100 Chaotic Days of Elon Musk and D.O.G.E

The White House stated that the efforts of DOGE have helped save costs. However, some people believe that this activity has led to congestion and a brain drain. At the Social Security Administration (SSA), lawyers, statistical experts, and senior officials are being transferred from the headquarters in Baltimore to the regional office. They will replace the seasoned caseworkers who have been laid off or accepted voluntary separation. However, most newcomers do not know how to do this work, causing elderly and disabled Americans who depend on this welfare to wait longer, Reuters cited sources familiar with the situation. However, when asked about the change, an official from SSA stated via email that the transferred employee "has extensive knowledge of our programs and services." Nearly 100 days after U.S. President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk embarked on a mission to improve the efficiency of the federal administrative apparatus, Reuters discovered 20 cases of personnel and budget cuts leading to issues. It includes congestion in shopping, paralysis in decision-making, prolonged waiting times for the public, high-paid civil servants doing routine work, and the phenomenon of brain drain in science and technology. "DOGE ( stands for the U.S. Government Efficiency Bureau ) is not a serious effort," said Jessica Riedl, a member of the Manhattan Institute - a conservative financial think tank. She estimates that DOGE has only saved 5 billion USD so far and believes that in the end it will end up costing more than it saves. Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields stated that Musk's team "has modernized government technology, prevented fraud, streamlined processes, and identified billions of dollars in savings for American taxpayers." However, Fields did not provide specific examples of improving computer systems or enhancing human resource efficiency. Saving Billions of USD Billionaire Musk confirmed on April 23 that he will step back from overseeing DOGE in May. His 130-day term as a special government employee is expected to end at the end of May. He said he would continue to support Trump in reforming the government, but not full-time. Musk's reduction in role makes DOGE's future uncertain, but governance experts believe the cost-cutting effort continues. So far, Musk and his subordinates have not provided much concrete evidence of how the government is functioning more effectively after the wave of layoffs and contract terminations with the government. Dozens of government officials told Reuters that DOGE groups, which have infiltrated many government agencies and computer systems, operate very secretly. A DOGE website frequently updates what it claims to be savings for American taxpayers - currently recording a figure of 160 billion USD. However, this website has made mistakes and corrections multiple times.

The White House has provided Reuters with some examples of cost savings. These include the discovery of over $630 million in fraudulent loans issued by the Small Business Administration to individuals over 115 years old or under 11 years old during the 2020-2021 period, and $382 million in fraudulent unemployment benefits paid by the U.S. Department of Labor since 2020. Reuters could not independently verify these claims. In an interview with Fox News on March 27, Musk stated that his team is cautious when cutting back, acknowledging and correcting mistakes, while also having discovered an "astonishing" amount of waste and fraud. The Other Side In an effort to cut spending, DOGE announced that it has canceled nearly 500,000 government credit cards. Many other cards have a spending limit of 1 USD, and the purchasing decision-making power has been centralized at the headquarters of several agencies. This means that managers in some regional offices cannot purchase basic supplies. At the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Center, it took a scientist a month to get approval for a $200 bid on dry ice to preserve urine samples. This was once a transaction that could happen quickly at the local supermarket. DOGE and the White House have also banned many government agencies from contacting outside vendors as they suspend thousands of federal contracts. One victim of the ban is nearly half a million dollars' worth of chemical analysis equipment at the CDC's facility in Cincinnati. The device sat motionless for months because scientists couldn't schedule training with suppliers to operate the machine, according to people familiar with the situation. At SSA, within just the first 4 days of March, the computer system crashed 10 times. Because 1/4 of the IT technical team of this agency has either resigned or been fired, the system restoration takes longer, causing interruptions in the processing of files, an employee told Reuters. Few people deny that SSA's computer system is outdated, frequently malfunctioning, and in need of an upgrade. Musk told Baier that the system is "collapsing" and "we are fixing it." DOGE has also closed most of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), canceling over 80% of humanitarian programs. Almost all employees of this agency will be laid off in September. All overseas offices will be closed, and some functions will be merged into the U.S. Department of State. In the U.S., the government overhaul has resulted in the firing, resignation, or early retirement of 260,000 civil servants, according to Reuters. Both Trump and Musk believe that the U.S. government is rife with fraud and waste. In fact, no one among civil servants or management experts denies that improvements can be made. However, they say that there are people within the government apparatus who have tried to save money for taxpayers. However, some offices like this are being targeted by DOGE for cuts. In January, Trump fired 17 inspectors general - those tasked with overseeing the government, including cutting waste and fraud. Christi Grimm, who was the former inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services before being fired, stated that she had identified $14.5 billion potentially recoverable - "real money, cash expected to return to the U.S. Treasury" - within 3 years through audits and fraud investigations.