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.

 

[RobF]

All of those points are true; it did destroy faith, careers, scientific research and lives. But I essentially agree with this take on it:





Right. None of those consequences are failure for what it was primarily intended to do; dismantle infrastructure, transfer data, transfer control, enable cronyism, stop redistribution of wealth, etc.

The fantasy facade of crudely hacking away at the federal workforce so 'efficiency'/the private sector/magic beans could do a better job failed, naturally, and I'm sure some people involved earnestly believed that was the actual goal, but I don't think the architects of DOGE will be unhappy. I think they'd call it a success.

Although I'll now also flip that again, because their success is everyone's failure, including ultimately theirs, but that's because they fail to comprehend they don't actually exist in a world where they're immune to the consequences of their own actions, as much as they try to convince themselves that they do.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Cuts to US aid funding have directly led to the closure of more than 1,000 family planning clinics, new figures shared with the Guardian reveal.

Millions of people have been left without access to contraceptives or care, including those who have suffered sexual assault, as part of a “radical shift towards conservative ideologies that deliberately block human rights”, according to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

A survey of its member associations found that approximately 1,394 service delivery points, or clinics, have been shut down, including 1,175 in Africa, and that 34 had laid off staff as a result of the Trump administration’s cuts, representing at least 969 job losses.


Campaigners say the cuts have emboldened anti-rights groups, reporting a rise in rhetoric opposing abortion and access to contraception for teenagers.

Africa and the Middle East were most affected by the clinic closures, often in areas where they were people’s only option, IPPF said. It estimates that 9 million people worldwide are affected.

“These funding cuts have clear and immediate consequences […] women giving birth without skilled care, people living with HIV unable to access testing and treatment to stay alive, and survivors of violence being turned away from the only clinic in their area,” said Alvaro Bermejo, director general of IPPF, the world’s largest network for sexual and reproductive health.

Nelly Munyasia, director of Reproductive Health Network Kenya, said “serious stockouts” caused by the cuts mean women are unable to get their contraceptives.

“We’ll start to see unsafe abortions, we’ll start to see reports of foetuses being found at the riverbanks,” she said.


Anti-rights groups had opposed the provision of contraception to teenagers in Kenya, she said, “so we know that this is a moment, a ground that is really fertile for them to then progress the agenda within the country”.

Martha Clara Nakato, a public health and reproductive rights advocate from Uganda, said: “For the longest time we’ve had a fight over autonomy for women to own their bodies, so we clearly know that that deliberate attack on service provision is really to close it, to ensure that women are not able to get the services.”………

Figures reveal stark reality of US funding cuts as 1,394 family planning clinics shut

Survey by world’s largest network for sexual and reproductive health shows devastation to services, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, and amplification of anti-rights voices

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Michaela felt a sharp pain shoot from her hip while she bent over to water some plants in early May 2025. Then she fell over and couldn’t get back up.

Her husband called an ambulance and she spent the night in a hospital, where, at 57, she found out she had a mass on her spine. It was metastatic breast cancer.

“I had no warning that that was going to happen, and I was devastated. At first, I didn’t clearly understand that it was part of my breast cancer that had metastasized to my spine, which I learned was a common place for it to go,” she said.

“If I were to die prematurely, I could not imagine leaving [my husband] here. We really don’t have any family. We don’t have any children.”

When Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Michaela’s husband prepared to be forced back into the office at the Department of Transportation in Washington DC. He had worked remotely since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, from their home outside Baltimore.

On Trump’s first day in office on 20 January, he issued an executive order demanding all federal agencies terminate all remote work arrangements.

The office of personnel management directed federal agencies to enact the order despite collective bargaining contracts with federal unions.

“My husband’s a veteran with the administration, and he’s an expert in his field. He’s been doing this for 20 years more now, so it’s exhausting for him. We’re in our 50s. He was leaving the house at five o’clock in the morning and getting home at seven at night,” Michaela said. The Guardian is not using Michaela’s real name since her husband still works in the Department of Transportation and fears retaliation.

In July, Michaela had surgery, a laminectomy. A few weeks after that, she had stereotactic radiation, and is currently on an oncology regimen called Kisqali and hormone therapy.

She had stage one breast cancer in 2014, but was able to treat it, as it was caught early, with a partial lumpectomy, radiation, chemotherapy and tamoxifen, a hormonal therapy. Through regular checkups, she stayed on top of it, before her recent diagnosis of stage four metastatic breast cancer.

