On Tuesday, the District 1 congressman held a tele-town hall during which he fielded several several questions, many of which focused on the actions of the Department of Government Efficiency, colloquially called DOGE, which has been spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk and tasked with seeking out what it identifies as “wasteful” spending and directing job cuts throughout the government.

Moore also is co-chair of the House DOGE Caucus.

The Salt Lake City Republican opened by stating that he understands just how big the federal workforce is to the region.

“There’s 435 districts in the United States and Utah’s 1st District is in the top 5%,” he said. “Hill Air Force Base, the IRS processing facility in Ogden, the veteran’s hospital is another large employer and then, of course, air traffic controllers, TSA agents, all things related to BLM and the Forest Service — that’s a unique, amazing aspect that I get to represent. And I know there’s a lot of angst that’s going on.”

When a federal worker on the call asked directly about the “sledgehammer approach” of DOGE, Moore said he takes exception to how DOGE portrays the federal workforce.

“The communication that’s come out from the DOGE world has been antagonistic,” he said. “It’s not helpful and I have over-communicated that into my channels back here.”

Moore said he and his team have been in communication with federal entities about the impacts of DOGE cuts.

“The last two weeks, we’ve probably tripled our efforts just to communicate with the major federal employment offices in my district,” he said. “I know I have a very unique district. It’s a very strongly conservative district, but also a federal workforce district, and right now, those two are at odds because federal workers are kind of getting demonized out there in the social media sphere.”

Moore added that he sees the confusing and rapid nature of DOGE’s actions as a source of frustration.

“I get the frustration,” he said. “I’ve been very, very frustrated at this alongside you. Again, it’s more real for you than it is for me, but we have been working very hard to communicate that that is not the right approach and that folks want to be a part of the solution and we should not be alienating them at this time.”

When asked about how the House DOGE Caucus oversees and fits in with the Musk-led department, Moore said that he saw a lot of promise in the beginning.

“There was initially a great kickoff we did in December,” he said. “Vivek (Ramaswamy) was still on the team at that point and I was very excited. I saw a lot of willingness for input. … There hasn’t been much communication directly with us over the last, basically, three or four weeks since it kind of kicked off after (President Donald Trump’s) inauguration.”

He said this lack of communication has been yet another source of exasperation.

“I’ll be very candid, I’ve been frustrated that we could be doing this far more collaboratively, and we haven’t,” he said. “That’s why I’ve made it very known to the administration that this is counterproductive and it hasn’t gone the direction that we’d like to see it.”

Moore said collaboration is ultimately necessary to move forward.

“If we expend the political capital to not have a collaborative approach in Congress, everything ultimately — unless you do like one bill every year that can go on a simple majority — it all has to be bipartisan,” he said. “We have to find bipartisan solutions.”

War in Ukraine

Moore also was asked about the war in Ukraine and whether he sees Ukraine or Russia as the responsible party for the conflict.

“I clearly, obviously, have been very consistent on this — Russia was the aggressor,” he said. “Russia invaded Ukraine.”

He said he disagreed with the U.S. siding with several adversaries on a United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s invasion.

“I don’t agree ever, necessarily, with voting along the lines of Russia and Iran and other countries that align with them,” he said.

However, he said he feels that the current administration is in a position to deliver peace.

“I believe that President Trump is in the best position possible to end this conflict,” he said. “That I do support.”

Additionally, Moore fielded questions regarding the budget, funding for the National Institutes of Health and President Trump’s “jokes” about trying to run for a third term.