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House Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would press to restore funding cut by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — and even add to the original amount.
Schumer’s comments came after he was asked on Thursday if he would work to replenish funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at a forum held by the Center for American Progress.
“If you look at the budget we’re working on right now, we restore most of the cuts. And even go higher than previous years on many of the programs that DOGE slashed,” Schumer said.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., outside the Senate chamber. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“We have worked really hard and gotten bipartisan support to increase these amounts and undo a lot of the cuts which are essential,” he added.
He did not describe which specific programs he hopes to supplement.
Lawmakers have not yet released a final text for the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill for 2026. The Senate Appropriations Committee has proposed a plan that would increase its fiscal year 2026 funding by $5 billion over fiscal 2025 levels.
Since the Trump administration began making cuts through DOGE, Democrats like Schumer have largely condemned them, calling them an attack on government resources and services.
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Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts have uncovered several examples of wasteful spending. (Getty; AP.DOGE/X)
Republicans, by contrast, have framed the effort as a way to remove waste, fraud and abuse. According to the DOGE website, the group believes it has eliminated $215 billion in waste.
Republicans made $115 billion of those spending reductions official through a bill passed last year.
But since then, lawmakers have not advanced another rescissions package, a special type of bill that helps lawmakers fast-track spending reductions at the request of the president.
Republicans like Aaron Bean, R-Fla., the chairman of the House DOGE Caucus, say the GOP’s cost-cutting efforts are still ongoing in the background.
“DOGE is still alive,” Bean told Fox News Digital in December. “We’re going to get it rocking. I think that will come down the road.”
Bean noted that several pressing issues have captured Congress’ attention in the last few months.
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Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the Capitol Hill Club April 30, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“I think, you know, the shutdown set everybody back a little bit. These credits, with the budget, with everything,” Bean said, referring to the COVID-era Obamacare tax credits that were at the heart of the 2025 government shutdown.
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Members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Schumer’s statements.
