I have connections inside the team that is working on making the federal government more efficient. They are not heartless bulldozers destroying the lives of federal employees. The reason that they put forth the early retirement with 9 months of severance is that this is a best-practice method to preserve jobs for younger and newer employees, and give promotion opportunities to people that are more motivated to make changes.
The Democrat-supporting mainstream media is gaslighting the public, exploiting those that are more easily emotionally influenced, to negative brand this work as heartless and unnecessary. It is neither. Since 2000, the number of federal government workers has increased by 9.2%.
"Between December 2020 and March 2024 (the latest data), employment has increased sharply at the Environmental Protection Agency (9.4%), Agriculture Department (9.6%), Department of Housing and Urban Development (10.7%), Internal Revenue Service (14%), Energy Department (14.8%), State Department (18.4%) and Health and Human Services (18.7%).
Independent agencies have also mushroomed, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (9.8%), Securities and Exchange Commission (11.1%) and Federal Trade Commission (11.6%). Even the White House Council of Economic Advisers has increased by a third during the Biden Presidency, not that economic policy has improved. A rare Biden-era exception is Defense and the armed forces (-1.2%), despite an increasingly dangerous world."
During the Biden Admin it peaked over 3 million... but that does not include the growth in all the contractors and the NGO workforce.
Biden ballooned the deficit to $2 trillion per year. We are taking in $5 million and spending $7 trillion. The DOGE team thinks we can carve off $1 trillion in spending just by eliminating waste and fraud. Many good people in the federal government have identified the waste and fraud and have put forth ideas to fix it, but failed due to the entrenched bureaucracy that protects itself. But by fixing these problem the US government can better protect the programs that are needed. The cuts to the VA are needed. The VA is a mess of inefficiency. Cutting does not equate to reduced services. A bloated workforce tends to see a decline in service.
I think you should consider a few data points here:
1) DOGE is engaging in Reductions in Force (RIFs), which by statute ensure those with fewer years of federal service get fired first, and the old timers stay. See 5 CFR 351.501(a). This negates your first “out with the old, in with the new” point. Yes, DOGE gave employees the option to retire early, but the vast majority of separations will come from RIFs. This will destroy civil service for generations.
2) Where is the $Trillion going to come from? Because there are 3 places in government that have that kind of money: Defense, Medicaid, and Social Security. Even if you cut every single federal worker, that gets you to about $350 billion, so let’s say they cut half—-so you’re at $175 billion. DOGE has claimed savings of $115 billion after 3 months of review, so that puts you (generously) at $290 billion. Where is the other $710 billion coming from? There is waste and fraud but there ain’t that much of it. GAO documented about $667 billion in savings but that was over a 13 year period. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-106915.
3) The VA backlog spiked heavily under COVID, came down due to additional hiring, then spiked again due to the passage of the PACT Act which expanded VA claims, then came down significantly again due to a 2023 hiring blitz. The hiring bumps directly led to declines in the VA claims backlog. This appears to negate your final point, unless you can cite to other data? https://www.benefits.va.gov/reports/mmwr_va_claims_backlog.asp
I will watch it because I respect your mind enough to question whether I’m wrong :)
I respect your mind too. It is fabulous.
I have connections inside the team that is working on making the federal government more efficient. They are not heartless bulldozers destroying the lives of federal employees. The reason that they put forth the early retirement with 9 months of severance is that this is a best-practice method to preserve jobs for younger and newer employees, and give promotion opportunities to people that are more motivated to make changes.
The Democrat-supporting mainstream media is gaslighting the public, exploiting those that are more easily emotionally influenced, to negative brand this work as heartless and unnecessary. It is neither. Since 2000, the number of federal government workers has increased by 9.2%.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/government-workforce-expanding-bureaucracy-regulation-kamala-harris-joe-biden-elon-musk-a5e08412
"Between December 2020 and March 2024 (the latest data), employment has increased sharply at the Environmental Protection Agency (9.4%), Agriculture Department (9.6%), Department of Housing and Urban Development (10.7%), Internal Revenue Service (14%), Energy Department (14.8%), State Department (18.4%) and Health and Human Services (18.7%).
Independent agencies have also mushroomed, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (9.8%), Securities and Exchange Commission (11.1%) and Federal Trade Commission (11.6%). Even the White House Council of Economic Advisers has increased by a third during the Biden Presidency, not that economic policy has improved. A rare Biden-era exception is Defense and the armed forces (-1.2%), despite an increasingly dangerous world."
During the Biden Admin it peaked over 3 million... but that does not include the growth in all the contractors and the NGO workforce.
Biden ballooned the deficit to $2 trillion per year. We are taking in $5 million and spending $7 trillion. The DOGE team thinks we can carve off $1 trillion in spending just by eliminating waste and fraud. Many good people in the federal government have identified the waste and fraud and have put forth ideas to fix it, but failed due to the entrenched bureaucracy that protects itself. But by fixing these problem the US government can better protect the programs that are needed. The cuts to the VA are needed. The VA is a mess of inefficiency. Cutting does not equate to reduced services. A bloated workforce tends to see a decline in service.
I think you should consider a few data points here:
1) DOGE is engaging in Reductions in Force (RIFs), which by statute ensure those with fewer years of federal service get fired first, and the old timers stay. See 5 CFR 351.501(a). This negates your first “out with the old, in with the new” point. Yes, DOGE gave employees the option to retire early, but the vast majority of separations will come from RIFs. This will destroy civil service for generations.
2) Where is the $Trillion going to come from? Because there are 3 places in government that have that kind of money: Defense, Medicaid, and Social Security. Even if you cut every single federal worker, that gets you to about $350 billion, so let’s say they cut half—-so you’re at $175 billion. DOGE has claimed savings of $115 billion after 3 months of review, so that puts you (generously) at $290 billion. Where is the other $710 billion coming from? There is waste and fraud but there ain’t that much of it. GAO documented about $667 billion in savings but that was over a 13 year period. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-106915.
3) The VA backlog spiked heavily under COVID, came down due to additional hiring, then spiked again due to the passage of the PACT Act which expanded VA claims, then came down significantly again due to a 2023 hiring blitz. The hiring bumps directly led to declines in the VA claims backlog. This appears to negate your final point, unless you can cite to other data? https://www.benefits.va.gov/reports/mmwr_va_claims_backlog.asp