Government Efficiency (3 Viewers)

[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.

 

[superchuck500]

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

Ummm... that's not how this works.

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

Ummm... that's not how this works.

 

[bird]

Oh, goodie. Skeletor and his wife. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[DaveXA]

Ummm... that's not how this works.

Indeed.

 

[DaveXA]

They aren't even trying. Just making up their own rules as they go. Republicans continuing to defend this nonsense is just baffling.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Ummm... that's not how this works.

 

[MT15]

That’s Musk’s maximum transparency right there.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Federal workers are slated to receive a second email Saturday asking them for a bullet-point description of what they did in the past week — only this time, a new strategy from the Trump administration means they might have to respond, according to three people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.

The emails are slated to become a weekly requirement, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post and a person briefed on the Office of Personnel Management’s decisions. In part, the responses will serve to gauge agencies’ alignment with President Donald Trump’s agenda and executive orders, according to the documents and the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Last weekend, the OPM sent a message to government employees from hr@opm.gov, asking for a list of what workers had accomplished the week before. The new message is expected to arrive from addresses associated with chiefs of agency HR departments across the federal government, two of the people said. The documents show, and the person briefed confirmed, that the eventual plan is for agencies to develop Microsoft forms to capture employees’ five-bullet responses, that such replies will be mandatory and that the collected information will go to department heads across the government. Details on employees’ work will not be released externally, according to the person briefed and the documents.

The switch could give the request more teeth, because agencies typically have more direct authority over their staff than OPM, which enacts HR policy across the bureaucracy but doesn’t actually employ most workers.

Several Cabinet departments and other federal agencies advised workers this week not to respond to the initial email, foiling plans by billionaire Elon Musk — who is advising Trump on how to slash the government — to consider those who didn’t reply as having offered their resignations.

“The president of the United States cannot fire a career employee, because they are not reporting to him,” said Max Stier, president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan group that advocates for a stronger federal government. “But if an agency head says this is what all employees need to do, there is fairly significant latitude.”

It was not clear how many federal employees would receive the new email or whether any agencies would be exempt. Agencies that already require employees to share regular work updates — which is common across the government — may not have to debut the weekly email initiative, and emails may not be required every week in every case, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter. OPM plans to provide written guidance and an example of how to carry out the initiative...............

Feds to start getting weekly emails asking what they did. Bosses will see if it fits Trump goals​

 

[MT15]

This is entirely predictable. What a shirtshow.

US intel shows Russia and China are attempting to recruit disgruntled federal employees, sources say — CNN

Foreign adversaries including Russia and China have recently directed their intelligence services to ramp up recruiting of US federal employees working in national security, targeting those who have been fired or feel they could be soon, according to four people familiar with recent US...

apple.news

 

[DaveXA]

This is entirely predictable. What a shirtshow.

US intel shows Russia and China are attempting to recruit disgruntled federal employees, sources say — CNN

Foreign adversaries including Russia and China have recently directed their intelligence services to ramp up recruiting of US federal employees working in national security, targeting those who have been fired or feel they could be soon, according to four people familiar with recent US...

apple.news

"Yeah...national security...what's that?" Trump probably.

 

[MT15]

Reportedly, GOP lawmakers have been advised by party leadership to avoid town halls, after several were booed and faced tough criticism for their support for ending or curtailing social services that people rely on. This is an example from Kansas.

Loading…

www.newsfromthestates.com

 

[Neworleansfan]

Reportedly, GOP lawmakers have been advised by party leadership to avoid town halls, after several were booed and faced tough criticism for their support for ending or curtailing social services that people rely on. This is an example from Kansas.

Loading…

www.newsfromthestates.com

Cowards.

 

[Eeyore]

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.

They want to know in advance so that they can buy the property now and sell/lease it to the government.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that President Donald Trump’s administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money, the administration’s own data shows.

The Department of Government Efficiency, run by Trump adviser Elon Musk, published an updated list Monday of nearly 2,300 contracts that agencies terminated in recent weeks across the federal government.

Data published on DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” shows that more than one-third of the contract cancellations, 794 in all, are expected to yield no savings.

That’s usually because the total value of the contracts has already been fully obligated, which means the government has a legal requirement to spend the funds for the goods or services it purchased and in many cases has already done so.

“It’s like confiscating used ammunition after it’s been shot when there’s nothing left in it. It doesn’t accomplish any policy objective,” said Charles Tiefer, a retired University of Baltimore law professor and expert on government contracting law. “Their terminating so many contracts pointlessly obviously doesn’t accomplish anything for saving money.”……….

