Crane Dresses Down Angry Democrats in Government Efficiency Hearing

Representative Eli Crane (R-AZ) mocked Democrats furious with Elon Musk's anti-USAID remarks in a recent House Oversight hearing while talking about downsizing the federal government, similarly debating witness Dr. William Resh's assertions about the government's size.

Rep. Crane did not pull punches at the beginning of his five minutes, asking Chair James Comer (R-KY) if the Democrats in the room could receive therapy dogs.

Additionally, he pointed out the apparent hypocrisy of Democrats furious with Elon Musk, "yet I do not recall the same outrage when billionaires on their side of the aisle like Mark Zuckerberg, George Soros, or any of the other ones were donating massive sums of money to their side of the aisle."

From there, Rep. Crane turned to Dr. Resh, who argued that the issue of government is not "a bloated bureaucracy" but is instead the issue of a small federal workforce stretched too thin.

The Arizona Congressman quickly countered by noting that USAID had a $40 billion budget in 2023 going toward DEI programs in Serbia, pushing for electric vehicles in Vietnam, and LGBT activism in Guatemala, which was not an exhaustive list.

"So you do not think this is a bloated workforce when we are spending money overseas like that?" Crane asked, "Sir, are you aware that we are over $36 trillion in debt?"

Resh argued that downsizing the federal workforce would only cut 4% of spending, only for Crane to reply by saying the government frequently outsources to private companies and contractors "because you can actually fire them if they are not performing."

The Arizona Congressman then asked Resh: "Have you ever run a large organization or a small business?"

When Resh answered that he did not, Crane pointed out the irony of how Republicans brought in Governor Kim Reynolds (R-IA), "who has actually run a state to talk about all the cuts, the elimination of fraud, waste, and abuse," while Democrats "bring in a professor who has never run a large organization, never run a small business, and therefore has really no idea what it is like to deal with the consequences of out-of-control spending and inefficiencies."