Department of Government Efficiency - DOGE

[ButchPlz]

oh, so you ALSO have a problem with DOGE then? finally admitting they aren't perfect, and maybe they should be doing something else?

they are cutting whole departments and having to hire some of them back.

we have a poster going on about how their cuts are also going to shut down the VA hospitals.

you are assuming what DOGE is doing is actually going to lead to savings. I just see another government department that already looks as incompetent and successful as the rest of the government. while Congress just continues to spend spend spend.

Remember, DOGE cut "powerpoint" and "notetaking" contracts on Tuesday.
By Wednesday, the administrator was yelling that cuts needed to be paused.
Today, contracting officers and execs are contacting prime contract holders telling them not to sign terminations.
What happens when those terminations are walked back (because they realize that a hospital needs more than a handful of clinicians to operate) and much of this stuff is reinstated? Is DOGE going to take the "savings" off their board?

 

[InVOLuntary]

Then you didn't understand what you read or ignored the parts that made you uncomfortable. This has nothing to do with liking the people doing the cuts. This is exactly what Musk did at twitter that caused their infrastructure to buckle until he ran around hiring back engineers at a higher cost. This time we're taking about things like the VA which actually matters and affects human lives. Some 19yo dev has no clue what they means

Not to mention they are outright lying about the cuts being made and you're clapping like a drunken seal while they do. I've always asked for honesty and transparency but we get neither from this admin

Or you believe the msm.

What have they cut, specifically that you disagree with?

 

[whodeycin85]

Remember, DOGE cut "powerpoint" and "notetaking" contracts on Tuesday.
By Wednesday, the administrator was yelling that cuts needed to be paused.
Today, contracting officers and execs are contacting prime contract holders telling them not to sign terminations.
What happens when those terminations are walked back (because they realize that a hospital needs more than a handful of clinicians to operate) and much of this stuff is reinstated? Is DOGE going to take the "savings" off their board?

Why are "important"positions that are needed hidden away in a PowerPoint and note taking department???

 

[LouderVol]

Remember, DOGE cut "powerpoint" and "notetaking" contracts on Tuesday.
By Wednesday, the administrator was yelling that cuts needed to be paused.
Today, contracting officers and execs are contacting prime contract holders telling them not to sign terminations.
What happens when those terminations are walked back (because they realize that a hospital needs more than a handful of clinicians to operate) and much of this stuff is reinstated? Is DOGE going to take the "savings" off their board?

nope. we have already seen that DOGE has no interest in reporting the truth. and many on this board don't care that they are being lied to, as long as they like the lie.

 

[InVOLuntary]

Yes, USAID was rightfully gutted. But 99.99% of the actual cutting so far has been D priorities. They were complete waste and should have been cut.

Now, take this approach to the largest discretionary line item (defense) instead of giving them another nearly 20% budget increase.....

He's a month in. Sure he's going to lop off the obvious.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

He's a month in. Sure he's going to lop off the obvious.

If that's the case, why give them a huge budget increase? That money sure in the hell aint flowing through to the actual soliders...

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

Just remember when Trump can't get everything he promised for his tax cuts, it will be because those funds will be given to Lockheed, Palantir, Boeing, Northrop, etc instead of the American people or actual soldiers....

 

[InVOLuntary]

oh, so you ALSO have a problem with DOGE then? finally admitting they aren't perfect, and maybe they should be doing something else?

they are cutting whole departments and having to hire some of them back.

we have a poster going on about how their cuts are also going to shut down the VA hospitals.

you are assuming what DOGE is doing is actually going to lead to savings. I just see another government department that already looks as incompetent and successful as the rest of the government. while Congress just continues to spend spend spend.

Lol, I never said they were perfect.

When you have such a bloated bureaucracy, and you're trying to fix it, you'll make mistakes. I look at it like this, when you have a pond full of invasive, pond-destroying fish, killing all the good fish, it's necessary to drain the pond and get rid of the bad fish and throw back the good fish.

Or you can sit back and try to catch each bad fish and throw them to the side one at a time until the pond is empty meanwhile they are reproducing at a faster rate than you can catch them. That's called business as usual when it comes to DC. If you're for business as usual, keep screeching.

 

[InVOLuntary]

If that's the case, why give them a huge budget increase? That money sure in the hell aint flowing through to the actual soliders...

Has a budget been passed? Did Hegseth not ask his subs to cut their budgets? Are these $$ not required because of past commitments?

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

Has a budget been passed? Did Hegseth not ask his subs to cut their budgets? Are these $$ not required because of past commitments?

