What Have You Done for Me Lately?
There is no past. There is no future. There is only the present.
U.S. Digital Service employees are being re-interviewed under DOGE transition
This sounds like what Musk did on taking over Twitter. For example, he asked developers to report on the number of commits to the codebase they had made in the prior months and he evaluated the significance of those contributions.
No, you don’t just get to keep your salary and your status.
Just like everyone else in the private sector, you have to prove yourself every day.
‘The DOGE has been interviewing current employees with asks ranging from the completion of technical assessments to questions about what they’re working on, if they would move to D.C. and why the organization isn’t delivering, according to two former USDS team members now working elsewhere in government and internal USDS Slack communications viewed by Nextgov/FCW.
‘There’s a fear among USDS staff about being assessed for their loyalty, one said. Media reports of feds at the National Security Council being asked about their political affiliations have garnered criticism.
‘USDS employees were not re-interviewed at the start of the first Trump administration or the Biden administration, according to two former USDS employees. Each worked in USDS during one of those transitions.’
Inside the Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy DOGE Divorce
Will DOGE be hobbled by being part of the executive branch and not an independent entity?
‘One of the people said the executive order “surprised a lot of people” because it brought DOGE, which was originally envisioned as an outside entity, into the executive branch. The executive order was developed only in the past two weeks, the person said.’
Federal return-to-office directive will hurt productivity, survey respondents say
There’s one way to test this theory. We can always go back.
The civil servants do not understand the optics here. Everyone else is going back to the office. Why do they deserve special privileges?
‘“My team is more productive in a teleworking environment — the output proves it,” one respondent wrote. “There are fewer disruptions, and less time spent commuting often leads to more time on the clock. The level of engagement is high, and we actively use technology, like Microsoft Teams, for collaborative meetings and discussions. Telework also provides better work-life balance, so that staff are able to bring their most productive selves to work.”
‘Some respondents said having a long commute would worsen productivity and the number of hours worked. With teleworking opportunities, some said they put in more work hours that would otherwise be spent driving or on public transportation.’
OPM demands agencies comply with Trump’s telework order within 30 days
Enforcement of the return-to-work policy will be more difficult thanks to Biden’s new contract with some public service unions.
Doesn’t sound like much public service to me, Bob.
‘Ultimately, employees will have 30 days, or until late February, to “fully comply” with the order, with notable exceptions for the aforementioned exempt employees and for employees covered by collective bargaining agreements with provisions governing telework. Trump deputies and House Republicans had expressed outrage last fall after then-Social Security Administrator Martin O’Malley signed a new contract with the American Federation of Government Employees locking in existing telework policy until 2029, though management still may temporarily suspend or amend its availability.’
VA exempts 300,000 health care positions from governmentwide hiring freeze
To govern is to choose.
‘Acting VA Secretary Todd Hunter, in a memo to department leaders, stated Veterans Health Administration positions “critical to delivering care to veterans” are exempt from the freeze, under the category of public safety.
‘Military Times first reported on the memo before its public release on Thursday. The VA memo exempts roughly three-quarters of VHA’s approximately 400,000-employee workforce.’
Are we underestimating the stimulus to the economy from just manifesting de-regulation, let alone instituting it, from the spillover culturally into the private sector of attacking bureaucracy and inefficiency?
‘A big stock runup greeted his surprise 2016 win. The reason was business relief after an eight-year Obama regulatory war on the private sector. Mr. Trump has the same genie working for him now. This time DOGE and Elon Musk have rapidly, and quite unexpectedly, persuaded Americans a new period of animal spirits is upon us. Add the pleasant and insufficiently heralded surprise of his enemies accepting his win.
‘In these pages recently, participants in a nuclear industry lawsuit argued persuasively that under the terms of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, today’s supersafe modular reactors are already exempt from much federal regulation. Let’s have more of this.
‘With Mr. Trump in office, pipeline building can reawaken the shale revolution all over again, luring more of the world’s heavy industry to run on American gas rather than Chinese coal (a net plus for the environment).
‘Mr. Trump calls for using America’s energy and regulatory freedom to make sure the U.S. remains the world leader in artificial intelligence. If outgoing Biden foreign policy guru Jake Sullivan is right, our national security depends on it. Likewise if growth and productivity are ever going to fix America’s debt problem, AI is the key.’
What to Know in Washington: Fast Trump Start Hits Congress Snag
It’s been a minute but the scolds in the press are already laying out how hard the legislative piece will be.
