Elon Musk could also be gone from the Trump administration — and his friendship standing with President Donald Trump could also be at greatest unsure — however his whirlwind stint in authorities actually left its imprint.
The Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE), his pet government-slashing undertaking, stays entrenched in Washington. Throughout his 130-day tenure, Musk led DOGE in eliminating about 260,000 federal worker jobs and gutting companies supporting scientific analysis and humanitarian assist.
However thus far, DOGE claims to have saved the federal government $180 billion — nicely wanting its formidable (and albeit by no means sensible) goal of reducing at least $2 trillion from the federal price range. And with Musk’s departure nonetheless recent, there are studies that the federal authorities is attempting to rehire federal employees who give up or had been let go.
For Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow on the Brookings Establishment, DOGE’s ways will possible find yourself being disastrous in the long term. “DOGE got here in with these enormous cuts, which weren’t connected to a plan,” she informed At present, Defined co-host Sean Rameswaram.
Kamarck is aware of all about making authorities extra environment friendly. Within the Nineteen Nineties, she ran the Clinton administration’s Reinventing Authorities program. “I used to be Elon Musk,” she informed At present, Defined. With the advantage of that have, she assesses Musk’s file at DOGE, and what, if something, the billionaire’s loud efforts at reducing authorities spending added as much as.
Beneath is an excerpt of the dialog, edited for size and readability. There’s rather more within the full podcast, so hearken to At present, Defined wherever you get podcasts, together with Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.
What do you suppose Elon Musk’s legacy is?
Properly, he is not going to have completely, radically reshaped the federal authorities. Completely not. In truth, there’s a excessive chance that on January 20, 2029, when the subsequent president takes over, the federal authorities is about the identical dimension as it’s now, and might be doing the identical stuff that it’s doing now. What he did handle to do was insert chaos, worry, and loathing into the federal workforce.
There was reporting within the Washington Submit late final week that these cuts had been so ineffective that the White Home is definitely reaching out to numerous federal staff who had been laid off and asking them to return again, from the FDA to the IRS to even USAID. Which cuts are sticking at this level and which of them aren’t?
To start with, in numerous instances, folks went to court docket and the courts have reversed these earlier selections. So the very first thing that occurred is, courts mentioned, “No, no, no, you’ll be able to’t do it this fashion. It’s important to carry them again.”
The second factor that occurred is that Cupboard officers began to get confirmed by the Senate. And do not forget that numerous essentially the most spectacular DOGE stuff was occurring in February. In February, these Cupboard secretaries had been getting ready for his or her Senate hearings. They weren’t on the job. Now that their Cupboard secretary’s dwelling, what’s occurring is that they’re taking a look at these cuts they usually’re saying, “No, no, no! We are able to’t stay with these cuts as a result of we have now a mission to do.”
As the federal government tries to rent again the folks they fired, they’re going to have a tricky time, they usually’re going to have a tricky time for 2 causes. To start with, they handled them like filth, they usually’ve mentioned numerous insulting issues.
Second, the general public who work for the federal authorities are extremely expert. They’re not paper pushers. We’ve got computer systems to push our paper, proper? They’re scientists. They’re engineers. They’re folks with excessive abilities, and guess what? They will get jobs outdoors the federal government. So there’s going to be actual lasting harm to the federal government from the way in which they did this. And it’s analogous to the lasting harm that they’re inflicting at universities, the place we now have high scientists who used to invent nice cures for most cancers and issues like that, deciding to go discover jobs in Europe as a result of this tradition has gotten so unhealthy.
What occurs to this company now? Who’s in command of it?
Properly, what they’ve accomplished is DOGE staff have been embedded in every of the organizations within the authorities, okay? They usually mainly — and the president himself has mentioned this — they mainly report back to the Cupboard secretaries. So if you’re within the Transportation Division, it’s a must to make it possible for Sean Duffy, who’s the secretary of transportation, agrees with you on what you need to do. And Sean Duffy has already had a struggle throughout a Cupboard assembly with Elon Musk. You realize that he has not been thrilled with the recommendation he’s gotten from DOGE. So to any extent further, DOGE goes to need to work hand in hand with Donald Trump’s appointed leaders.
And simply to carry this round to what we’re right here speaking about now, they’re on this enormous struggle over wasteful spending with the so-called large, lovely invoice. Does this simply appear to be the federal government as traditional, finally?
It’s really worse than regular. As a result of the deficit impacts are larger than regular. It’s including extra to the deficit than earlier payments have accomplished.
And the second purpose it’s worse than regular is that everyone continues to be dwelling in a fantasy world. And the fantasy world says that by some means we will cope with our deficits by reducing waste, fraud, and abuse. That’s pure nonsense. Let me say it: pure nonsense.
The place does a lot of the authorities cash go? Does it go to some bureaucrats sitting on Pennsylvania Avenue? It goes to us. It goes to your grandmother and her Social Safety and her Medicare. It goes to veterans in veterans advantages. It goes to Individuals. That’s why it’s so exhausting to chop it. It’s so exhausting to chop it as a result of it’s us.
And persons are dwelling on it. Now, there’s an entire different matter that no person talks about, and it’s known as entitlement reform, proper? May we reform Social Safety? May we make the retirement age go from 67 to 68? That might save some huge cash. May we modify the price of dwelling? No one, no person, no person is speaking about that. And that’s as a result of we’re on this loopy, polarized setting the place we will now not have critical conversations about critical points.
