Government Efficiency (1 Viewer)

[RobF]

I think this topic deserves its own thread, both to discuss generally the topic of government efficiency, and specifically the so-called 'Department of Government Efficiency' and the incoming Trump administration's aims to "dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure Federal Agencies".

The announcements have been covered in the The Trump Cabinet and key post thread, but to recap, Trump has announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will work together on a not-actually-an-official-government-Department of Government Efficiency, which is intended to work with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to "drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before," with the 'Department' to conclude its work "no later than July 4, 2026."

Musk has previously said that the federal budget could be reduced by "at least $2 trillion", and Ramaswarmy, during his presidential campaign, said he would fire more than 75% of the federal work force and disband agencies including the Department of Education and the FBI.

 

[samiam5211]

Gonna be pretty messed up.

You think Health and Human Services is going to care about taking care of people when it's been staffed by people from the Tupelo, Mississippi (hypothetically) area for 40 years.

 

[DaveXA]

First time hearing about this

Then you’ll have the fear that if your agency moves halfway across the country, you’ve been a government employee and DC metro resident for decades decide to relocate only to be fired a month later
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The Trump administration has given federal agencies until mid-April to submit plans detailing where they will move their offices outside of the nation’s capital.

Heads of all departments and agencies on Wednesday were told to submit “any proposed relocations of agency bureaus and offices from Washington, D.C. and the National Capital Region to less-costly parts of the country” by April 14.

The directive was part of guidance sent from leaders in the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management, which outlined how to comply with Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency “workforce optimization” executive order that vowed to eliminate “waste, bloat, and insularity.”

To achieve this, Elon Musk and DOGE have made sweeping staff cuts, slashed contracts, and initiated plans to downsize the federal government’s real estate holdings in D.C.

There was no mention of the likely massive costs in making such moves, or the inefficiency and possible funding drain of selling property or paying off leases only to have to replace property with other purchases or leases.……

Ending government leases in the city could have widespread implications for its economy, some argued.

Diana Parks, chair of the National Federal Development Association, told The Washington Post it “would be devastating to most commercial landholders in the D.C. market.”

She continued: “For all of it to hit the market in a short time, it’s just a supply-and-demand issue that’ll drive down the value of that real estate considerably.”………

Getting out of DOGE? Federal agencies given deadline to come up with plans to exit DC

‘You go around Washington and see all these buildings with the Department of Education. We want to move education back to the states, where it belongs,’ Trump said at a Cabinet meeting

www.independent.co.uk

Just to be sure. This deadline is for submission of each agency's plans to relocate, not that they will actually do so. There no doubt will be further actions and deadlines, but I wouldn't take this one too serioisly.

 

[Dragon]

Fear? They will most certainly do it.

The only thing Republicans want is the federal government to run the military. Of course, even there they want contractors involved as much as possible.

Everything else would be by private sector which increases by an order of magnitude the potential for waste, fraud and abuse.

Not to mention the impact on state government.

This schlitz show is just getting started.

They want to crash the commercial building market in DC to pick up real estate cheap. Then in a year or two they will move it all back and cash in.

 

[Sendai]

SC has reversed lower court ruling on UsAID.

Didn’t reverse the lower court. Paused the ruling. Further court proceedings to come.

 

[DaveXA]

Didn’t reverse the lower court. Paused the ruling. Further court proceedings to come.

Semantics. Yes, they didn't reverse the ruling, but yes, it's actually a temporary reversal because the ruling doesn't go into effect when the judge said it would.

We'll see what the ruling ends up being tomorrow though.