Throughout this year, Michaela’s husband survived reductions in force at the Department of Transportation. By May, nearly 2,800 employeeshad left the agency, due to those reductions as well as retirements and voluntary resignations.

According to the Department of Transportation’s memo to the office of personnel management on its plan for reductions in force and reorganization, “overall, we now estimate that by December 31, 2025, our workforce will be reduced by approximately 20 percent from our February 2025 levels”.

This would correlate to more than 10,000 fewer employees at the Department of Transportation. The office of personnel management said in a blog post in late November that federal employee cuts have exceeded goals, with 317,000 workers leaving the federal government, and only 68,000 new hires.

“We were concerned about RIFs. We understand based on the way this administration functions, that this is always on the table because they ignore the law,” Michaela explained.

“In his group, a few colleagues took the early deferred leave retirement offer where they could take leave through September and then they are done. One colleague kept in touch and he found another job at half his salary. This seems to be a trend. He took this option because of the rumors flying around early on about RIFs. His colleague indicated he regretted taking the leave offer now.”………

She has stage four cancer. Her husband is a federal worker. Will she survive the Trump administration?

Michaela’s husband is away 14 hours a day amid Trump’s ban on remote work, the threat of layoffs is ever-present and their health premiums are set to multiply

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

On the one-month anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this year, a group of his appointed aides gathered to celebrate.

For four weeks, they had been working overtime to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, freezing thousands of programs, including ones that provided food, water and medicine around the world.

They’d culled USAID’s staff and abandoned its former headquarters in the stately Ronald Reagan Building, shunting the remnants of the agency to what was once an overflow space in a glass-walled commercial office above Nordstrom Rack and a bank.

There, the crew of newly minted political figures told the office manager to create a moat of 90 empty desks around them so no one could hear them talk.

They ignored questions and advice from career staff with decades of experience in the field.

Despite the steps to insulate themselves, dire warnings poured in from diplomats and government experts around the world.

The cuts would cost countless lives, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the other Trump officials were told repeatedly.

The team of aides pressed on, galvanized by two men who did little to hide their disdain for the agency: first Peter Marocco, a blunt-spoken Marine veteran, and then 28-year-old Jeremy Lewin, who, despite having no government or aid experience, often personally decided which programs should be axed.

By the third week in February, they were on track to wipe out 90% of USAID’s work. Created in 1961 to foster global stability and help advance American interests, USAID was the largest humanitarian donor in the world. In just a month’s time, the small band of appointees had set in motion its destruction.

In a corner conference room, it was time to party. They traded congratulatory speeches and cut into a sheet cake.……..

Trump Officials Celebrated With Cake After Slashing Aid. Then People Died of Cholera.

Behind closed doors in Washington, top advisers made a series of decisions that had devastating repercussions for the poorest country on earth. We went to South Sudan and found people who died as a result.

www.propublica.org

 

[MT15]

On the one-month anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this year, a group of his appointed aides gathered to celebrate.

For four weeks, they had been working overtime to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, freezing thousands of programs, including ones that provided food, water and medicine around the world.

They’d culled USAID’s staff and abandoned its former headquarters in the stately Ronald Reagan Building, shunting the remnants of the agency to what was once an overflow space in a glass-walled commercial office above Nordstrom Rack and a bank.

There, the crew of newly minted political figures told the office manager to create a moat of 90 empty desks around them so no one could hear them talk.

They ignored questions and advice from career staff with decades of experience in the field.

Despite the steps to insulate themselves, dire warnings poured in from diplomats and government experts around the world.

The cuts would cost countless lives, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the other Trump officials were told repeatedly.

The team of aides pressed on, galvanized by two men who did little to hide their disdain for the agency: first Peter Marocco, a blunt-spoken Marine veteran, and then 28-year-old Jeremy Lewin, who, despite having no government or aid experience, often personally decided which programs should be axed.

By the third week in February, they were on track to wipe out 90% of USAID’s work. Created in 1961 to foster global stability and help advance American interests, USAID was the largest humanitarian donor in the world. In just a month’s time, the small band of appointees had set in motion its destruction.

In a corner conference room, it was time to party. They traded congratulatory speeches and cut into a sheet cake.……..

Trump Officials Celebrated With Cake After Slashing Aid. Then People Died of Cholera.

Behind closed doors in Washington, top advisers made a series of decisions that had devastating repercussions for the poorest country on earth. We went to South Sudan and found people who died as a result.

www.propublica.org

The acts of monsters.

