Latest news with #DOGEService
Washington Post
a day ago
- Business
- Washington Post
DOGE loses control over government grants website, freeing up billions
The U.S. DOGE Service has lost the power to control the government's process for awarding billions of dollars in federal funds, the latest sign of the team's declining influence following Elon Musk's high-profile exit from Washington, according to two people familiar with the situation and emails obtained by The Washington Post.
Washington Post
20-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Social Security stops reporting call wait times and other metrics
Social Security has stopped publicly reporting its processing times for benefits, the 1-800 number's current call wait time and numerous other performance metrics, which customers and advocates have used to track the agency's struggling customer service programs. The agency removed a menu of live phone and claims data from its website earlier this month, according to Internet Archive records. It put up a new page this week that offers a far more limited view of the agency's customer service performance. The website also now urges customers to use an online portal for services rather than calling the main phone line or visiting a field office — two options that many disabled and elderly people with limited mobility or computer skills rely on for help. The agency had previously considered cutting phone services and then scrapped those plans amid an uproar. The changes are the latest sign of the agency's struggle with website crashes, overloaded servers and long lines at field offices after cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service targeted the agency's customer service system. The decision to remove public-facing data drew sharp criticism from advocates who said that it will make it more difficult to assess how the agency is performing for its 74 million beneficiaries. Former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, who served as Social Security commissioner under President Joe Biden, said that public disclosure of data provided staff with an incentive for higher performance and held the agency accountable. 'It's a shame that now they are trashing the trust that the public should have in numbers that are timely and accurate and real,' O'Malley said. In response to questions about why the data was removed, a Social Security spokesperson who declined to be named said that as Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano 'continues to evaluate the agency, we are updating our performance metrics to better reflect the real experiences of the people we serve and highlight the fastest ways our customers can get service. The agency will determine if additional information will be provided at a later date.' The spokesperson also provided a statement from Bisignano that said his 'top priority is to turn the Social Security Administration into a model of excellence — one that operates at peak efficiency.' The spokesperson said Bisignano aims to make Social Security a 'digital-first' agency, and the agency wants to encourage customers to use the online portal so staff can focus on more complex cases. Alex Lawson, executive director of the Social Security Works advocacy group, said the data removals 'hide how much they've destroyed the system's customer service.' 'If they think this lack of transparency will fool the American people, they're in for a surprise,' Lawson said. 'People notice when they can't get an appointment because their local field office has lost half its staff. When checks and decisions are delayed. When they get the runaround from an AI chatbot on the phone, instead of getting to talk to a real person.' In response to the criticism, White House spokeswoman Elizabeth Huston said in a statement that President Donald Trump 'is leading the most transparent administration in history' and Bisignano 'is streamlining the Social Security Administration to deliver more efficient and better service for American taxpayers.' Among the performance metrics now withheld was a 'live data' section with current call wait time, callback wait time, number of callers waiting on hold and the number of callers waiting on callback. The new website now shows only the percentage of calls and number of calls handled through automation, the average speed to answer and the total number of customers served. That data is only available for the fiscal year through the last month that data is available. And while the previous dashboard allowed users to click on data points and see trends over time, the new page does not show historical data. The dashboard says that nearly 42 percent of calls — or 27.2 million — were handled through automation in the current fiscal year through the last completed month. In contrast, the Social Security spokesperson said 5 percent — or 2.9 million calls — were handled through automation in the same period in the prior year. The data does not identify what month was used. It took an average of 19.2 minutes to answer calls and 72 percent of customers were served over the phone in this fiscal year through the last available month, the dashboard shows. The current tracker now provides one new statistic about in-person visits: that the average time to wait for an appointment at a field office is 34 days. The page says 'very few services require you to visit a field office' and customers are encouraged again to use the online portal. However, that statistic is a national average and does not help retirees and those with disabilities assess what wait times might be like in their area. Pages with information about the processing times for retirement, survivor, disability and Medicare benefits are now gone, as well as pages about the time it takes to reconsider disability decisions and process appeals. There is no reference to disability benefits on the new page. Another agency webpage does have some historical data about claims available to download. Rich Couture, a spokesman for the largest federal workers union, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said the loss of 10 percent of the agency's workforce has taken a 'toll on already overworked employees.' 