Iowa Second District Congresswoman Ashley Hinson says she supports the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency to cut costs and waste in the federal government.
Hinson, a Republican from Marion, was asked during her weekly conference call about criticisms of the DOGE efforts. “When it comes to DOGE, I actually had a chance to hear directly from Elon (Musk) this week. The amazing amount of fraud, waste, and abuse that is being uncovered is going out publicly. Everything’s publicly available, and they’re being very, very transparent,” Hinson says.
Hinson was asked about claims from Veterans Administration employees in Iowa that cuts are impacting services to veterans. “The Secretary said blatantly that none of the reductions in workforce will be directly for the care of veterans. So if that is happening, I certainly want to know about it. But that was a directive from the head of from the Secretary himself,” she says.
Hinson says there are people in the bureaucracy that are deliberately trying to undermine the Trump Administration’s goals of finding efficiencies. “We learned this week, for example, that in one case when, DOGE and the administration went to one of these department heads and told them to eliminate probationary employees who are not doing their job, they just eliminated them all out of spite,” Hinson says. “So I think my goal is going to be to sort through and go through and fact, find on what’s actually happening. Because my goal is to make sure veterans are getting the care that they deserve.”
Hinson was also asked about some members of Congress canceling meetings because of protests over the cuts in Washington. Hinson says she will continue to have town hall meetings in her district to answer questions about the things that are happening in the federal government.