Latest news with #DOGE-controlled
Newsweek
05-07-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
DOGE Issues Fourth of July Cuts Update
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. In an update issued on the July 4 public holiday, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said it had saved taxpayers $804 million by canceling "54 wasteful contracts." These included one held by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for a "director of the Armenia innovation hub" and another with the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) for "broadcast services to the Togolese Republic." Newsweek contacted the USAID and the USAGM for comment on Saturday via email outside of regular office hours. Why It Matters President Trump created DOGE following his second presidential inauguration in January, under the leadership of his then-close ally Elon Musk, which the task of cracking down on wasted government spending. Musk left DOGE at the end of May and has since been sharply critical of Trump, including over his One Big Beautiful Bill increasing the U.S. debt ceiling. Friday's update shows DOGE's determination to maintain relevance after Musk's departure. What To Know In a post on Friday, the official DOGE account on X, formerly Twitter, the Musk owned social-media platform, posted an update to its 4.9 million followers. The post said: "July 4 Contracts Update! "In the last 2 days, agencies terminated 54 wasteful contracts with a ceiling value of $1.8B and savings of $804M, including a $842k USAID professional services contract for a 'director of the Armenia innovation hub within the USAID/Armenia Economic Growth Office' and a $33k USAGM contract for '24/7 FM broadcast services to the Togolese Republic.'" 🇺🇸July 4th Contracts Update!🇺🇸 In the last 2 days, agencies terminated 54 wasteful contracts with a ceiling value of $1.8B and savings of $804M, including a $842k USAID professional services contract for a "director of the Armenia innovation hub within the USAID/Armenia Economic... — Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) July 4, 2025 Details about the other 52 contracts that DOGE said it ended were not provided in the post. DOGE has overseen efforts to fire federal government employees still on their probationary periods and to shut down the USAID, though both moves were challenged in court and the USAID continues to exist in skeleton form. Stock photo: Anti-DOGE protesters gather outside of the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building headquarters of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management on February 5, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Stock photo: Anti-DOGE protesters gather outside of the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building headquarters of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management on February 5, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong/GETTY On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that federal officials were instructed to stop submitting spending proposals to a DOGE-controlled email address for review before they are announced. In March, Trump said DOGE had saved "tens of billions of dollars" in "waste, fraud and abuse" though separate studies by The Washington Post and NPR put total cuts at around $2 billion. What People Are Saying Responding to the DOGE post on X, Matt Van Swol, a former Department of Energy employee with 270,000 followers, said: "Thank you so much DOGE team!!!!! "Speaker Johnson thinks he and the House of Representatives deserve the ENTIRE week off next week while you guys are absolutely CRANKING saving us money!!!! Thank you for working so hard. I wish our elected leaders worked as hard for us too …" Another X user, from New York, asked: "How do we know these were wasteful? Where is the monitoring and evaluation that shows that they were?" What Happens Next It remains to be seen how much influence DOGE will retain following Musk's departure in May and subsequent falling out with Trump. Further cuts will be required to reduce the U.S. deficit with the Congressional Budget Office projecting Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill will add $2.4 trillion to the national debt.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
IRS Chief Vows Revenge After Being Ousted by Elon Musk's DOGE
The ousted head of human resources at the IRS, Traci DiMartini, is vowing to fight back after she says she was fired for telling IRS employees that agency firings came from the DOGE-controlled Office of Personnel Management. DiMartini was placed on leave Monday for alleged 'ineffective management' of the Trump administration's mass federal employee purge, as well as 'insubordination' toward the Department of Government Efficiency. She says she was fired not only for telling IRS staff where firings were coming from but also because she refused to call employees into the office over the weekend to onboard a DOGE staffer after they were putting in '60–70 hour' workweeks in the midst of tax season. 'They're trying to politicize human capital,' DiMartini told Government Executive. 'They want to be able to hire only loyalists, ignore Title 5 [of the U.S. Code] and commit flagrant prohibited personnel practices. When you look at the Merit Systems Protections Board and what the civil protections are, we're supposed to have a nonpartisan civil service, and we have been completely whipsawed.' DiMartini told the publication that she doesn't plan to return to federal employment but will challenge her dismissal, saying she never faced discipline in 21 years of working in the government. 'It's my job to stand up and be the buffer between politicals and career employees, and I'm just trying to do my goddamn job,' DiMartini said. 'They have no idea who they picked a f—king fight with.' DOGE has already infiltrated the IRS, seeking access to American taxpayers' personal data, and Trump even wants to get rid of the agency altogether. But, like the rest of his efforts to overhaul the government, following the law is not one of his concerns.
