By now you’ve seen the hubbub about DOGE, Elon Musk’s effort to downsize the federal government. Partisans on the left hate everything about DOGE, partisans on the right think it can do no wrong. 

But some leaders in Washington, like Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), are taking a measured, commonsense approach to try to improve government efficiency and transparency.  

As a member of the Budget and Ways and Means committees, Rep. Panetta’s work is directly affected by DOGE’s spending cuts. And he has made no secret of the fact that he thinks DOGE needs “a plan, not a sledgehammer, not a chainsaw, not a woodchipper.”  

Despite the critiques, Rep. Panetta – like 70 percent of Americans – acknowledges that “there’s waste, there’s fraud and there’s abuse” in federal agencies that must be addressed.  

Congressman Panetta is not just talking about these issues, he’s getting to work. He recently introduced a bipartisan bill to bring more transparency to government spending and close the loopholes agencies use to hide their contracts. He says this is a first step toward “strengthening public trust, improving fiscal accountability, and ensuring responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.” 

The loopholes addressed by this bill represent $10-$20 billion of federal spending each year, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), although the actual figure might be much higher. GAO writes that “significant amounts” of money “are likely not being reported” under these loopholes, including an estimated $10 billion on Covid-related spending alone in 2022. 

While this legislation is in line with DOGE’s mission to fight waste and fraud, it differs from the group in one key way: Rep. Panetta’s law, if passed, would be on the books permanently, while DOGE’s actions are all being done through executive orders and actions can be reversed by the next administration.   

Congress has been ceding power to the executive branch for decades, and DOGE is just the latest example.  

The result has been fewer laws passed by Congress, and more executive orders signed by the president in recent years. This leads to instability and partisan whiplash: nearly a quarter of orders since 2000 were revoked or superseded by later orders.  

That’s why Rep. Panetta is working so hard to protect our system of checks and balances. This year alone, he has worked on bills to add guardrails to the federal payment system and boost cybersecurity to protect taxpayers’ data and money. He is also wielding his committee’s oversight powers to demand answers and accountability from White House officials for some of DOGE’s potentially illegal moves.  

This is the blueprint for effective leadership: clearly lay out the pros and cons of a program, stand by your principles and your constituents’ needs, and start working on real solutions. It may not play well on cable news, but it’s exactly what America needs right now.