The parameters of the reconciliation package, which will impact taxes and spending was passed in the House. Trump personally lobbying reps to vote for it with 150B more in defense spending says a whole lot more than any public stmt

Actions speak louder than words....

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

@InVOLuntary - I want to slash and slash like crazy. We have to fundamentally change spending in this country. That means some sacred cows will have to get slaughtered....

You cut the budgets and you'll end up cutting the waste

 

[jmacvols1]

"Under Fishback’s proposal, households that are net taxpayers — those who pay into the government more than they receive in benefits — would receive 20% of all DOGE’s saving.

Another 20% will go to paying down the national debt and the other 60% would likely be allocated to the budget each year (Fishback doesn’t explicitly state that).

According to his math that would mean roughly 79 million households would get a $5,000 check each if Musk is able to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget he’s estimated he can trim.

Fishback has previously suggested the first check would come when DOGE terminates in July 2026, but if it become law before then, he said, Americans could get a check even sooner.

.....While some economists have suggested a possible dividend could push inflation higher, like stimulus checks did during the pandemic, Fishback believes his targeted approach disbursing checks will eliminate that issue.

“Sending checks isn’t inflationary … lockdowns and labor shortages compounded the effect of inflation [during Covid],” he said. “But the macro backdrop today is disinflationary.”

“It is similar to tax refund season — when the average check from the IRS is $3,100 and it goes to people’s rainy day fund, saving, and paying down debt.”

And, since the DOGE checks would only be sent to households paying taxes, these checks incentivize people to get back to work — unlike the Covid stimulus checks."

 

[volbound1700]

I think it is truly hard to track what is being cut and what isn't and what actual savings we are getting. DOGE is going very fast (too fast IMO). The media sources have biases either for DOGE or against DOGE so we are rarely getting a sounding board that is accurately telling us what is truly going on.

 

[LouderVol]

Lol, I never said they were perfect.

When you have such a bloated bureaucracy, and you're trying to fix it, you'll make mistakes. I look at it like this, when you have a pond full of invasive, pond-destroying fish, killing all the good fish, it's necessary to drain the pond and get rid of the bad fish and throw back the good fish.

Or you can sit back and try to catch each bad fish and throw them to the side one at a time until the pond is empty meanwhile they are reproducing at a faster rate than you can catch them. That's called business as usual when it comes to DC. If you're for business as usual, keep screeching.

yeah, and if you are doing that, I would for sure want someone who actually knew how to drain a pond, catch fish, and knew which fish were the good ones.

right now we have someone who dynamited the dam wall, think every fish is a bad fish, and is just randomly throwing some back into the pond because they know some are supposed to be there.

I have never said stop. I have always said the cuts just need to be controlled. is it really too slow to ask some basic questions before making the cuts? Basic as in: What does this person/department actually do? Is there anyone else who can do this, or does do it? Is this the only source of funding for an activity we want to keep?

no one is wanting DOGE to sit down and figure out if the Department of Nuclear Security is spending too much time filling out Form A2-4.z. we want DOGE to sit down and ask who is going to ensure the security of our nuclear material after these guys are gone.

 

[ButchPlz]

Why are "important"positions that are needed hidden away in a PowerPoint and note taking department???

Because they aren't. The VA admin made that comment because someone in DOGE told him that's all that was cut, which was provably false if he had bothered to look at his own contracts. It was a political meat line that the dude had to walk back within a day because it was foolish.

I've explained what they're doing several times. The DOGE team comes in with a language model that first processes the "mission" of the agency. It then goes through every existing contract, task order, modification, purchase, etc. and if it doesn't match the "mission" to a specific percentage, it's terminated virtually automatically. The issue comes when you realize that things like supply chain and IT aren't technically the "mission" or core capability of an organization like the VA, but you certainly can't run the world's largest hospital system without supply chain and IT, especially when the procurement/supply chain systems, records management systems, and major vendor contracts are in the middle of being updated and brought to a mostly modern standard that more closely resembles private industry (per Trump's first term, even!). They've also cut the support contracts for things like VA remote/video care and the suicide support desk, which are extremely helpful for Vets that can't get out of their houses as easily. But because those contracts either had a certain NAICS code or didn't have X percentage of language that matched the mission, they got the axe with little human review.

EDIT: PS- the VA has outsourced most of its IT, like pretty much most of private industry these days; they bought capability and partnership outside of the agency. The brains to support the old systems and piece together what's good and bad are now out on the streets with a bitter taste in their mouths. How much more are you going to have to pay those folks to get them to step back into this situation? Driving contracts to transactional interactions with zero security is just another pathway to end up paying $40K for a hammer.

