Rep. Khanna In Op-ed Rips Into DOGE, Wants Progressives To Talk Directly To People
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India-West News Desk
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Ro Khanna has sharply criticized Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative in an op-ed for The American Prospect, saying it has harmed federal workers and failed to deliver on promised savings. Khanna argued that the administration’s austerity measures are hurting working-class families while giving tax breaks to the wealthy.
Khanna highlighted the negative impact on federal workers, many of whom have been laid off under DOGE, with veterans bearing the brunt of the cuts. “Federal workers, 30 percent of whom are veterans, are being fired without any notice or consultation—many of them top performers,” he wrote.
The California congressman pointed to key agencies such as the Social Security Administration and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, both of which provide essential services to millions of Americans. “Last week, DOGE announced that at least 12 percent of jobs would be cut at the Social Security Administration, a program that keeps 22 million Americans, including children, out of poverty,” Khanna noted. “Two thousand four hundred workers have been fired from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and DOGE aims to fire almost all employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.”
Despite the extensive layoffs, the Indian American congressman pointed out that DOGE has failed to produce the savings it promised. “Forty percent of the contracts canceled by DOGE so far will result in no savings, as many of them were already completed,” he wrote. He also criticized a reported $8 billion in savings from canceling a contract that only saved $8 million.
Khanna wants Musk accountable, urging the House Oversight Committee to vote again to subpoena Musk. The first attempt to subpoena Musk failed after a last-minute vote pushed by Democrats caused some of them to miss it. Khanna, who had been meeting with the ambassador to Mexico at the time, clarified that a report wrongly claimed he had “abstained” from the vote.
Khanna also condemned the recent budget plan passed by House Republicans, which he said would add $2.8 trillion to the deficit. He criticized the plan for giving $4.5 trillion in tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and corporations while proposing cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. “These cuts will rip away health care and food assistance from millions of low-income families,” Khanna wrote in his piece in the The American Prospect.
Recent polling shows that 71 percent of Trump voters oppose cuts to Medicaid.
In contrast to the Republicans’ approach, Khanna noted the efforts of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has been rallying in red states against both Musk and Trump’s policies. Khanna plans to visit three red districts in California starting March 24 to speak out against DOGE’s layoffs and the proposed cuts to Medicaid.
“This is a moment for progressives to speak directly to people across the country, especially in places that have been hollowed out by the offshoring of jobs and failed policies that have put billionaires over the working class,” Khanna said.
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