for its own sake. Arizona and several other states of diverse political persuasions have had great success with this. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency itself is leading by example with a self-imposed sunset date of July 4, 2026. This principle could be extended to ensure every government program is revisited and reauthorized — or eliminated — based on performance and necessity. If temporary tax provisions, such as the personal income tax reductions in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, can have expiration dates, there’s no reason why spending programs shouldn’t face the same scrutiny.
The DOGE caucus has the potential to not only reduce waste but also restore public trust in government accountability. The question isn’t whether these reforms can work. It’s whether the efficiency warriors will seize the moment and deliver on their promise. Taxpayers are waiting, and they deserve nothing less than bold leadership to end excessive government spending.
Hadley Heath Manning is executive vice president at the Steamboat Institute.