 

[zztop]

but of course they want to push their garbage ideas onto other countries:

‘Trojan horse moment’: anti-rights groups seize chance to fill void left by US aid cuts

Ultra-conservative Christian organisations look to reshape global health landscape as new aid agreements open door to demands restricting family planning services

www.theguardian.com

Key to that rebuilding are the new bilateral aid agreements the US is negotiating with governments. These deals, said Schlachter, will almost certainly come with conditions to make it harder for organisations to provide family planning services.

Schlachter is not the only expert to warn governments and NGOs to be on high alert for attempts by the US and ultra-conservative Christian organisations to undermine progress in sexual and reproductive health.

The Guardian spoke to leaders of reproductive justice organisations about what is coming next, and what effect these plans could have on women and girls around the world.

 

[Optimus Prime]

DOGE promised to cut government spending. It went up under Trump, new report shows

Elon Musk initially promised that DOGE would slash $2 trillion in ‘waste, fraud and abuse,’ a goal that was later reduced to $1 trillion

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Optimus Prime]

When Elon Musk vowed late last year to lead a “department of government efficiency” (Doge), he claimed it would operate with “maximum transparency” as it set about saving $2tn worth of waste and exposing massive fraud.

Today, with Musk out of the White House, Doge having cut only a tiny fraction of the waste it promised, and dozens of lawsuits alleging violations of privacy and transparency laws, much of what the agency has done remains a mystery.

The effects of Doge’s initial blitz through the federal government – which included dismantling the US Agency for International Development (USAID), embedding staffers in almost every agency and illegally firing people en masse – are still playing out.

Contrary to Musk’s promises, Doge’s success is vague and tough to quantify. Measuring the full impact and determining whether the agency even exists as a centralized entity anymore is difficult, complicated by an ongoing effort from the government to block disclosure of documents, which is itself a symptom of the chaos that the department created.

Although the disarray and destruction left by Doge is evident across the globe, we still do not really know exactly how the agency operated and its true effects.

Instead, humanitarian aid organizations are still trying to assess the extent of the damage that Doge created while ethics watchdogs have launched lawsuits trying to compel more transparency out of the government.

“I know it feels like all this happened over the course of several years, but the first year of this administration isn’t even done,” said Nikhel Sus, the deputy chief counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew).

“We still want to know what happened, and we still want the record to be out there, because the public is entitled to this information.”………

We still don’t really know what Elon Musk’s Doge actually did

Calculating the actual savings and impact of the bulldozing US department that vowed to cut $1tn in waste is difficult

www.theguardian.com

 

[MT15]

They’re actively sabotaging Social Security.

 

[MT15]

So Trump has quietly added 4 loyalty test questions to all US federal job applications. This lady tells about encountering them on park ranger jobs, and the comments are full of people who have seen them on other government jobs.

The first one is a pretty generic question about whether you believe and uphold the Constitution. By the third question it is asking how you will implement Trump’s policies in this job and the fourth question asks you to pick 2 EOs that are meaningful to you and explain how you would uphold them in this job.

A hiring manager replied and said they never see the answers to these questions when they hire, which makes you wonder if they are actually using them, or if they have an AI system that reads the responses and kicks out those who aren’t deemed sufficiently loyal to Trump.

 

[Sendai]

So Trump has quietly added 4 loyalty test questions to all US federal job applications. This lady tells about encountering them on park ranger jobs, and the comments are full of people who have seen them on other government jobs.

The first one is a pretty generic question about whether you believe and uphold the Constitution. By the third question it is asking how you will implement Trump’s policies in this job and the fourth question asks you to pick 2 EOs that are meaningful to you and explain how you would uphold them in this job.

A hiring manager replied and said they never see the answers to these questions when they hire, which makes you wonder if they are actually using them, or if they have an AI system that reads the responses and kicks out those who aren’t deemed sufficiently loyal to Trump.

Or it’s just being ignored

“Trump Blinks on Loyalty Oath Essays for Job Applicants

Essays on Advancing Trump Agenda Will Not Be Mandatory or “Scored”​

“On June 23rd, OPM issued “Additional Guidance” to agency hiring and human resource officials that while “agencies are encouraged to use these questions for competitive merit promotion hiring (both internal and external), it is not a requirement.” In addition, the memo states —

• “Answers to these questions are not scored or rated. Agencies should treat responses to these questions in the same way they would treat the submission of a cover letter”;
• Essay answers “must not be used as a means of determining whether the candidate fulfills the qualifications of a position”; and
• “The questions also must not be used to impose an ideological litmus test on candidates. If an applicant does not answer the questions along with their application, they will not be disqualified or screened out.”

