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.

 

[MT15]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to block court orders requiring Elon Musk ’s Department of Government Efficiency to turn over documents about its operations to a government watchdog group.

The Justice Department’s latest emergency appeal to the high court concerns whether DOGE, which has been central to President Donald Trump’s push to remake the government, is a federal agency that is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The administration argues DOGE is merely a presidential advisory body that is exempt from requests for documents under FOIA.

The administration wants the justices to freeze orders that would force DOGE to turn over documents to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and have acting DOGE administrator Amy Gleason answer questions under oath within the next three weeks. CREW sued in February, claiming that DOGE “wields shockingly broad power” with no transparency about its actions.…..

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to block watchdog access to DOGE documents

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to block court orders requiring Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to turn over documents about its operations to a government watchdog group.

apnews.com

Such a dishonest argument. DOGE is not advisory, they are calling the shots and everyone knows this. Various cabinet secretaries have said as much, IIRC.

 

[Optimus Prime]

The Department of Veterans Affairs, the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system, has been plunged into crisis amid canceled contracts, hiring freezes, resignations, layoffs and other moves by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), internal agency documents obtained by the Guardian show.

The documents paint a grim picture of chaos across the department’s sprawling network of 170 veterans affairs (VA) hospitals and more than 1,300 outpatient clinics, which serve 9 million US military veterans.

At the Danville VA medical center, in rural Illinois near the Indiana border, so many nurses resigned that hospital administrators were forced to close the acute care unit to new patients.

The dysfunction has also included a backlog of 2,298 unread radiology exams in Orlando, Florida, and the cancellation of a dozen rheumatology appointments in Montrose, New York. In Battle Creek, Michigan, a spate of resignations, early separation offers and a hiring freeze has led to a “critical” shortage of police officers responsible for protecting VA patients.


The Guardian’s investigation, based on a review of “issue briefs” filed within the last month to the agency’s central office by staff at more than a dozen hospitals, comes at a time of increased scrutiny of the Trump administration’s handling of the VA.

In response to a detailed list of findings from the Guardian, the VA press secretary Peter Kasperowicz argued the conditions described didn’t represent a problem.

“The only thing these documents show is that VA has a robust and well functioning system to flag potential problems and quickly fix them,” he said in an email. “The Guardian’s attempt to spin these outdated, routine reports to make VA look bad is dishonest.”………..

Disarray at Department of Veterans Affairs imperils patient care, internal documents reveal

Unit closures, reduced hours of operation and exam backlogs reported after Trump administration reductions

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Workers hit by the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts of federal government jobs, programs and services turned to congressional Republicans for help. But Republicans don’t want to talk about it, according to people who have tried to reach the politicians.

Sabrina Valenti, a former budget analyst for the Coastal Wetland Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), was fired in February, then reinstated, and fired again weeks later.

She started contacting Republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives to express concern. “They represent hundreds of thousands or millions of people and those people deserve a safe and healthy life,” said Valenti. “They are allowing the people who create that safe and healthy life to be fired.”


But as she worked with other fired federal workers in the Fork Off Coalition to reach members of Congress, the responses ranged “from indifference and being ignored to outright hostility”, Valenti claimed.

Senators Josh Hawley and Chuck Grassley “just will not even look in our direction” in the hallways, she said. Hawley and Grassley’s offices did not respond to requests for comment.…….

Republicans are dodging fired federal staff: ‘They will not even look in our direction’

Members of Congress are accused of hiding out when workers have sought answers on why their jobs were axed

www.theguardian.com

 

[DaveXA]

Workers hit by the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts of federal government jobs, programs and services turned to congressional Republicans for help. But Republicans don’t want to talk about it, according to people who have tried to reach the politicians.

Sabrina Valenti, a former budget analyst for the Coastal Wetland Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), was fired in February, then reinstated, and fired again weeks later.

She started contacting Republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives to express concern. “They represent hundreds of thousands or millions of people and those people deserve a safe and healthy life,” said Valenti. “They are allowing the people who create that safe and healthy life to be fired.”


But as she worked with other fired federal workers in the Fork Off Coalition to reach members of Congress, the responses ranged “from indifference and being ignored to outright hostility”, Valenti claimed.

Senators Josh Hawley and Chuck Grassley “just will not even look in our direction” in the hallways, she said. Hawley and Grassley’s offices did not respond to requests for comment.…….

Republicans are dodging fired federal staff: ‘They will not even look in our direction’

Members of Congress are accused of hiding out when workers have sought answers on why their jobs were axed

www.theguardian.com

Fork off indeed.

 

[zztop]

'what could possibly go wrong?'

White House slashing staff in major overhaul of National Security Council, officials say

President Donald Trump is ordering a major overhaul of the National Security Council that will shrink its size, lead to the ouster of some political appointees and return many career government employees back to their home agencies.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Although Elon Musk said Doge didn’t cut Aids programs, global health officials describe widespread and disastrous effects resulting from the White House’s throttling of foreign aid.

The disruptions have caused new HIV infections to surge in recent months and threaten to derail plans to eradicate the virus as a public health threat by 2030.

In one stark case, the cuts have cast uncertainty over the rollout of a newly developed injectable that scientists have hailed as “the closest thing to a vaccine that we have ever had in HIV response”.

Musk was projected 10ft tall above the stage at the Qatar Economic Forum this week as he gave a sweeping and combative video interview.

The creator of the so-called “department of government efficiency”, who once boasted he had fed “USAID into the wood chipper”, found himself defending his cuts to humanitarian aid. Just days before, Bill Gates had accused the world’s richest person of “killing the world’s poorest children”.

In one especially fraught exchange with Bloomberg interviewer Mishal Husain, Musk rebuked a question about whether his cuts to USAID had imperiled HIV/Aids programs and claimed he would “fix it right now” if any services had, in fact, been defunded.

“First of all, the program, the Aids medication program, is continuing. So, your fundamental premise is wrong. It is continuing,” Musk said. “It is false. It’s false. It’s false.”

Rather than Musk’s cuts leaving HIV/Aids programs intact, however, global health officials said that Doge’s efforts have in reality hampered their work worldwide and thrown the protection of large swaths of people from disease into disarray…….

Elon Musk says Doge didn’t cut HIV programs. But it threw a ‘miracle drug’ into chaos

Global health officials say USAID cuts upended their work, as billionaire claims he will fix any defunding ‘right now’

www.theguardian.com

 

[bird]

'what could possibly go wrong?'

White House slashing staff in major overhaul of National Security Council, officials say

President Donald Trump is ordering a major overhaul of the National Security Council that will shrink its size, lead to the ouster of some political appointees and return many career government employees back to their home agencies.

apnews.com

So, now Li’l Marco is shadow president.

 

[Dragon]

So, now Li’l Marco is shadow president.

He is planning on starting wars and don't want any opposition

 

[MT15]

Nobody in the press should print anything this administration says without the disclaimer that they are proven liars. It should be beside every quote until people get sick of seeing it.

 

[MT15]

Musk is lying.