 

[InVOLuntary]

yeah, and if you are doing that, I would for sure want someone who actually knew how to drain a pond, catch fish, and knew which fish were the good ones.

right now we have someone who dynamited the dam wall, think every fish is a bad fish, and is just randomly throwing some back into the pond because they know some are supposed to be there.

I have never said stop. I have always said the cuts just need to be controlled. is it really too slow to ask some basic questions before making the cuts? Basic as in: What does this person/department actually do? Is there anyone else who can do this, or does do it? Is this the only source of funding for an activity we want to keep?

no one is wanting DOGE to sit down and figure out if the Department of Nuclear Security is spending too much time filling out Form A2-4.z. we want DOGE to sit down and ask who is going to ensure the security of our nuclear material after these guys are gone.

Again, you are letting your distain for Trump/Musk cloud your vision. Sounds like you're wanting more of the same. We've had enough "experts" (Washington bureaucrats) try and fix it. Maybe let someone from outside of government have a go at it.

 

[InVOLuntary]

@InVOLuntary - I want to slash and slash like crazy. We have to fundamentally change spending in this country. That means some sacred cows will have to get slaughtered....

You cut the budgets and you'll end up cutting the waste

You and I are on the same page. I want our military brought into not this century but the next. Lean and mean and more technical in nature.

 

[InVOLuntary]

The parameters of the reconciliation package, which will impact taxes and spending was passed in the House. Trump personally lobbying reps to vote for it with 150B more in defense spending says a whole lot more than any public stmt

Actions speak louder than words....

I'm not sure you can make cuts to the military 30 days in. I think it will take time to scale it back.

 

[ButchPlz]

Rightoid's righteous ideas:

Keep sending aid to Israel.
Cut all the supporting services for vets.

Nifty.

 

[LouderVol]

Again, you are letting your distain for Trump/Musk cloud your vision. Sounds like you're wanting more of the same. We've had enough "experts" (Washington bureaucrats) try and fix it. Maybe let someone from outside of government have a go at it.

no, I am responding to actual events.

again they have cut entire departments, only to hire them back. that is not knowing which fish is good or bad.

they have cut the primary way the VA funds their hospitals, and many of the contracts which actually saves them money over costs they would otherwise face without those contracts. that is dynamiting the dam.

you are letting your devotion to Trump cloud your vision. I am responding to stuff that has actually happened, while you just want to dismiss it all.

 

[ButchPlz]

no, I am responding to actual events.

again they have cut entire departments, only to hire them back. that is not knowing which fish is good or bad.

they have cut the primary way the VA funds their hospitals, and many of the contracts which actually saves them money over costs they would otherwise face without those contracts. that is dynamiting the dam.

you are letting your devotion to Trump cloud your vision. I am responding to stuff that has actually happened, while you just want to dismiss it all.

Remember I shared the clip from the p-card memo. Here's an article about it that lays out the details. If my contracts end up for real permanently cut I'll post some screenshots of the data showing how medical supplies are bought to prove my point. It seems the VA is trying to resist this, but GSA has the authority to take over the cards tomorrow, enforcing the rule. You'll see in this article precisely the things I've been saying.

VA gets GSA request to slash total number of employees who hold purchase cards

GSA has asked 15 other agency heads “to reduce their agency charge card limits, and the number and usage of cards.”

federalnewsnetwork.com

 

[InVOLuntary]

no, I am responding to actual events.

again they have cut entire departments, only to hire them back. that is not knowing which fish is good or bad.

they have cut the primary way the VA funds their hospitals, and many of the contracts which actually saves them money over costs they would otherwise face without those contracts. that is dynamiting the dam.

you are letting your devotion to Trump cloud your vision. I am responding to stuff that has actually happened, while you just want to dismiss it all.

You are getting your information from liberal msm. You are letting your TDS kick in.

Staus quo, the way business is done in Washington is over for now. Better get used to it.

 

[ButchPlz]

You are getting your information from liberal msm. You are letting your TDS kick in.

Staus quo, the way business is done in Washington is over for now. Better get used to it.

He's getting his information from someone working in the agency.

 

[LouderVol]

You are getting your information from liberal msm. You are letting your TDS kick in.

Staus quo, the way business is done in Washington is over for now. Better get used to it.

do you have @ButchPlz blocked? because he has been all over this with first hand info.

 

[ButchPlz]

do you have @ButchPlz blocked? because he has been all over this with first hand info.

I'm just glad there's an article out now addressing the purchase card stuff. I'm way more worried about that, especially since now the implementation of the new medical supplies contracts is on indefinite hold because there's nobody left to do it.