Latest news with #post-Musk
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Budget documents reveal plan to grow DOGE
Elon Musk is out, but the Trump administration still wants to beef up funding and staffing for its DOGE operation, according to budget documents released last week. Tucked inside the lengthy budget appendix the White House released Friday are details about the administration's post-Musk vision for DOGE. In the early days of the Trump administration, the DOGE team has made waves throughout the federal government with its push to slash the workforce, eliminate agency contracts and terminate leases. As Musk announced his formal departure from DOGE last week, President Donald Trump and top administration officials stressed that the government-cutting operation wasn't going anywhere. And the administration's budget request for fiscal 2026 offers new details about how Trump and his team plan to bolster DOGE in the coming year. The White House budget request is just that — a request to Congress for funding. But the numbers indicate the administration's priorities for boosting or cutting staff in the government. Broadly, the administration is eyeing steep cuts to nondefense discretionary spending — a reduction of about 23 percent below the currently enacted level. The White House has asked for cuts to energy and environmental agencies. But at the same time, the White House wants DOGE to grow, the documents show. The total staff working for the U.S. DOGE Service — a White House technology shop that was rebranded when Trump took office — employed an estimated 89 staffers in fiscal 2025, the document shows. That includes staff listed as direct full-time employees as well as 'reimbursable' full-time employees. That number would grow from 89 to 150 in fiscal 2026 under the White House's budget request. Those 'reimbursable' employees are typically assigned to another agency that pays back the costs of their employment. Trump's January executive order creating the U.S. DOGE Service directed each agency head to establish its own DOGE team with at least four staffers. The administration has been tight-lipped about the roster of DOGE staffers, apart from public appearances by Musk and some senior DOGE aides. Musk and other DOGE staffers joined Fox News in March for an interview about their work behind the scenes. A New York Times investigation has identified more than 70 people aligned with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, some of whom have ties to Musk's companies and some of whom appear to have worked for DOGE at several government agencies. In an Oval Office press conference with Musk on Friday, Trump said that many of the DOGE people 'are staying behind.' Musk said that the DOGE team and its influence 'will only grow stronger.' The Tesla CEO compared DOGE to a 'sort of Buddhism. It's like a way of life.' DOGE would also get more money under Trump's budget plan. The operation spent an estimated $20 million in fiscal 2025, including $1 million for a 'software modernization initiative' and another $19 million through 'reimbursable program activity.' The budget request envisions DOGE boosting its spending in fiscal 2026 to $45 million, including $10 million for software modernization and another $35 million through reimbursable program activity. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the administration's bid to boost DOGE's staff and funding. It's unclear whether the number encapsulates the full DOGE team in the government, which has hired temporary special government employees to serve brief stints at agencies. Musk estimated in March that DOGE had grown to about 100 employees with plans to grow to about 200. Trump's critics — including the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee — panned the plan to grow DOGE while shrinking other federal programs. 'The request includes $10 million for the U.S. DOGE Service, supporting 30 full-time employees to continue Elon Musk's slash and burn campaign to decimate government well after his departure as a Special Government Employee,' Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the appropriations panel, said in a news release. Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog nonprofit Public Citizen, said the administration's bid to 'enhance the budget of this anti-efficiency effort, while cutting funding for parks, health care, education and more, is appalling." The budget document describes DOGE's mission as being technology focused, although the operation in the early days of the Trump administration and under Trump's leadership have shown the DOGE effort to be broad and aimed at enacting deep cuts to spending and personnel. 'U.S. DOGE Service (USDS) transforms Federal technology and software, driving unprecedented efficiency and productivity,' the document says. 'By advising Federal agencies on the tools to deliver high-impact outcomes, USDS streamlines government operations and tangibly improves the lives of the American people.' Gilbert, by contrast, described DOGE as 'the leading edge of this administration's corruption and lawlessness, illegally attacking agencies, threatening the data privacy of all Americans, and removing critical employees and programs that provide services we all depend on.'