'Removal of real-time performance data from SSA's website will only obscure the impact of the cuts and chaos on public service,' he said in a statement. One Social Security employee, who works in a claims processing center and who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said she suspects the erased webpages indicate an attempt to hide exploding call times and service backlogs piling up under the second Trump administration. She noted that, in her experience under Trump so far, it is taking at least double the time to process a claim than it did under Biden. She sits near colleagues who handle international calls, she said, and often overhears co-workers tell callers that actions will take 15 to 30 business days to process. She attributed the slowdown to mismanagement driven in part by DOGE, which slashed the agency's staff, hampered its ability to spend and driven down efficiency by enacting massive staff reorganizations. 'Them removing that type of data off the website about processing times doesn't surprise me, because we're so behind on things being processed,' the employee said. 'It's really a mess right now, everything is so far backed up.' The agency took down the data performance page on June 6 and replaced it with a message that the website was under maintenance until Monday, according to Internet Archive records compiled by the Strategic Organizing Center, a coalition of unions, and independently verified by The Washington Post. The altered page was then published with fewer statistics and with the added language about using the online portal. 'The fastest way for customers to get service is through my Social Security, which gives you immediate access to important information and tools, putting you in control of your time,' the new website reads. The page also says that the wait time to access online services is '0 minutes' and lists the number of transactions completed online, the count of customers who got replacement cards through the website and the percent of customers who filed for retirement benefits online. The website also says 'if you are thinking of calling us' there's a list of actions you can complete online without having to make the call. Kathryn Locatell, a 68-year-old in Placerville, California, whose 73-year-old husband receives Social Security payments, scoffed at the webpage's updated suggestion that applicants should forgo phone calls in favor of an online portal. She noted that her town is filled with elderly people who do not use smartphones, some of whom cannot even access the internet. When Locatell has visited her local Social Security office, she said she found it filled with older men and women who often wait hours to be seen. 'It's sad,' she said. 'Using an online portal just isn't going to happen in this community … I know it from my personal experience. My husband doesn't use the internet at all.' Across the country in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 76-year-old Joan Garnett, for whom Social Security payments are the primary form of income, was also struggling to understand why the agency would revise its website. She, too, thinks it unrealistic that elderly people will be able to use the portal. And she finds it disturbing that Social Security would take down data on its own performance serving customers. 'The government should be transparent in how they function,' she said. 'If you can't check on things, how do you know it's functioning right?'
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A diminished DOGE reels from the departure of the ‘Dogefather,' Elon Musk
Cabinet officials and senior staffers across the Trump administration are reclaiming power from Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service, a trend that began long before the billionaire's relationship with President Donald Trump exploded in public acrimony days after Musk formally left his White House post. As Musk departed, some of his top lieutenants were streaming out of government. Among those heading for the exits even before Musk and Trump began feuding, according to a White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information: longtime aide Steve Davis, who was overseeing cost-cutting efforts; lawyer James Burnham, DOGE's general counsel; and DOGE adviser Katie Miller, who is married to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. Katie Miller is now working for Musk. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. Meanwhile, Cabinet officials - some of whom had clashed with Musk - are moving to rehire workers who had been pushed out by DOGE. And while the group retains some clout, with DOGE staffers moving into permanent jobs in some agencies, unaffiliated political appointees in other departments have been forcing the cost-cutting group to back off. Despite the exodus, White House officials said the administration remains dedicated to rooting out waste and abuse. The administration has asked Congress to cancel more than $9 billion in spending for global health aid and for public broadcasting in the United States, an early gauge of lawmakers' appetite for codifying DOGE's cuts. And the White House budget office has proposed cutting $163 billion - nearly 25 percent - from agency budgets in the fiscal year that begins in October. 