November 21, 2024

"House GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced that she will chair a new oversight subcommittee in the next Congress that will work with..."

"... the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. House Oversight Chair James Comer 'intends to establish a new Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) for the 119th Congress,' a source familiar told CNN, confirming that Greene will chair the subcommittee.... The creation of the new subcommittee establishes a congressional arm to the broader effort by Trump and his allies to make significant cuts to the federal government. The subpanel will examine the salaries and status of members of the federal civil service and intergovernmental personnel among other oversight measures...."


A quote from Greene: "Our subcommittee’s work will expose people who need to be FIRED. The bureaucrats who don’t do their job, fail audits like in the Pentagon, and don’t know where BILLIONS of dollars are going, will be getting a pink slip."

Speaking of bureaucrats, I'm seeing complaints about Trump's appointments that are faulting them for not being bureaucratic enough. There's this NYT article this morning: "Dr. Oz, Fox Hosts and a Star of ‘The Real World’ Join Trump’s Season 2 Cast/The president-elect is rounding out his second administration with television stars":
Mr. Hegseth, whom Mr. Trump considered for veterans affairs secretary in 2018, served in the military but has no experience overseeing a sprawling bureaucracy; the Defense Department is largest agency in the federal government. Until 2022, Dr. Oz hosted a daytime talk show; now he would be responsible for providing health coverage to more than 150 million Americans.

53 comments:

RideSpaceMountain said...

"The subpanel will examine the salaries and status of members of the federal civil service."

No more Dr. Fauci's. Not one more, ever again.

doctrev said...

Wolves are scared when hunters show up instead of more wolves. And yet the point isn't to nurture the wolves, it's to starve or kill them. It'll be interesting to see exactly how far Millei policies can go to restore basic American federal budgets.

Gator said...

We could get rid of 50% of non-military federal workers their cushy benefits and pensions and be better off. Like the film Office Space scene says, what is it you actually do?

who-knew said...

" Dr. Oz hosted a daytime talk show; now he would be responsible for providing health coverage to more than 150 million Americans." I don't think the head of HHS is responsible for providing health coverage for anybody, and if he is, he shouldn't be.

Peachy said...

She drives the corrupt authoritarian left nuts. YAY!

AlbertAnonymous said...

That’s right. Not bureaucratic enough. No government experience.

Oh my God, this person who will be tasked with “draining the swamp” cannot possibly be confirmed because he’s never worked in the swamp. We need a swamp creature like Jake Sullivan.

Burn it all to the ground and salt the earth.

Jake said...

I believe there is reason to question the competence of appointees like Hegseth and Gaetz. On the other hand, where have the "experienced" people landed us?

AlbertAnonymous said...

Any department NOT demolished should be moved to upper Minnesota. See. How many of them move there to keep their cushy jobs.

Curious George said...

"...no experience overseeing a sprawling bureaucracy..."

LOL. They had no problem with Pete Buttigieg who got the SecTrans position primarily because he liked cock.

RCOCEAN II said...

Conservatives are always hilarious. Criticize some billionaire or greedy bankster or corporate exec and its "Huh? what are some sort of jealous envious loser? Huh? Huh?"

But then when its Federal workers making a 100,000 a year, its "Those damn Government workers with their cushy jobs, and nice pensions". Jealous much? Of course, most conservatives can't understand the difference between state, and local government workers who have strong union protection and negotiate salaries/wages, with Federal unions who cant negotiate their salary, and are extremely weak.

The problem with focusing on Federal workers, is like entitlements, they're a small part of the problem. We give Defense Contractors hundreds of Billions, we give foreign countries billions, we're trillions in debt. We only spend 3 percent of the budget on Federal workers.

wendybar said...

GOOD. This is exactly what needs to be done!!

Just an old country lawyer said...

No one is quite as adept at missing the point as an investigative reporter.

RCOCEAN II said...

Of the approximately 2 million Federal workers, 60 percent work for DoD, DHS, and Veterans Affairs. Many of those are ex-Military. But those damn lazy Vets, with their cushy jobs. We need to fire them and make them work for living. Hurump Hurump.

