Missouri’s new DOGE portal draws 1,000 responses, lawmakers debate impact

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) 

After launching a portal for residents to submit inquiries to its new Department of Government Efficiency, Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R-Jefferson County) said the State of Missouri has already received “over 1,000 responses.” 

Coleman, who is the Missouri Senate Government Efficiency Chair, said the idea was a continuation of the Missouri Accountability Portal. The goal is to provide residents with a platform to share feedback, while allowing legislators to gather data and assess government effectiveness, ultimately aiming to reduce waste, duplication and inefficiency.

Coleman hopes the feedback will lead to more savings for taxpayers, but admitted of the roughly 1,000 responses received, some have lacked “substantive” feedback. 

“Unfortunately, a lot of the responses seem to be focused on political decisions or feedback about current bills that are passed by the legislature. For people who want to weigh in on the legislative process and where things are currently, it's probably best to please come and testify or to submit written testimony to your elected officials,” Coleman said. “We're looking for where are these patterns that are happening. It's not the one-off problems like, ‘We showed up at the DMV and the last test was to be administered at 4:30 and we showed up at 4:32 and they wouldn't let us take the test.’ Not that kind of a thing. It's more about: How are we administering the services that the taxpayers are buying. How are they getting that service or how is it not working?” 

The portal, which can be found on the Missouri Senate’s website, asks users to provide their name, phone number and address, asks which policy area needs to be addressed and a comments section. Responses are subject to Sunshine Law and may be publicly disclosed. When someone submits an entry into the portal, the representatives and senators in that district get an email saying someone reached out with a suggestion. 

“I’m representing the 44th (district) and that’s their hard-earned tax dollars. So all of us as taxpayers want to see our funds used for efforts that are what government needs to be involved in and not wasted or squandered away,” state Rep. John Martin (R-Columbia) said. 

Martin -- a member of the Missouri House Budget Committee -- campaigned on narrowing the government's focus to core responsibilities: Public safety, education and infrastructure. Each of Missouri’s departments is currently in the Budget Committee process, where leaders explain their department's spending from the previous year.

While the committee isn’t focused on "government efficiency," Martin said the concept of process remains the same. 

“One of my jobs is... asking questions as we go down through their budget. ‘How is this money being spent?’ Sometimes there's money left over. That’s a big question we often ask if a department says ‘We asked for X amount in the 2024 budget.’ Why was that left over? Do you really need that this next time? Those kinds of questions,” Martin said. 

Rep. Kathy Steinhoff (D-Columbia), who is also on the budget committee, said while there is room for more government efficiency, she is concerned that potential cuts could have unintended consequences in the future. 

“Sometimes when people are hammering into one area, I'm worried that they're not really seeing the big picture and they're just looking at it from a very limited lens,” Steinhoff said. “I'm just not super optimistic that it's going to lead to big, massive savings without damaging some serious services to people. I think that what you're going to find is some of the people that are reaching out to that and complaining are looking at it from a limited view.”

The decision to launch a Department of Government Efficiency portal comes after President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk launched the federal Department of Government Efficiency, which has made headlines recently for looking to shut down the US Agency for International Development, according to a report from CNN.

Another proposed shutdown is the Department of Education, however, Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt, of Missouri, told ABC 17 News that there won’t be much of a change in school funding. 

“Fundamentally, the way this will work is trying to push more of the federal dollars to the states,” Schmitt said. “I think the states can figure this out better than the federal government. That’s where we see some of the abuses in some of this woke ideology”

Steinhoff agreed with Schmitt that the money would continue to be spent on education. However, she also believes that education should be one of the government's top priorities, which is why she says there needs to be a Department of Education at the Federal level. 

“I think the money would continue to get filtered down. But the part that would not be there anymore is that oversight," she said. "It's making sure that the states are honoring the commitments to where that money should be spent, particularly in things like special education,  making sure that it's going to the right  places.” 

Steinhoff also took issue with Schmitt’s stance that inefficiencies are happening because of “woke ideology.” 

“We hide behind a lot of acronyms that we really don't understand what they mean. We repeat arguments that we hear somebody else made and that other person may understand it at a deep level, but just because we're repeating it, we don't. We just kind of dig our heels into the positions that we have. I know I'm often guilty of hearing about a tax cut and thinking automatically it's a bad thing,” Steinhoff said. “The role of our big budget at the state or the national level is that we, as a society, need to have a way to function. And not only do we have to have things like roads and bridges and schools, we also need to really be... committed to taking care of our most vulnerable population.” 

Coleman said as more responses come in the easier it will be to help identify overlapping services and ensure accountability.

“If you've ever said, ‘Hey, this doesn't make sense because this service is being provided here and it's also being provided here and one group is doing a better job.’ That's the kind of thing we're going to be taking a look at,” Coleman said. “Then trying to make sure that people are being held accountable. We have I hear up to 30% of Missouri's workforce for the state is working remotely.  Most Missourians probably think that's not appropriate.”