Law be damned, Trump asserts unilateral control over executive branch, federal service (11 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

Following the Project 2025 playbook, in the last week, Trump and his newly installed loyalists have moved to (1) dismiss federal officials deemed unreliable to do his bidding (including 17 inspectors general) - many of which have protections from arbitrary dismissal, (2) freeze all science and public health activity until he can wrest full control, (3) freeze all federal assistance and grant activity deemed inconsistent with Trump's agenda, and (4) moved to terminate all federal employee telework and DEI programs.

The problem is much of this is controlled by federal law and not subject to sudden and complete change by the president through executive order. Most notably is the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that simply codifies what is the constitutional allocation of resources where Congress appropriates money to the executive branch for a specific purpose, the executive branch must carry out that statutory purpose. This is indeed a constitutional crisis and even if Congress abdicates to Trump by acquiescing, the courts must still apply the law - or rule it unconstitutional.

And meanwhile the architect of much of this unlawful action is Russell Vought, Trump’s OMB nominee who the Senate appears ready to confirm.

120. The Impoundment Crisis of 2025

The Trump administration's Monday spending freeze is likely to provoke a crisis over the constitutionality of "impoundment"—one that the justices could well have to resolve *very* soon.

www.stevevladeck.com

 

[bird]

Is it the government’s job to pay for people to attend shirtty colleges?

Is it the government’s job to help people buy homes that are overvalued?

Is it the governments job to fund transgender operas in Brazil (which I want tickets to btw)?

I don’t think any of us went to the polls and voted yes on that. I have no problem with DOGE running through records and stopping payments on crap that has been receiving automatic payments. I’m all for them turning off the government spigot until they get things sorted out. I do the same thing with my subscription to Rocket Money when they comb through my automatic payments and perform an audit on unusual payments. It’s financially prudent at the end of the day.

So! You just admitted what I said. You don’t want money spent on certain things. Thanks for admitting that.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

I’m late to the party (so perhaps this has happened already), but everyone is attacking Musk, but not being critical of the groups writing checks for expenses that are unjustifiable.

Why do you think they are unjustifiable? Are you against sponsoring cultural exchanges, or do you just hate transgender people? The opera you are harping about was money given from the State department (not USAID) to the Fulbright (again not directly to the Colombian University), who used that money for Fulbright's express purpose of promoting cultural exchange to grant money to a university in Colombia that used that money to produce an opera that featured a transgender main character.

That is all above board. YOU might not like promoting cultural exchanges, but they have been done for a long time, in a bipartisan manner, which helps the US in the long run by providing stable trading partners.

 

[el caliente]

No, you actually believe that certain programs need to be cut, left alone or expanded. The purpose of government is one thing and one thing only which is how society organizes itself. Without government societal organization collapses.

The purpose of government is different to different people, however spending money on sex changes in Guatemala probably wasn’t what the founding fathers had in mind when they came up with this crazy nation.

 

[DaveXA]

Sorry for budgeting bro.

If you don’t understand why having a service comb through expenses to confirm that everything is above board then I’m sorry that you don’t understand the audit industry. It’s a pretty novel industry, and is just getting off the ground, but I promise, it’s taking off in certain industries.

And auditing does happen in the federal government. Maybe do your homework before making ignorant comments like this.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

The wild thing about this is that you all are so hooked on Elon heading this, that you forget that this iteration of DOGE is the third of its kind.

There was the Truman committee in 1941 which was created for fear of government waste. The group ended up uncovering waste, and saved the government the equivalent of $3trillion.

Truman Committee - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

During the Clinton Administration the National Partnership for Reinventing Government was created in order to investigate and clear up waste in government. Depending on which side of the checkbook you were on, it worked.

National Partnership for Reinventing Government - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

I can understand people attacking Musk. I’m not here to defend or attack him. I am here for curbing government waste. We should all be for curbing government waste. Place is starting to feel like. Kleptocracy.

Right, and can you tell me what is different about those efforts and this one here? I think you'll find that the objection is to the process (or lack there of) being used, the circumventing of Congress, and the clear conflicts of interest.

You claim that you've been mistrustful of government since you were 16? Try applying that skepticism here.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

The purpose of government is different to different people, however spending money on sex changes in Guatemala probably wasn’t what the founding fathers had in mind when they came up with this crazy nation.

Do you just believe everything on the internet?

 

[DaveXA]

The IRS was wild for that one. Lol.

 

[RobF]

And what do those previous efforts have in common??? They were all handled within the boundaries of the democratic process. CONGRESSIONAL ACTIONS.

DOGE is intentionally UNDERMINING CONGRESS, but you are unable or unwilling to acknowledge that. That is disappointing.

