Sen. Tina Smith: DOGE efforts at USDA are ‘completely wrong’

Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) slammed the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to slash spending and cut staff at the Agriculture Department on Thursday.

"I think what they're doing is completely wrong,” Smith said at POLITICO Playbook’s First 100 Days breakfast series.

“I think it runs counter to the intentions of Congress and what we have passed,” Smith added. “Honestly, I don't really believe that Elon Musk or the DOGE guys that are in there really have any idea, what they're doing, or what the impact is of the decisions that they're making.”

Smith said that she’s talking with colleagues about how to emphasize the need for USDA to fully fund and staff regional and local offices, which farmers rely on for getting information on federal resources.

The Trump administration fired thousands of probationary workers at USDA — some of whom were working on the bird flu response, farm loans and wildfire response efforts. Though the department has reinstated roughly 5,000 employees following an order from a federal civil service board, the administration is planning a government-wide “reduction in force” that could lead to even greater cuts soon.

“This is a moment where I think we need to really be speaking out,” Smith said.

Moments earlier during the breakfast series, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) criticized the Trump’s administration's layoffs of federal workers at the USDA and other agencies, saying the decision to fire probationary employees or those who recently received promotions is “the last thing you want to do.”

“We are still trying to get answers,” she said.

Klobuchar noted she and Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, led a letter in February requesting the USDA reinstate some terminated employees.