Rep. Begich to Newsmax: Musk Cutting ‘Grifting Operations for the Left’

Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, told Newsmax on Friday that Democrats are worried about the massive cuts coming to USAID “not because they’re producing good outcomes for the American people, but because they are grifting operations for the left and have been for years.

In November, Trump announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and tasked Elon Musk with leading the incoming administration’s goal of weeding out government inefficiency and wasteful spending. Since that time, Musk has been at the forefront of Trump’s efforts to considerably downsize the federal government. When host Carl Higbie pointed out that America’s children have not gotten smarter despite billions given to the Department of Education, Begich said “outcomes never seem to matter for people on the left.”

“If we’re going to cut government, if we’re going to put this country back on track, we’ve got to go line by line throughout the departmental budgets and make sure that the taxpayer money is being spent responsibly. And the people in the Congress and the people in the executive branch have a responsibility, Republican or Democrat, to make sure that that person’s taxes are spent responsibly,” Begich said during an appearance on “Carl Higbie FRONTLINE.”

Read more at Newsmax© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.