(NewsNation) — In the wake of mass firings through President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, Democrats have been protesting nationwide.
Now, residents of red-leaning states and districts are also starting to tell their lawmakers they have complaints about DOGE potentially moving too fast. Cuts have trickled down and may negatively affect their lives, constituents have said.
Federal agencies that have experienced job cuts include the Internal Revenue Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Forest Service and the United States Department of Agriculture.
Some rural district Republican members of Congress who relied on federal funding for farmers in their districts asked the federal government to try to recover some of that money, they told NewsNation.
During a town hall event in Georgia, U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, who won his district 65-35 last November, was questioned and shouted down by a few hundred people concerned about DOGE.
One person asked why the DOGE cuts were being “jammed down the pipe so rushed and sloppily.”
McCormick answered that his “understanding is when you say you have this many employees that you have to cut, that organization decides who they're going to cut.” People in the room jeered and laughed at this.
Ohio Rep. Troy Balderson, a Republican, suggested to a group of his constituents that DOGE’s flurry of executive orders is "getting out of control" at a Westerville Area Chamber business luncheon in Ohio, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
"Congress has to decide whether or not the Department of Education goes away," Balderson asserted. "Not the president, not Elon Musk.”
Trump has said he wants to dismantle the department, but it would take congressional action.
Balderson told NewsNation that the quote was taken out of context. He said he is fully behind DOGE and their efforts but that Congress also has to do its part
Meanwhile, in the face of this pushback, the White House stands firmly behind DOGE.
“There should be no secret about the fact that this administration is committed to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “The President campaigned on that promise. Americans elected him on that promise, and he's actually delivering on it.”