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The name of the commission led by Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is a bit of a misnomer: DOGE stands for Department of Government Efficiency, but the commission will That’s really not the case. Federal agencies (Those must be occur by Parliament) but will be an advisory agency It has no practical power or enforcement capacity to achieve the lofty goals it has presented so far.
DOGE leaders promise $2 trillion in government spending cuts By cutting budgets and reducing government jobs. Details on how to do that are hazy: The most expensive government spending, such as Social Security, Medicare and the military, has been effectively capped. Recently, President Donald Trump have the right to vote likely He wouldn’t cut the first two. And the third one is politically difficult to cut. This is especially true for Republicans. Still, even they have achieved little by scaling back their ambitions. They have managed to transform government agencies and services that affect the lives of Americans.
Musk and Ramaswamy appeared on Capitol Hill yesterday to talk with lawmakers. This visit didn’t shed much light on their plans, such as their discussions. The New York Times put it on“Remarkably effective” Each person made a one-minute comment that included many criticisms of the government. But there are a few solutions. Two Republican allies noted that government spending large amounts of money and incurring large amounts of debt is nothing new. Musk promised DOGE would cause “shock waves” and Trump say It might be the “Manhattan Project” of our time but for DOGE’s flashy launches and messenger bombings. The message was no different from the messages sent by previous administrations.
The former president convened a group of business leaders to try to make the government operate in a more agile manner. But they were unable to make drastic changes to the bureaucracy. This is partly because they ran into the same obstacles that DOGE would eventually attack: congressional necessity. Cutting approval The president can make requests to Congress about the budget. But in general Congress will decide on the allocation of federal funds. So far, DOGE’s concrete proposals involve bringing federal employees back to in-person work. (There seems to be hope that many will resign) and plans to Eliminate daylight saving time– in the Wall Street Journal Musk and Ramaswamy’s comments outlined goals including public broadcasting and international aid. This will help lighten the burden quite a lot. small amount of capital– They also suggest they are keen to bring about major regulatory changes. (This could present a conflict of interest for Musk, whose business depends on federal contracts) using Trump’s executive powers, although they have not specified what these changes will be.
The sad reality of this situation, my colleague Annie Lowry noted this week, is that A commission that helps the government better meet the needs of the American people would be a good thing. And it will likely have the support of Americans from both sides of the aisle. Many parts of the government sector are really inefficient. But the current Republican plan confuses beneficial reforms with highly divisive ones.
This is because DOGE cannot implement policies on its own. Leaders’ plans therefore rely heavily on the president-elect who invites them to serve. Trump’s team sought to give him broader oversight of the federal budget: Russell Voight, Trump’s pick to run the Office of Management and Budget. Arguing that Trump has power confinementThe power to refuse to spend money appropriated by Congress. In 1974, the Congressional Incarceration Act prohibited this, but Vought had it. claim that the act was unconstitutional and should be repealed, and he once again adhered to this principle. Indeed, getting the court to decide in line with Vought could be a long process. But it will mean a significant expansion of power away from Parliament and into the executive branch if it works, because voxof Dylan Matthews has explain–
DOGE has begun. employment on X—and promised to keep the workforce small. (It’s not clear where the funding to hire employees will come from.) It’s hard to see how Musk and Ramaswamy can find a path to cutting trillions or even billions without tapping Trump no-gos. of Social Security and Medicare if Musk and Ramaswamy enter the Social Security system The lives of millions of seniors would be dramatically different if they cut Medicare, too, but the more likely outcome is that they would surf the edge. At the same time, post and post often. Podcast– Viral grandstanding tends to conflict with real facts about how government works.
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Today’s news
- United States Court of Appeals Uphold the decision to force ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to sell its social media platform or faced a nationwide ban–
- The judge in the trial of Daniel Penny, who killed Jordan Neely by locking him on a New York City subway last year. Agree to the prosecutor’s request The charge of second-degree manslaughter was dismissed. After the jury was still deadlocked twice.
- Syrian rebels in campaign to topple President Bashar al-Assad’s regime Heading to Homs On the route to the country’s capital According to reports from rebel groups and war monitoring groups,
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