Ampersand said...

The swamp drainers need to watch the British show "Yes Minister". Bureaucracy persists because it creates overwhelming inertia. The effort is noble. I am skeptical.

RideSpaceMountain said...

Plenty of govt. land around Minot AFB in N. Dakota too. Hope they like Gore-Tex.

Leland said...

The ice cream cone wants to be only be licked by its self, but they are always happy for us to pay for it,

narciso said...

and his failure, to actually fill the pot holes and south bend, but you had to pay him off for accepting the steal in iowa

Howard said...

I think this is great because there is a huge imbalance in government spending that transfers wealth from Blue States and blue counties to Red States and red counties. Subsidizing the rural phony bootstrap lifestyle of Trump supporters should be eliminated

Shouting Thomas said...

My GP provides for my healthcare. Not a bureaucrat in D.C.

Shouting Thomas said...

My GP provides for my healthcare. Not a bureaucrat in D.C.

Breezy said...

Elon is critical to this exercise. He’s the one with proven downsizing skills. I imagine Vivek has the downsizing skills, too, but in a gentler form. Elon cuts, Vivek smooths it out so people leaving have time to regroup somewhere else. A few of the cabinet members will be dealing with a much less vast enterprise after DOGE does its work.

AMDG said...

I wonder if she can persuade the Jews to loan her a space laser to help with this.

Pillage Idiot said...

Fauci has gotten $15,000,000 in government security services while he was a private citizen. That is the kind of waste and perhaps fraud we are talking about.

I missed all of the MAGA Republicans calling to fire lazy vets.

However, if you are a government worker that has NOT been doing your job, and you happen to be a vet, then I am fine with you being fired.

I do support our vets and have great gratitude for their service, but that does not grant them titles of nobility.

CJinPA said...

"Our subcommittee’s work will expose people who need to be FIRED. The bureaucrats who don’t do their job, fail audits like in the Pentagon, and don’t know where BILLIONS of dollars are going, will be getting a pink slip."

We don't need every Republican to sound like a Trump social media post. You've already won the chance to do something of substance. Stop selling for five damn minutes and do something for a change.

Goetz von Berlichingen said...

RCOCEAN : I'm with you, man. We shouldn't fix anything unless we can fix it all at once, right?
And you broke the code on who's being targeted... all those veterans (full disclosure, I am a veteran) working for the government. In a valuable position doing good and necessary work? Fuck'em! That's clearly the plan Trump has.
It all adds up. Thanks for your eye-opening insights!
Do you have a newsletter, perchance?
Goetz von Berlichingen

Howard said...

RCOCEAN II makes a good point. The real problem is the contracts not the employee salaries. In addition the problem is more of a function of the convoluted illogical Petty inefficient and counterproductive regulations promulgated by the administrative state that inhibits and stifles progress and wastes an enormous amount of time.

Wasting time is the largest crime because it is taking away people's lives. It is effectually a partial murder.

Howard said...

His point is, genius, that this very important and vital program should not be used to strain gnats and let camel's pass.

RideSpaceMountain said...

No need, she's already backed by AIPAC, along with more than half of the rest of congress.

Howard (not that Howard) said...

First, it's not jealousy, it's wanting value for the taxes we pay. Second, their salary is the smallest part of what they cost our economy. Backed by the full force of the federal government, their ability to meddle far outstrips their capabilities.

tommyesq said...

What reasons do you have to question Gaetz's competence?

AMDG said...

My point is that she is a crank and her involvement in anything risks turning into a farce.

Howard (not that Howard) said...

That is exactly the point of trimming the fat. Many of these bureaucrats justify their continued employment by creating mindless regulation. It's not so much about their salaries.

Additionally, the amount of money sent to NGOs needs to be drastically reduced, perhaps to zero. They have become Democratic slush funds to do unconstitutional things the feds have not yet figured out how to hide.

tommyesq said...

We only spend 3 percent of the budget on Federal workers.

