Burgum says Interior Department 'completely embracing the DOGE effort'

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EXCLUSIVE: When it comes to President Donald Trump's mission to overhaul and downsize the federal government through his recently created Department of Government Efficiency, which is known by its acronym DOGE, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is all in.

"I think that we're off to a great start in Interior, we're completely embracing the DOGE effort," Burgum emphasized in a national digital exclusive interview with Fox News.

Burgum, a multi-millionaire former software company CEO and former two-term North Dakota governor who ran for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination before dropping out of the race and heavily supporting Trump, spotlighted government transparency when touting DOGE.

"Part of what DOGE is bringing is just awareness to the republic, to the people that are in our country," he said. "Great government is always transparent. And that's what we're doing."

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Burgum also highlighted that when it comes to DOGE's mission, "part of it is the federal government is so outdated on the technology… we have to get caught up. We're decades behind."

Trump named Elon Musk - the world's richest person and the chief executive of Tesla and Space X - to steer DOGE.

DOGE has swept through federal agencies since Trump was inaugurated a month ago, rooting out what the White House argues was billions in wasteful federal spending. It has also taken a meat cleaver to the federal workforce, resulting in a massive downsizing of employees. The moves by DOGE have triggered a slew of lawsuits in response.

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And Democrats are taking aim.

Gov. Ned Lamont argued on Thursday that DOGE appears to be aiming to "push costs down to the states and say, 'You guys deal with it.'" 

"It has nothing to do with efficiency. It has everything to do with just cost shifting. And if that's all they want to do, then it's not DOGE. It ought to be called dodge, a way to just push the costs on to our people," Lamont told reporters.

The cuts by DOGE have hit Interior, which is responsible for the management and conservation of most federally held lands and natural resources. The department's workforce has been downsized over the past week by roughly 2,000 jobs.

"We're trying to right size the full-time positions that we have," Burgum said when asked about the job cuts at Interior.

And in an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier on "Special Report" a day earlier, Burgum added that "on a personal level, of course, I've got great empathy for anybody that loses a job… but I think we have to realize that every American is better off if we actually stop having a $2 trillion a year deficit."

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Roughly 1,000 of the cuts at Interior were newly hired National Park Service employees, who maintain and clean the parks, educate and inform visitors, and handle other duties.

But Burgum said Interior is reinstating about 5,000 seasonal jobs that were originally rescinded last month.

Seasonal workers are normally added during the spring and summer months to handle the more than 325 million annual visitors who visit the nation's 428 parks, historic sites and other attractions.

"We did post last week 5000 summer jobs. So, if someone is looking for one of the greatest experiences of your life and want to spend the summer working at a national park, we're hiring," Burgum told Fox News Digital, as he made his pitch. "And if you want to work as a wildland firefighter, we're hiring. These are seasonal jobs. But again, an exciting way to get an experience in some of America's most beautiful places."

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Burgum centered his short-lived presidential campaign on the economy, energy and national security. 

And now, as Interior Secretary, where he manages all oil and gas drilling leases on federal lands and waters, he's a major salesman in Trump's all-of-the-above energy agenda.

"President Trump has a vision of what has been called energy dominance, but it's really about how do we bring back the strength and the power of American energy in a way that lifts up all Americans," he said.

Burgum was interviewed minutes ahead of a Thursday appearance with the Republican Governors Association, and ahead of a Friday speech to the National Governors Association, which were both holding winter meetings in the nation's capital.

"The message to all these governors is, hey, the people in your state, regardless of which party you're in, are all going to be happier. Because when President Trump lowers the price of energy, it lowers inflation for everyone," he emphasized.

And Burgum argued that "when we export more energy abroad to our friends and allies, that is going to help President Trump win the Nobel Peace Prize. I mean, part of the way he ends these wars is we sell energy to our allies so they can stop buying it from our adversaries who are using those oil sales to fund wars against us."