'DOGE is in the DNA of the federal government, and the president is committed to seeing this mission through,' said White House spokesman Harrison Fields. 'No one is under the impression that DOGE is somehow going to disappear.' White House budget director Russell Vought is expected to pick up where Musk left off in cutting federal spending, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. An architect of Project 2025, a policy blueprint put together between Trump's terms, Vought told a House hearing Wednesday that the Trump administration is eager to send more requests to eliminate previously appropriated funds as DOGE shifts from a consulting role to a position 'far more institutionalized' at OMB. Still, by DOGE's somewhat haphazard accounting, the initiative has saved only about $180 billion, a fraction of the $2 trillion Musk initially vowed to cut. That performance - along with a general recognition that DOGE created unnecessarily high levels of chaos - has left remaining members of the cost-cutting group facing growing skepticism among agency officials who, after Musk's blowup with Trump on Thursday, no longer need to fear retaliation from the world's richest person. 'DOGE was able to work its will because there was the perception that Musk was so close to the president that these orders were coming from the president,' said Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who ran a 'reinventing government' initiative during the Clinton administration. 'Now you've got a different situation.' At the Federal Aviation Administration, for example, the DOGE team suffered a setback this week when leadership nixed their access to FAA buildings, a command center in Warrenton, Virginia, and the Air Traffic Academy in Oklahoma City, according to an employee briefed on the matter and records obtained by The Washington Post. Four DOGE staffers were also stripped of their credentials and user accounts inside the FAA's internal computer systems, the records show. As of June 2, the staffers - Brady Glantz, Samuel Smeal, Tom Kiernan and Theodore Malaska, all of whom are employees of Musk's SpaceX - no longer bear the title of 'senior adviser to the administrator' on their online profiles within the agency, per the records. In fact, their profiles no longer show any job title at all - nor an affiliated organization, manager, email or phone number, the records show. In a briefing Monday, managers explained their removal by noting the team owed its creation and power to an executive order, not an act of Congress - and that Musk was stepping down after his term as a 'special government employee' ended, according to an employee who attended, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. 'So they're being pushed out,' the employee said. DOGE still maintains a strong presence at the agencies that oversee federal spending, real estate and logistics. Its initial areas of focus included the Treasury Department, the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration, where key allies are still guiding technology modernization efforts. At some other agencies, DOGE representatives have amassed powerful jobs and portfolios. In April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order granting sweeping new powers to DOGE staffer Tyler Hassen, a former oil executive, The Post reported. Under Burgum's order, Hassen is now leading a campaign to 'create significant efficiencies' and eliminate 'redundant efforts' across Interior, including in IT, human resources, financial management and international affairs. About a week later, the Energy Department named a DOGE team member, Carl Coe, as chief of staff, a top job that helps decide who has access to the energy secretary, according to an email obtained by The Post. His appointment will help 'tackle the challenge of strengthening and securing the U.S. energy stem and ensuring America can lead the global race for AI leadership,' the email noted. 'The chief of staff is, behind the scenes, the duck paddling under the water making things happen,' said one Energy employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. 'DOGE could control the direction of the agency now.' Elsewhere, DOGE associates brought on for their reputation as business leaders have exerted command over agency staff, overseeing new initiatives within government. Sam Corcos, a start-up founder, has been overseeing DOGE's work at the IRS, which is increasingly looking to off-load otherwise-monotonous agency work to artificial intelligence programs, according to a person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. And Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia has been overseeing DOGE's attempts to modernize the federal government's paper-based retirement system, which is run through the Office of Personnel Management. Gebbia was seen by Musk allies as potentially taking over some of the broader DOGE portfolio when Musk left. But now his fate is unclear, according to a person familiar with ongoing discussions over DOGE's role after Musk's departure. Resistance to DOGE in other agencies predated Musk's blowup with Trump. In early May, staffers who said they were with DOGE roamed around secure facilities within Navy Air Station Patuxent River, a Defense Department installation in Maryland where test flights and other sensitive work are carried out. One DOGE staffer reportedly walked in behind another government worker to gain access to the building, a Defense employee said - prompting a warning from installation security officials. 