That’s a fair comment.
‘Legislating is Hard: Trump has yet to show he can manage the finer details of working complex legislation through Congress. The meeting was more about “strategy” rather than specific policy details, said House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.). Trump and GOP leaders touched on “everything,” from the debt limit to government funding, to wildfire aid for California, she added. Trump isn’t known for policy nuance, but the GOP might need him to be to resolve their differences.’
Investors Bet Trump Will Make Europe Investable Again
The deregulatory impulse in the US is much more of a threat to other countries than tariffs.
The best investment opportunities abroad may be in places with the most potential energy that can be released quickly by deregulation.
‘“I’m afraid that we do regulate ourselves out from competition,” said Niclas Mårtensson, CEO of Stena Line, the Swedish ferry operator. “There’s more eagerness from a European perspective to compete now.”
‘“We’re impatient with European regulation,” said Kasim Kutay, CEO of Novo Holdings, which manages the roughly $150 billion assets of Denmark’s Novo Nordisk foundation. “So much innovation is happening in Europe, but the companies are migrating to the U.S. because that’s where they can get their products launched.”’
Europe can import disillusioned talent from Trump’s US, says Lagarde
Lagarde notes the stored potential energy in Europe.
Will anything change?
‘Lagarde disagreed. “Europe is not a myth. It is not a basket case. It’s a fantastic case for transformation.”’
Trump Sets Out to Break Burdensome Rules
Maybe the $2 trillion target isn’t crazy, if it refers to costs imposed on the US public other than federal budgetary outlays.
‘By the time Mr. Biden left office, his administration had issued 1,213 new regulations, according to the American Action Forum. The Washington think tank tracks federal regulations, their cost and added paperwork hours on its Regulation Rodeo website. Mr. Biden’s red tape will result in $1.9 trillion in compliance costs over the first 10 years the new rules are in effect, according to AAF.
‘By comparison, in Mr. Trump’s first term, his administration issued slightly more regulations—roughly 1,340—but many reduced costs to businesses and consumers. In total, they cost only $64.7 billion, less than 4% of Mr. Biden’s total.
‘Mr. Biden’s regulatory regime was far more expensive than even Barack Obama’s. Over two terms, the Obama administration issued 2,997 regulations, at a price tag of $870.5 billion. That’s less than 46% of the regulatory cost Mr. Biden racked up in four years.’
Why should the civil service enjoy unusual protections that the rest of the workforce does not?
‘ Only 41 percent of civil service supervisors are confident that they can remove an employee who engaged in insubordination or serious misconduct. Even fewer supervisors –- 26 percent — are confident that they can remove an employee for poor performance.’
Congress Can Rein In Medicaid Spending
Big savings could come from just unwinding rules that were put in place because Congress couldn’t or wouldn’t pass laws.
‘The CBO cited five reasons for the enrollment rise. First, the administration kept renewing the Covid public-health emergency throughout 2022 because states couldn’t remove ineligible people from Medicaid while the “emergency” continued. While states have now completed this “unwinding” process, a separate rule published in April prohibits them from taking actions—determining eligibility more than once a year, requiring in-person interviews or imposing enrollee waiting periods—that help ensure program integrity. The net effect of these administrative actions: higher Medicaid enrollment and higher federal spending.
‘Second, the CBO increased its estimates of Medicaid spending on prescription drugs, “particularly the use of anti-obesity medications known as glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists, or GLP-1s.” Just before Thanksgiving, the Biden administration proposed requiring all Medicaid programs, most of which don’t currently cover GLP-1s for obesity, to do so, increasing federal spending by $11 billion over 10 years while placing a $4 billion unfunded mandate on states.
‘Third, the budget office increased spending projections for Medicaid managed-care plans, reflecting in part a rule the Biden administration released in May. That rule, by blessing payment plans that had been legally ambiguous, gives states an incentive to raise payments to hospitals and other medical providers to get more federal matching funds. The Biden administration estimated this provision would increase federal spending by at least $17.6 billion, and as much as $83.9 billion, by 2028.
‘Fourth, the CBO “increased projected spending to account for a modest increase in expected coverage expansions under the optional eligibility category.” The CBO’s belief that more states will accept ObamaCare’s expansion of Medicaid to able-bodied adults reflects provisions that Congress enacted in 2021 increasing payments to states that take up expansion.
‘Fifth, more Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries qualify for Medicaid, as a result of a series of Biden-era rules expanding SSI eligibility.’