The Federal government spent $6.75 trillion in 2022, which was 23% of the country's GDP. According to the Congressional Budget Office, we spent $271 billion on employee pay that year, which was actually 4.3% of the overall spend that year. Not exactly chump change, and that excludes the generous benefits and pensions. Also, according to the Brookings Institute, the US gave out $63 billion in foreign aid in 2023, so employee pay is more than four times greater than foreign aid.

Gravel said...

One of the most detestable ploys used by liberals is "this is too small to matter" when it's a small amount - no matter how wasteful - which is always coupled with "this is too important to cut" - no matter how wasteful. And frankly, it's usually not important at all. I would encourage everyone to follow @Randoland_us on X - it documents wasteful US government spending with new items daily.

RCOCEAN II said...

Biden is giving Federal workers a 2 percent pay raise for 2025. Damn those pampered pets, with their cushy jobs!

RideSpaceMountain said...

You're a crank and nothing could be more farcical than the last 4 years.

tommyesq said...

"...no experience overseeing a sprawling bureaucracy..."

So clearly they made the same objections about Biden and Obama becoming President, right? Can't elect them, they never ran anything!

Drago said...

Ah, so AMDG "fears" MTG will negatively impact the work of this proposed subcommittee as negatively as AMDG and his pals negatively impacted the DeSantis campaign they supposedly supported.

narciso said...

You're stepping on your own tail, we need the pentagon for war fighting and winning when needs must, we haven't won one in nearly 80 years

RCOCEAN II said...

According to CBO, Civilian employees for DoD totaled 800,000 with compensation of $100 Billion. Almost all these employees support the 5 services and the war fighters. Included in the number is retirement pay for retired DoD civilians. Whats interesting is the CBO was considering replacing military personnel with civilians to save money! See their July 2023 report.

mccullough said...

80,000 civilian employees for the DoD is insane. There are 1.5 million active duty military. This isn’t the Middle Ages. We don’t have Knights who need Squires. The federal contracts should be cut in half too.

mccullough said...

800,000

Jersey Fled said...

I want to know what the 85,000 people who work for the Department of Agriculture do.

Jersey Fled said...

I just answered my own question.

https://www.usda.gov/

Original Mike said...

Upper Minnesota is actually pretty nice.

Original Mike said...

"The real problem is the contracts not the employee salaries."
and
"Many of these bureaucrats justify their continued employment by creating mindless regulation. It's not so much about their salaries."

Howard is right!

David53 said...

"According to CBO, Civilian employees for DoD totaled 800,000 with compensation of $100 Billion."

From the Office of Personnel Management, the first sentence describing SES positions, "The Senior Executive Service (SES) lead America’s workforce." These are the 8,000 or so unelected officials we need to look at first. We didn't vote for them to lead America's workforce. It's almost impossible to fire them and yet they hold enormous sway over how our government is run. It's not about most of the GS-12s and below who do real jobs. It's about uncorrupting federal service if that's even possible.

Readering said...

She can hire Gaetz as subcommittee counsel.

Leora said...

Don't leave out the folks getting grants. I met a woman who told me she had a grant to teach racism in Atlanta schools. I believed her.

AMDG said...

If you are looking for the likes of MTG, Boebert, and Gaetz for leadership in attacking our problems you are not a serious human being and you are not interested in enacting anything.

It’s increasing evident that Trump’s biggest impediment to getting anything done are the tRump Swabs. Their preference for performative clowns over competent people will destroy MAGA from within.

AMDG said...

If you are looking for the likes of MTG, Boebert, and Gaetz for leadership in attacking our problems you are not a serious human being and you are not interested in enacting anything.

It’s increasing evident that Trump’s biggest impediment to getting anything done are the tRump Swabs. Their preference for performative clowns over competent people will destroy MAGA from within.

Achilles said...

Those civies average 3 times the pay the active duty receive.

Dr.Bunkypotatohead said...

By the time she gets the committee staffed it will be time for the midterm elections, and Trump will working on his memoirs. If he's not getting impeached a third time by a Dem controlled House.