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Though the federal government’s Department of Government Efficiency has been largely disbanded, a Louisiana state version, dubbed “LA DOGE,” has pushed on and, according to an official report, is set to garner $1 billion in annual tax dollar savings.
LA DOGE will achieve $999.5 million in annual cost savings of both federal and state tax dollars across 17 state departments, according to a report by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s office reviewed by Fox News Digital. The report posits that these savings will be achieved “without any reductions in service.”
LA DOGE was established by an executive order signed by Landry in December 2024 as the Louisiana Fiscal Responsibility Program. Similar to Elon Musk’s vision for the federal DOGE, the Louisiana version was set up with the intent to eliminate wasteful spending, improve government efficiency and modernize government operations.
Since being established, LA DOGE has been spearheaded by Louisiana Fiscal Responsibility Czar Steve Orlando, an oil and gas executive who had worked exclusively in the private sphere until being appointed to the role. The report said the department worked closely with Louisiana legislative leadership, the Louisiana legislative auditor, and the commissioner of administration to identify and implement the cuts.
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Of the nearly $1 billion in savings, the report said that $367 million was from Louisiana’s state general fund, $601 million from federal tax dollars and $65 million from other funding sources.
From the state fund, LA DOGE was able to cut $407.6 million in spending by improving the governmental workforce and service inefficiencies amongst state staff. An additional $206.4 million was cut through renegotiated and canceled contracts.
Critically, Louisiana was able to cut $285.5 million through Medicaid cuts that included improved eligibility determination processes to remove ineligible recipients and the implementation of an optimized process of monthly checks of residency of Medicaid members by utilizing data from the Office of Motor Vehicles. An additional $14.9 million was cut in similar eligibility determination improvements for SNAP beneficiaries.
An official in the governor’s office emphasized to Fox News Digital that the state has been able to do all these cuts while simultaneously improving the state’s services to citizens.
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“We have been able to keep the budget down and not have a fiscal cliff, wean ourselves off of one time money used for recurring expenses, improve our roads and bridges, fund SNAP through these savings during the government shutdown, and give the largest tax cuts in state history,” she said.
Meanwhile, the official said that this has allowed the governor’s office to “continue to push for no income tax.”
Landry, who has been in office just two years, referred to LA DOGE as an “unbelievably tremendous effort” during a press conference touting its success.
The governor told Fox News Digital that he was “shocked” by the “sheer amount of federal and state matching dollars that we were able to save in the welfare program by doing simple things like cross-checking IDs, license verifications, things that have been pointed out as best practices in order to control the abuses inside the welfare system and nobody would do them. And we just did them and we just immediately started seeing savings.”
Landry compared some of the cuts the state made to a family going back and cancelling its unused subscriptions.
“Sometimes it’s as just checking to find out about subscriptions,” he said. “In our households, we have a tendency to maybe go back and do that, especially when times get tight, inflation starts biting into people’s pockets. But in government, it’s really not their money, they don’t have to generate the revenue like you have to generate in businesses.”
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Though he said LA DOGE’s mission is complete, Landry noted that “our goal and efforts toward improving government and continuing to seek efficiencies are not complete.”
“In fact, we are just getting started,” he said.
The governor shared that he plans to reform the Office of the Inspector General to “take on a new, expansive role as a reformed office also focused on optimization and efficiency within state government.”
“We haven’t stopped, and we won’t stop in finding efficiencies and actually improving the services we have provided through state government,” said Landry.
In a word of advice to other states hoping to emulate LA DOGE’s success, Landry urged governors to “just go out and challenge your cabinet members to reach into the bureaucracy and take a look at where the spending is occurring.”
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