'At this time, [Navy Air Systems Command] Security is considering this an unauthorized access attempt,' a security official wrote in email obtained by The Washington Post. The email instructed staffers to report people representing themselves as DOGE staffers to security officials or base police, to refuse to allow anyone to follow them into buildings, and to be on alert for suspicious behavior. In a statement, a Navy official denied that DOGE's entry into an air station was treated as a security breach. 'DOGE representatives met with NAVAIR personnel … The meeting was scheduled. We have no record of DOGE seeking unauthorized entry into NAVAIR facilities on NAS Patuxent River,' said Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, a Navy spokesman. 'Reports to the contrary are unsubstantiated.' In a move that could eventually infuse DOGE with more power, the Supreme Court on Friday ruled in two emergency decisions that the group could access sensitive Social Security data again, ending a legal restriction that had lasted for months. The court also ordered a judge to narrow a separate order requiring DOGE to submit discovery in a FOIA lawsuit. James Fishback, CEO of the investment firm Azoria who developed the idea of paying a portion of DOGE's savings directly to American taxpayers, predicted that the group is not dead yet. 'The truth is that Elon set expectations that he relayed to the President, me, and the country that he did not come close to fulfilling,' Fishback said. But 'DOGE's next chapter - under new leadership - will fully deliver on President Trump's mission of cutting waste, looking out for taxpayers, and making government leaner and more accountable.' Still, as the week wound down, some federal employees took a few moments to celebrate the diminishment of DOGE, however brief. One Interior employee said he and colleagues worked extra-hard, reveling in their government jobs as DOGE seemed to be on the way out. Then he went home and ate some ice cream. At the FAA, a group of staffers went out for post-work drinks to toast the banishment of DOGE staff. Then they offered a more solemn toast to the more than two dozen colleagues they'd lost along the way. Related Content To save rhinos, conservationists are removing their horns Donald Trump and the art of the Oval Office confrontation Some advice from LGBTQ elders as WorldPride kicks off amid fears
Washington Post
07-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Musk has billions, but Trump has the presidency. In their feud, that counts for more.
There will be no true winners in the spectacular breakup between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, two alpha males with enormous egos and a penchant for rhetorical combat — and for excess. To many Americans watching it all, the two deserve each other. But in the end, Musk should know who truly holds the cards, and it's not him. The implosion that occurred Thursday was an irresistible spectacle pitting the most powerful person in the world against the richest person in the world. It was made for cable news and social media, and neither could get enough of it. Many Republicans who couldn't look away were nonetheless alarmed at the potential fallout. The marriage of convenience between Trump and Musk took root last year with Musk's endorsement and an infusion of an estimated $288 million into the effort to elect Trump president. It carried on into this year, with Musk given broad powers to cut down the executive branch through his U.S. DOGE Service, and he was sometimes described almost as a co-president rather than a volunteer. Musk may have confused the difference. The relationship between the two was one that many who knew them both believed would inevitably end in divorce. That the breakup was as swift and as acrimonious as it was reflected the personalities of the two. The split has implications both substantive and political — and for Musk there are monetary issues to consider, given the size of the government contracts with his businesses and the risk of a decline in the value of Tesla stock. At heart, however, this is a personality clash — pitting a volatile business talent, though a political novice, against a president with shrewd political instincts who has long displayed an appetite for street fights when attacked. Trump also has something Musk does not have, which is the votes of 77 million people and a MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement behind him, including some like Stephen K. Bannon who have been openly hostile to Musk. It's difficult at this moment to expect that Trump and Musk will return to their earlier relationship, however fraught it always was despite the public bonhomie at Cabinet meetings and in the Oval Office. But it's also in the interest of both not to perpetuate this very long. For Trump and the Republicans in Congress, the most pressing concern is Musk's ability to torpedo the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' that is the summation of the president's legislative ambitions for this year and perhaps his entire second term. The measure passed the House by a single vote. It cannot pass the Senate without some rewriting, though how much is up in the air. Musk's declaration that the bill is a 'disgusting abomination' helped trigger the conflict between the two men and adds ammunition for those who want more spending cuts. The question is how much Musk's opposition adds to the difficulties of finding a compromise among the competing GOP factions. It's easy to see why GOP leaders are unsettled by Musk's initial attacks on the bill and now his feud with the president. Trump already was facing a sizable job in lobbying lawmakers to win passage of the bill. Any loss of focus on the legislation by the president could be costly, as defeat would deal a devastating blow to Trump and congressional Republicans. