MAGA Republican says Americans will ‘cheer’ DOGE crackdown on food stamps

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) on Friday said Americans would celebrate cuts to the federal budget by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE – including a crackdown on food stamps and Medicaid.

The comments came Friday during Roy’s appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” where he called on “the DOGE guys” – billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy – to identify non-defense discretionary spending that can be slashed.

“What do you think they’re really going to be able to go after?” host Andrew Ross Sorkin asked.

“If we were to go through and just put in restraints on the use of food stamps to feed our people sugar, for example…we can save hundreds of billions of dollars,” Roy, a conservative member of the House Freedom Caucus, told the host. He added other examples such as repealing the Inflation Reduction Act and a “return to non-defense to pre-Covid era explosion in spending” to also help reduce spending.

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“We can do a lot of savings right out of the gate to reverse the Biden damage, get the economy going, reduce regulations – but not touch benefits that our seniors rely on – yes, we need to address Medicare and Social Security in the long haul, no question, but right now we should reverse Biden damage, get spending restraint on Medicaid, reforms that need to be put in place [and] tax policy that matches all of that.”

The MAGA lawmaker added that members of Congress also have to “do our job to constrain the bureaucracy cutting non-defense discretionary."

"That would only be a 13 percent cut, you and I can find 13 percent of waste, and I think the DOGE guys too and that would be fiscally responsible and the American people would cheer President Trump and Republicans if we do that.”

Roy said he thinks Musk and Ramaswamy will have “significant influence” in what cuts Congress ultimately makes next year.

“They’re identifying a lot of spending waste that I think they can use their pulpit and I think they can broadcast that and shine a light on it,” Roy said.