Nearly 40% of contracts canceled by Musk's DOGE are expected to produce no savings

Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that President Donald Trump’s administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money, the administration’s data shows.

apnews.com

 

[DaveXA]

Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that President Donald Trump’s administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money, the administration’s own data shows.

The Department of Government Efficiency, run by Trump adviser Elon Musk, published an updated list Monday of nearly 2,300 contracts that agencies terminated in recent weeks across the federal government.

Data published on DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” shows that more than one-third of the contract cancellations, 794 in all, are expected to yield no savings.

That’s usually because the total value of the contracts has already been fully obligated, which means the government has a legal requirement to spend the funds for the goods or services it purchased and in many cases has already done so.

“It’s like confiscating used ammunition after it’s been shot when there’s nothing left in it. It doesn’t accomplish any policy objective,” said Charles Tiefer, a retired University of Baltimore law professor and expert on government contracting law. “Their terminating so many contracts pointlessly obviously doesn’t accomplish anything for saving money.”……….

Nearly 40% of contracts canceled by Musk's DOGE are expected to produce no savings

Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that President Donald Trump’s administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money, the administration’s data shows.

apnews.com

Canceling already funded and executed contracts. Yeah, I'm sure the American people will eat up that sheet. Let's do it.

 

[Dragon]

Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that President Donald Trump’s administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money, the administration’s own data shows.

The Department of Government Efficiency, run by Trump adviser Elon Musk, published an updated list Monday of nearly 2,300 contracts that agencies terminated in recent weeks across the federal government.

Data published on DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” shows that more than one-third of the contract cancellations, 794 in all, are expected to yield no savings.

That’s usually because the total value of the contracts has already been fully obligated, which means the government has a legal requirement to spend the funds for the goods or services it purchased and in many cases has already done so.

“It’s like confiscating used ammunition after it’s been shot when there’s nothing left in it. It doesn’t accomplish any policy objective,” said Charles Tiefer, a retired University of Baltimore law professor and expert on government contracting law. “Their terminating so many contracts pointlessly obviously doesn’t accomplish anything for saving money.”……….

Nearly 40% of contracts canceled by Musk's DOGE are expected to produce no savings

Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that President Donald Trump’s administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money, the administration’s data shows.

apnews.com

The goal was never to save money or improve efficiency. The real objective was to sow chaos and cripple the proper functioning of government. A dysfunctional system makes it far easier for bad actors to cheat, defraud, and bend the law to serve their own interests, all while dismantling the oversight mechanisms meant to hold them accountable.

 

[Optimus Prime]

When the Office of Personnel Management asked federal workers to explain what they did last week, the email landed with extra weight for workers at NASA’s Human Landing System program.

The program has a lunar lander contract with Blue Origin, the rocket company owned by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. Replying to the email could reveal details of that contract work to Blue Origin’s primary competitor: Billionaire Elon Musk, now a powerful adviser to President Donald Trump and also the founder of the rocket company SpaceX.

Initially, workers at NASA were told they didn’t need to respond to the email, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. But then a program manager for HLS sent a note, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, saying that she would reply and would “recommend we all do.”

The note urged workers to exclude proprietary or contractually sensitive information. But NASA workers were nonetheless rattled by the idea of disclosing what they were doing to OPM, an agency run by Musk’s allies — in the latest collision between Musk’s public role and his sprawling business empire.

Since formally joining the Trump administration as a “special government employee,” Musk has said he would recuse himself from tasks that might pose a conflict of interest; the White House has said Musk would police those conflicts himself. But that hasn’t eased concerns in agencies that do business with Musk’s companies or his competitors.

Federal law generally prohibits public officials from working on issues in which they, their families or their outside employers have financial interest, and ethics offices — not the officials themselves — are supposed to decide what poses a conflict. As a special government employee, Musk is supposed to file a financial disclosure form, but it doesn’t have to be made public.

At the Federal Aviation Administration, worry over potential conflicts of interest spiked after revelations that the agency is close to shifting work on a $2.4 billion contract for its communications systems from Verizon to Musk’s Starlink.

“For them to come in and be awarded the contract at the last minute is startling across the board,” said an employee briefed on the agency’s deliberations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “It’s such a clear conflict of interest.”..............

As Musk polices his own conflicts, some agencies hear sirens going off​

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/01/elon-musk-government-conflict-interest/