As conservatives across the nation have rallied behind President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to reduce government waste through the federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) program, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus wants to follow that model at the state level.
In outlining its goals for the upcoming interim legislative session, the Freedom Caucus says “DOGE-ing Wyoming’s budget” is a top priority to identify unconstitutional and wasteful spending.
Although he’s said before that he only wants to prevent an increase in state spending, state Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, chairman emeritus of the Freedom Caucus, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday he also wants to put state grants under the microscope.
If the state isn’t directly administering the use of a grant, Bear said it should be potentially eliminated, a difference he sees as “apples and oranges.”
“I’m hesitant to say get rid of all of them, but I can’t think of where an exception can be made,” he said.
Bear also brought up how the use of some state grants can be nuanced.
During this year’s session, the Legislature approved a combination of grants and low-interest loans to help provide relief from last summer’s devastating wildfire season. Gov. Mark Gordon supported the use of grants for this purpose, while the Freedom Caucus fought for solely low-interest loans.
“I can’t find anywhere in the (Wyoming) Constitution where giving money like that (grants) is constitutional,” Bear said.
Although he would’ve preferred that the financial relief only come in the form of low-interest loans, Bear said he was willing to accept the arrangement based on the fact the state will be directly applying the chemicals to get rid of invasive weeds like medusahead where the fires burned, in the name of wildlife habitat management.
No Blank Checks
Much less acceptable for the Freedom Caucus is the state granting money to nonprofits to spend themselves on pre-approved purposes, Bear said.
Although Sen. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, agrees that all state spending should be scrutinized for potential waste and fraud, he doesn’t believe that targeting grants is the way to go, as he believes it could lead to more state administration of the same causes being managed by the private sector.
“These nonprofits are the boots on the ground for managing where to spend the money,” he said. “The only way to replace that is by growing government.”
Crago believes Wyoming state government is for the most part free of waste and fraud and incomparable to the federal government.
Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, doesn’t support the DOGE cuts being made on a federal level or the Freedom Caucus’ proposal to bring a similar effort to Wyoming’s state government.
“If what you want to do is cut jobs from hardworking Wyoming families and communities, then we should start a DOGE committee,” she said.
Provenza agreed with Crago and said cutting private grants is less efficient than the status quo, mentioning recent federal cuts to a health care clinic in Lander and how the state likely isn’t prepared to run a local soup kitchen.
“He’s ignoring knowing what getting a grant for a nonprofit from the state actually does,” she said. “These grants are for nonprofits to provide critical services. If a soup kitchen was state-run, it would cost 10 times as much.”
Drag Show Funding
Bear pointed to a controversy that broke out in 2024 over a $3,000 grant the Wyoming Department of Health gave out for an anti-AIDS fundraiser that included a drag queen bingo party with alcohol present, which the Freedom Caucus derided at the time as a “perverted and scandalous event.” This grant was not given out for this year’s drag show.
“This is not an appropriate use of state money,” Bear said.
Although Bear said the LGBTQ advocacy group Wyoming Equality received money to hold this event last year, it was solely run by Wyoming AIDS Assistance. That group billed the event as an anti-AIDS fundraiser used to benefit people living in Wyoming with HIV and AIDS.
The Department of Health also eliminated a $250,000 grant it was administering through the Centers For Disease Control to Wyoming Equality for rural LGBTQ health equity measures, such as testing for sexually transmitted infections (STI) and providing transgender treatment resources.
Sara Burlingame, executive director of Wyoming Equality, said the program had a measurable positive impact on not only the number of STI tests given, but also a drop in them.
She said the Freedom Caucus’ misrepresentations about her group and the drag show directly influenced the Department of Health’s decision to cut the grant.
“We got federal dollars to improve rural health and we delivered,” Burlingame said. “If the Freedom Caucus was interested in solutions instead of fear mongering, that would matter.”
Constitutional Questions
Bear points to a few different examples in the Wyoming Constitution that he believes shows that grants should not be offered by the state to private entities.
Article 3, Section 36 of the state Constitution says, “No appropriation shall be made for charitable, industrial, educational or benevolent purposes to any person, corporation or community not under the absolute control of the state, nor to any denominational or sectarian institution or association.”
Some have criticized a bill passed in this year’s session providing $7,000 per child to attend private and charter schools in Wyoming as violating this provision.
Bear said that in a few recent federal lawsuits, courts have upheld this use. On Wednesday, conservative members of the U.S. Supreme Court leaned toward allowing Oklahoma to approve the nation’s first religious public charter school.
“Those have been challenged and are losing across the country,” Bear said.
During this year’s legislative session, a bill was considered to prevent state entities from donating money to or sponsoring any sexually explicit events in direct response to the drag show issue.
The bill died in the Senate, but Bear believes it’s defended by the state constitution, which says the Legislature has a duty to protect and promote health and morality of people.
“Giving money to these drinking parties violates the Constitution,” Bear said.
Providing state money for economic development is expressly allowed in the constitution, as long as it’s provided in the form of a loan, he said.
Bear, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, will start working on his DOGE-ing Wyoming efforts at the committee’s first interim meeting June 23-24 in Gillette. The committee will start making formal plans for the 2026-2027 biennial budget in December.
Less Time To Do It
The Freedom Caucus also wants to protect Wyoming’s energy from Green New Deal carbon capture mandates on coal producers, pursue more property tax reforms, give teachers more authority to manage their classrooms, and require that pen and paper ballots are the default voting method in Wyoming.
The Freedom Caucus supports a move the Management Council made earlier this month to allow committee chairmen to decide the topics they will cover this interim session.
The council also shortened the number of days every committee will meet this summer after a large number of committee bills died in last year’s session. They did this with the caveat that chairmen will be allowed to request for more days if they need them, which the Freedom Caucus is calling on the council to approve to achieve “conservative wins.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