Politico
3 days ago
- Business
- Politico
Budget documents reveal plan to grow DOGE
Elon Musk is out, but the Trump administration still wants to beef up funding and staffing for its DOGE operation, according to budget documents released last week. Tucked inside the lengthy budget appendix the White House released Friday are details about the administration's post-Musk vision for DOGE. In the early days of the Trump administration, the DOGE team has made waves throughout the federal government with its push to slash the workforce, eliminate agency contracts and terminate leases. As Musk announced his formal departure from DOGE last week, President Donald Trump and top administration officials stressed that the government-cutting operation wasn't going anywhere. And the administration's budget request for fiscal 2026 offers new details about how Trump and his team plan to bolster DOGE in the coming year. The White House budget request is just that — a request to Congress for funding. But the numbers indicate the administration's priorities for boosting or cutting staff in the government. Broadly, the administration is eyeing steep cuts to nondefense discretionary spending — a reduction of about 23 percent below the currently enacted level. The White House has asked for cuts to energy and environmental agencies. But at the same time, the White House wants DOGE to grow, the documents show. The total staff working for the U.S. DOGE Service — a White House technology shop that was rebranded when Trump took office — employed an estimated 89 staffers in fiscal 2025, the document shows. That includes staff listed as direct full-time employees as well as 'reimbursable' full-time employees. That number would grow from 89 to 150 in fiscal 2026 under the White House's budget request. Those 'reimbursable' employees are typically assigned to another agency that pays back the costs of their employment. Trump's January executive order creating the U.S. DOGE Service directed each agency head to establish its own DOGE team with at least four staffers. The administration has been tight-lipped about the roster of DOGE staffers, apart from public appearances by Musk and some senior DOGE aides. Musk and other DOGE staffers joined Fox News in March for an interview about their work behind the scenes. A New York Times investigation has identified more than 70 people aligned with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, some of whom have ties to Musk's companies and some of whom appear to have worked for DOGE at several government agencies. In an Oval Office press conference with Musk on Friday, Trump said that many of the DOGE people 'are staying behind.' Musk said that the DOGE team and its influence 'will only grow stronger.' The Tesla CEO compared DOGE to a 'sort of Buddhism. It's like a way of life.' DOGE would also get more money under Trump's budget plan. The operation spent an estimated $20 million in fiscal 2025, including $1 million for a 'software modernization initiative' and another $19 million through 'reimbursable program activity.' The budget request envisions DOGE boosting its spending in fiscal 2026 to $45 million, including $10 million for software modernization and another $35 million through reimbursable program activity. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the administration's bid to boost DOGE's staff and funding. It's unclear whether the number encapsulates the full DOGE team in the government, which has hired temporary special government employees to serve brief stints at agencies. Musk estimated in March that DOGE had grown to about 100 employees with plans to grow to about 200. Trump's critics — including the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee — panned the plan to grow DOGE while shrinking other federal programs. 'The request includes $10 million for the U.S. DOGE Service, supporting 30 full-time employees to continue Elon Musk's slash and burn campaign to decimate government well after his departure as a Special Government Employee,' Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the appropriations panel, said in a news release. Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog nonprofit Public Citizen, said the administration's bid to 'enhance the budget of this anti-efficiency effort, while cutting funding for parks, health care, education and more, is appalling.' The budget document describes DOGE's mission as being technology focused, although the operation in the early days of the Trump administration and under Trump's leadership have shown the DOGE effort to be broad and aimed at enacting deep cuts to spending and personnel. 'U.S. DOGE Service (USDS) transforms Federal technology and software, driving unprecedented efficiency and productivity,' the document says. 'By advising Federal agencies on the tools to deliver high-impact outcomes, USDS streamlines government operations and tangibly improves the lives of the American people.' Gilbert, by contrast, described DOGE as 'the leading edge of this administration's corruption and lawlessness, illegally attacking agencies, threatening the data privacy of all Americans, and removing critical employees and programs that provide services we all depend on.'
The Independent
05-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
We can all relax – Mark Zuckerberg has found a cure for loneliness
Our billionaire tech overlords have not been showering themselves with glory for their decision-making of late. The financial losses that Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk et al have weathered, both individually and for their companies, as a result of Trump's tariffs and their endorsement of the man, are enormous and singularly embarrassing. So when Mark Zuckerberg – the owner of Meta which runs Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – revealed his plans to solve America's human loneliness by rolling out increasingly personalised AI assistants, there was a collective sigh heard around the world. Zuckerberg said the average American had only three friends, but had the capacity and desire for 15. By getting a chatbot to take on one of these roles, you are not getting a friend, but a programmable serf. In a pithy post that went viral last year, the author Joanna Maciejewska said, 'I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes.' That goes for friendship, too: human friendship – a point which Zuckerberg seemed to have missed when he said, 'The world is going to get a lot funnier, weirder, and quirkier.' These are some of the best human traits which he now seeks to transfer into AGI (artificial general intelligence), an advancement of AI that possesses 'human-level' intelligence. However, it's wildly unlikely that this is about making people less lonely, and more about keeping users on his sites for longer. A Meta chatbot is unlikely to suggest things that will get lonely people outside, touching grass and meeting up with others. And is it really likely to tell its human 'friend' to stop doomscrolling and spend less time on social media? A 2024 poll from the American Psychiatric Association found that 30 of adults say they have experienced feelings of loneliness at least once a week over the past year. However, two-thirds said that technology 'helps me form new relationships' – just not in the way that Zuckerberg perhaps envisaged. Social media has been a godsend for many socially awkward people. The curious and chatty found a home on Twitter/X and, in the post-Musk exodus, on BlueSky. Those with shared special interests have congregated on Reddit. Anyone with a creative bent can find community on Instagram. Unfortunately, Facebook has become a dumping ground for boring people you met once on a weekend away in 2008. We already have plenty of people we can talk to there, and rarely if ever in real life. Who needs a chatbot when you've got Facebook friends? More insidiously – and I apologise if there are shades of Mary Whitehouse here – what chatbots offer is not friendship, but pliable control. Friendship has to be earned. A chatbot has to be programmed. And making friends – whether online or in real life – is a skill that has to be learned. I am by no means the only person who has found great relief, and great friendships, in online conversation – real-world networking socials were a big thing when I started in journalism and I would dissolve into porridge at the prospect in a way that phases me significantly less now – but unless you have a concrete idea who someone is, you are just speaking into the wind. Keening parties do like to bang on about an epidemic of male loneliness. Sorry, but this is not going to be solved by chatbots any more than spending 20 minutes on hold with your bank will make you feel more connected to your finances. Building reciprocal relationships can be hard. It's a challenge that's worth the effort. Many social niceties can be difficult to master, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to learn them. It's part of being an adult. What a chatbot offers – and Zuckerberg perhaps by extension – is the right to be heard but never to be challenged. That isn't a cure for loneliness but an invitation to megalomania.