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said on CNBC Friday that failure to pass the bill ultimately would cost Republicans control of the House in next year's midterm elections. That's stating the obvious, but then again, passage of the controversial measure also could imperil the House majority. No one can say whether Musk has the focus or the staying power to engage in a constructive debate about the bill beyond the broad claim that it's just too expensive. Absent something more substantive and targeted in his critique, members of Congress could dismiss him as just another billionaire who knows less than he thinks he knows — and a rich guy angry because federal subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles would be eliminated (though Musk claims he doesn't really care about that). Though there are worries about Musk's role, some Republicans downplay his influence. 'As a practical matter, he'll have almost no impact on the legislative process,' former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia) said. Gingrich went on to praise Musk as a business genius and someone whose SpaceX rocket company is vital to the United States winning the space battle against China. But as he noted, many business titans, from automaker Henry Ford to inventor Thomas Edison to IBM founder Thomas Watson, were never president. His argument was that Musk, like many business executives, knows almost nothing about politics. 'These are two dramatically different cultures,' he said. But for Republicans there is another concern about Musk, which is the possibility that he will use his vast wealth to try to defeat GOP lawmakers who support the bill. Could he intercede in Republican primary elections? Could he recruit challengers to punish those he sees on the wrong side of the fiscal debate? All that is possible, but there are other factors to consider about Musk's ability to play successfully in future political campaigns. Some strategists who have watched him in action believe the odds are low that his impact would be as great as his bank account might suggest. Musk claimed on Thursday that without his efforts Trump would not have won the 2024 election. That's questionable, though one can see why he might think so. But there are doubts in Republican circles about how effectively Musk's money was spent last year. In politics, he has been undisciplined and is seen as surrounded by mostly tech people who also are not skilled at politics. One of his more recent forays into politics came earlier this year, when he decided to get involved in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. He and allied groups put about $20 million into the race to support Brad Schimel, the conservative judge running against Susan Crawford, the liberal judge. Musk held a rally the weekend before the election, elevating himself almost as the face of the contest. In the end, Crawford won by a margin of 10 percentage points. In May, apparently sobered by the embarrassing loss, Musk said at the Qatar Economic Forum that he would be spending 'a lot less' on campaigns unless he saw a good reason to do otherwise. He sounded disillusioned with politics at the time and eager to shift his focus back to his business interests. He did not sound like someone with an appetite to build an effective political machine capable of recruiting candidates, developing messages and turning out voters. Maybe this is the time, but there is reason for skepticism. One of Musk's postings on X on Thursday also caught the eye of veteran political strategists. It was when he asked, 'Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?' For some Republicans, that might have been alarming, given the resources at his control and the general disillusionment among many voters with politics as usual. For others, however, it signaled that Musk fundamentally misunderstands the structure of America's two-party system. Over many years, various politicians and strategists have talked about organizing the 'sensible center' of the electorate, without success. The experience of the No Labels group in the 2024 cycle was the latest such effort, ending with an acknowledgment that the leaders could not attract a candidate with a credible path to victory. Musk's talk about a third party is little more than musing at this point. Musk's experience with DOGE is enough by itself to question his future role in legislative or campaign politics. His impatience, his break-first-worry-later approach and his lack of understanding of the government all doomed him to fall far short of his grand expectations. 'Had Elon been capable of listening and going slower, he would have had enormous impact. But it's not who he is,' Gingrich said. 'Had he matured into a serious commentator and implementer, then he would have had enormous influence.' Trump said Friday that he's not paying any attention to Musk. That's an overstatement, but the president has more important things to worry about in leading the country and dealing with a complicated set of issues globally. Just laying out the menu of challenges is a reminder of the powers of the presidency. Musk may have thought he was a peer to the president, but he now could learn more about what his real role was and will be.
Washington Post
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Supreme Court lets DOGE access Social Security data of millions of Americans
A divided Supreme Court on Friday sided with the Trump administration for now in a pair of cases involving the U.S. DOGE Service, whose efforts to slash government agencies and obtain data about Americans have been mostly shrouded from public view. The justices cleared the way in the first case for DOGE representatives to access sensitive data and internal systems at the Social Security Administration while litigation on the matter continues.