“These changes may transform OPM’s use of the essays from an illegal screening tactic to a silly waste of time,” commented PEER General Counsel Joanna Citron Day, an attorney formerly with the U.S. Departments of Justice and Interior as well as the Environmental Protection Agency. “Asking federal job applicants how they feel about Trump has no place in the merit system. Such questions are highly inappropriate.”

OPM’s response signals its realization that its original plan was illegal. OPM’s Additional Guidance cautions that “Hiring managers and agency leaders or designees must only use the questions in accordance with Merit System Principles and should additionally be mindful of Prohibited Personnel Practices.” That warning reflected the essence of the PEER complaint.”

Trump Blinks on Loyalty Oath Essays for Job Applicants

Essays on Advancing Trump Agenda Will Not Be Mandatory or “Scored”

peer.org

I have a feeling that the career federal management leadership arent paying much attention to this administration. Nothing more than a nod and then doing what’s normal.

 

[MT15]

Which is why I said so:

A hiring manager replied and said they never see the answers to these questions when they hire, which makes you wonder if they are actually using them,

If they think they could get away with it they would definitely be using them. It’s part of Project 2025. The only reason they might not be using them is that there is a lawsuit pending.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Doge cuts cost US taxpayers $10bn to cover workers’ paid leave, analysis finds

Analysis estimates Trump administration ‘wasted’ billions to compensate over 154,000 federal employees on leave

www.theguardian.com

 

[longtime lurker]

More lunatic ramblings….the former federal employees that I know who were let go by the Pedo Protector are still looking for jobs. They lost their pensions, healthcare and hard earned careers. This liar will say whatever deranged thought that pops into his head.:

Live updates: Trump defends ICE tactics and complains about NATO and Norway during White House briefing

Get the latest news and live updates on the Trump administration as House Speaker Mike Johnson marks a U.K. milestone and the Supreme Court weighs Hawaii's 'vampire' gun law.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Dragon]

So DOGE was all about getting access to private data and apparently with extremely lack of oversigth

 

[MT15]

Whatever they are conceding, you can bet it was 10x worse than that. Neither Musk nor Trump have a truthful, moral, ethical bone in their bodies.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Exactly a year after President Donald Trumpreturned to office and swiftly signed an executive order establishing the Department of Government Efficiency, the Revolving Door Project on Tuesday released a report detailing all the damage that DOGE has done.

“Under the banner of the so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (DOGE), Elon Musk and Russell Vought have eagerly shred political, professional, and legal precedent in their effort to dismantle the essential functions of the federal government—and most importantly, democracy at large,” says the report, DOGE: From Meme to Government Erosion Machine…….

“After Musk’s exit, DOGE, filled with his lackeys, remained a feature in the federal government,” the report states.

“In fact, the guiding principles of DOGE—traumatizing federal workers, decimating government capacity, and slashing funding for people and places in need—were rejuvenated, albeit with a new, more effective and more discreet standard bearer.”

Vought, the publication explains, “began firming up DOGE’s legacy behind the scenes, using the power of his office to embed DOGE personnel in federal agencies as full time staff and institutionalize funding cuts through illegal use of the Impoundment Control Act.”

As OMB director, “Vought can review and reshape federal budget proposals according to his own ideological priorities, even if the agency leaders disagree,” the document notes.

“A supposed hyper-originalist and self-described Christian nationalist, Vought has used this leverage to reshape the federal government from the top down.”

“The CFPB was a prime example of Vought’s vision of dismantling federal agencies that do not serve his interest,” the report highlights, pointing to attack on personnel, agency funding, abandonment of key cases, and related legal battles. “The CFPB saga serves as a template of things to come with Vought at the helm of the DOGE mission.”……….

Democracy Watchdog Exposes 'Heartbreaking Catalog of DOGE's Depredations' | Common Dreams

"Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s attacks on the federal government will have long-standing effects on the American public," said the group's research director.

www.commondreams.org

 

[longtime lurker]

VA has shed 40,000 employees, Democratic report finds, with drastic impacts on veterans

The net staffing losses include thousands of front-line health care staff.

www.govexec.com