Extra political protection this morning. If one can name it such. Trump mendacity about Medicaid and Musk doing the identical about his value slicing actions which is inflicting damage to hundreds of thousands of individuals.
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He’s mendacity about what we did within the Clinton administration, mendacity when he says public servants are our enemies, and mendacity that beneficiaries of public applications are parasites.
Musk is making an attempt to downplay the chaos he’s creating by saying it’s a lot the identical because the cost-cutting efforts of the Clinton administration.
“What @DOGE is doing is similar to Clinton/Gore Dem policies of the 1990s,” he posted on his X platform.
Garbage.
I lower prices within the Clinton administration. The distinction with what Musk is doing couldn’t be sharper.
As secretary of labor, I took the Division of Labor down from 18,500 staff to 16,600 — however did it with none layoffs. No chainsaws. No meat-axes.
And we have been cautious to enhance the providers we have been offering the general public.
For instance, when folks misplaced jobs in an business that was shrinking, we devised a option to get them job-training and job-search help along with unemployment insurance coverage. This helped transfer them into new jobs sooner — which additionally saved the federal government over $1 billion a yr in unemployment funds.
We plowed that $1 billion again into job-training and job-search help, making the entire economic system work higher.
In Musk’s assault on the federal workforce, 1000’s of federal staff have been fired with out warning. Or they’ve been supplied pretend “deferred resignation” buyouts that have been by no means approved by Congress and will not be authorized.
Total businesses have been gutted with out legislative authorization, forcing judges to intervene.
Our “Reinventing Government” effort was approved by bipartisan congressional laws. We labored fastidiously over a number of years to establish areas the place authorities could possibly be extra environment friendly, notifying Congress of what we have been doing.
However the Republicans who management Congress in the present day have allowed Musk to race forward with out them, despite the fact that the Structure states that the legislative department approves spending and federal legislation prohibits the president from slicing applications Congress has approved with out its permission.
Clinton sought that permission, and Congress accepted $3.6 billion in cuts he proposed.
We additionally concerned federal staff, as a result of they knew higher than anybody what could possibly be improved and the way greatest to do it.
We launched efficiency requirements, we inspired our staff to embrace the web, and we gave out awards to staff who got here up with methods to chop crimson tape and enhance service.
“There was a tremendous effort put into understanding what should happen and what should change,” stated Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, which seeks to enhance the federal workforce. “What is happening now is actually taking us backwards.”
We have been deliberative and cautious. Musk is the alternative.
Musk sees authorities staff because the enemy — as prices to be lower.
We noticed authorities staff as belongings to be developed, our companions in getting higher providers to the general public extra effectively.
Musk additionally calls individuals who profit from authorities applications the “parasite class.” Presumably that’s why he’s keen to chop again Medicaid. However Medicaid’s beneficiaries aren’t parasites. Half of them are kids.
Oh, but when we’re speaking about individuals who rely on authorities, Musk is the largest “parasite” of all.
Through the years, Musk and his companies have obtained not less than $38 billion in authorities contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credit, usually at vital moments, serving to seed the expansion that has made him the richest individual on the planet.
That he views public servants as his enemy and the individuals who profit from public applications as “parasites” tells you all you might want to learn about Elon Musk.
Once you hear Musk say his effort is just like what I and others did within the Nineteen Nineties, know he’s mendacity. Once you see him name individuals who profit from public applications “parasites,” know he’s a hypocrite.
