The so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity—the advisory fee that President Donald Trump tasked co-President Elon Musk to run to be able to discover methods to chop the federal funds—has been an abject catastrophe.
Indiscriminate firings of federal staff are resulting in nationwide safety threats. Employees purges, largely spearheaded by DOGE, are placing security of the nation’s air journey, meals provide, air and water high quality, and private well being in danger. And unqualified and unvetted DOGE staffers’ entry to vital authorities funds methods and People’ private info has led to issues concerning the safety of People’ personal info.
But, as states, unions, analysis universities, and federal staff sue to attempt to cease DOGE’s destruction, the Trump administration is now claiming that Musk’s DOGE has nothing to do with the firings.
“Nowhere have my friends offered a shred of anything, nor could they, to show that Elon Musk has any formal or actual authority to make any government decisions himself,” a Division of Justice lawyer instructed a federal choose on Monday throughout a listening to on a lawsuit that seeks to dam Musk and DOGE from accessing authorities information and finishing up mass firings.
The choose, Tanya Chutkan, mainly instructed the DOJ they have been liars. “I think you stretch too far,” she mentioned. “I disagree with you there.”
All proof factors to the truth that Musk and DOGE are resulting in the cuts.
Trump signed an government order on Day 1 of his disastrous second time period that created DOGE, and put Musk in cost. Since then, the unelected billionaire has given information conferences from the Oval Workplace to offer updates on DOGE’s actions, has tweeted lots of of instances a day—typically with lies or misinformation—about DOGE’s actions, and Trump himself has mentioned Musk is the one working to seek out price reductions.
“I’m going to tell [Elon Musk] very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education,” Trump mentioned in an interview with Fox Information that aired forward of the Tremendous Bowl. “He’s going to find the same thing … Then I’m going to go, go to the military. Let’s check the military.”
To this point, DOGE has been a catastrophe.
For instance, within the title of price financial savings, Musk and DOGE spurred a mass firing of presidency employees. That led the administration final Thursday to hearth greater than 300 folks on the Nationwide Nuclear Safety Administration, which oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile. Realizing this was a mistake with probably devastating implications, the Trump administration scrambled to rehire these employees. However in accordance to CNN on Monday, solely 25 of the 300 have been reinstated.
What’s extra, after receiving criticism for its opaqueness, DOGE then created a web site to indicate the cuts it is made. However in keeping with Wired, the web site is a “security mess,” with anybody on the web capable of edit its databases.
DOGE additionally blew by means of its personal self-imposed deadlines to launch info on what precisely it has reduce and the way a lot cash it has supposedly saved taxpayers. However now that the data is on the web site, DOGE has posted private info of individuals whose contracts have been canceled.
The web site additionally claims it has saved $55 billion. Nonetheless, Day by day Kos reviewed the financial savings DOGE listed on its web site, and the 2 classes of receipts it offers (contracts and actual property) complete lower than half of what DOGE claims to have saved. The location says there are “savings” in different classes, like workforce reductions and fraud elimination, but it surely doesn’t at present present information for these, so it’s inconceivable to confirm their top-line declare of $55 billion.
What’s extra, even when DOGE has saved $55 billion, that’s solely 0.8% of the $6.75 trillion federal funds in fiscal 12 months 2024. A lot of these financial savings are from slashing the U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth, an motion that has instantly led to human struggling, together with the pregnant spouse of 1 USAID employee who was deserted by the Trump administration whereas struggling a life-threatening being pregnant complication.
These supposed financial savings additionally do not take note of how a lot cash DOGE is spending on its personal employees, nor how a lot cash the federal authorities has to spend to defend towards the bevy of lawsuits DOGE is being hit with.
With DOGE in destructo mode, Democrats are urging their constituents to name their lawmakers and present as much as lawmaker occasions to voice their issues, as lawmakers react to public outcries.
“They only win if their tactics convince us to stay silent,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut mentioned on Friday. “We have power in numbers and solidarity. If we respond by getting LOUDER, instead of going silent like they want, we send a clear message that they can’t win. Show up more. Organize more. Post more.”