The false equivalences are actually painful. DOGE is, glaringly obviously, nothing like either of those initiatives.

This is like defending someone hacking chunks off people's bodies by saying, "Hey, who couldn't stand to lose a little weight!" and drawing comparisons to initiatives that recommended exercises and diets.

 

[el caliente]

No, you actually believe that certain programs need to be cut, left alone or expanded. The purpose of government is one thing and one thing only which is how society organizes itself. Without government societal organization collapses.

The purpose of government is different to different people, however spending money on sex changes in Guatemala probably wasn’t what the founding fathers had in mind when they came up with this crazy nation.

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

The purpose of government is different to different people, however spending money on sex changes in Guatemala probably wasn’t what the founding fathers had in mind when they came up with this crazy nation.

 

[coldseat]

Do you have to move in right wing circles to be outraged by wastes of money?

We all know about government waste, some people just want it to be curbed.

Is that what DOGE is doing? Oh, okay. Sorry if I used a bit of common sense to realize that all they're doing is lying about and axing shirt they don't like.

 

[efil4]

Sorry for budgeting bro.

If you don’t understand why having a service comb through expenses to confirm that everything is above board then I’m sorry that you don’t understand the audit industry. It’s a pretty novel industry, and is just getting off the ground, but I promise, it’s taking off in certain industries.

i write commercial insurance for the last 30 years.

I know all about 3rd party services contracted to "confirm" insurances for subcontractors and vendors. ( expenses ) ( for audits )

Yet not a single solitary employee at any one of these 3rd party "confirmation" services are actual licensed insurance agents. They ask for things ( aka endorsements ) they dont even know what they do ( to a clients policy )

its not novel, its been happening for over a decade now. Its just now starting to bleed over into other aspects of industry.

How this relates to DOGE is exactly what i posted above. Who has the knowledge of the department they are auditing to determine what is/isnt waste? Do you know? Of course you dont. Yet that doesnt bother you.

until it bothers you.

Now you understand "Ready Fire Aim" - pulling trigger before you even know what you are aiming at and what the consequences are of hitting and missing target.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

i write commercial insurance for the last 30 years.

I know all about 3rd party services contracted to "confirm" insurances for subcontractors and vendors. ( expenses ) ( for audits )

Yet not a single solitary employee at any one of these 3rd party "confirmation" services are actual licensed insurance agents. They ask for things ( aka endorsements ) they dont even know what they do ( to a clients policy )

its not novel, its been happening for over a decade now. Its just now starting to bleed over into other aspects of industry.

How this relates to DOGE is exactly what i posted above. Who has the knowledge of the department they are auditing to determine what is/isnt waste? Do you know? Of course you dont. Yet that doesnt bother you.

until it bothers you.

Now you understand "Ready Fire Aim" - pulling trigger before you even know what you are aiming at and what the consequences are of hitting and missing target.

Basically, they are defining as a "waste" anything they don't like. So money used to promote LGBTQ rights in other countries is a waste because they don't think it's a big deal if queer people get attacked, killed or discriminated against.

Basically, it's a rejection of American soft power.

 

[MT15]

DOGE has been talked about since Trump was elected, so they have had far more than 17 days to get things in order.

That’s why I am wondering what this analysis looks like.

No they haven’t. Nobody gave them access to anything until after the inauguration did they? If they were doing anything before hand it was just planning what they would stop payments on. That’s not analysis. That’s pure partisan hackery.

There’s been no time for any analysis at all. Meanwhile hospitals are looking at curtailing services because they are withholding federal grant money already awarded. In violation of a court order no less.

No true conservative would support this mess.

 

[Optimus Prime]

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

Basically, it's a rejection of American soft power.

They do know what soft power means nor do they understand its value. Unfortunately, our adversaries understand the geopolitical value of goodwill efforts.

 

[MT15]

Are they paying more for Louisiana/Arkansas rice than they could be paying elsewhere? From a financial standpoint how does this make sense vs the alternative when the end game is being a good steward of the people’s money?

So you are advocating relying on foreign rice and foreign rice only? Can you think of a reason to keep American rice growers in business?

Not to mention, as far as I can tell, you don’t even know whether rice from the states is more expensive than foreign rice to begin with. You’re just making stuff up and saying “what if” to be devil’s advocate.

 

[superchuck500]

The White House has stated that Musk is a special government employee (SGE), a status provided under federal statutes. Those statutes also require that SGE's adhere to federal conflict of interest rules that apply to all federal officials - and that SGE's file the standard federal official financial disclosure forms.

The White House today said that Musk's financial disclosures will be kept confidential. And the New York Times now has a graphic showing how Elon's activities with DOGE are directly involved in federal agencies and offices with oversight over or open investigations of Musk and/or companies for which is is a director or key officer.