We have been hearing for a while that the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) under the tutelage of Elon Musk has been a giant failure.
We’ve been hearing this from the legacy media, who have been saying that all the cuts are basically fake, that nothing is happening, that it&#8217;s chaos that&#8217;s wrecking the country.
It is true that not one Social Security check has been stopped. The Medicaid and the Medicare checks are also still going out. The government, unfortunately, is still running much as before.
But — much spending has really been stopped. There&#8217;s been an open question as to how much spending will be stopped, how much can be temporarily frozen versus actually just cut. Will firing these employees actually stick?
But Democrats are caterwauling because, as it turns out, DOGE has been quite effective in stopping an enormous amount of spending. Trillions of dollars? No. Is it hundreds of billions of dollars? Yes.
According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-withholding-43687-billion-approved-spending-top-democrats-2025-04-29/">Reuters</a>:
<blockquote>U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has so far withheld at least $436.87 billion of congressionally approved funding, the top Democrats on the U.S. Congress&#8217; appropriation committees said on Tuesday. The frozen allotments span the federal government, according to the first estimate of the potential impoundments in the project led by Senator Patty Murray from Washington and Representative Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut. Almost $42 billion was frozen or canceled for the State Department, including the frozen support for USAID, along with another $62 billion-plus in competitive grant funding for the Transportation Department, according to the estimate. The Democrats also detailed $943 million frozen for the Head Start early-education program.</blockquote>
Head Start is one of the great failures in federal history. The data on Head Start has been pretty solid for a long time, showing effectively no difference between kids who go to Head Start and kids who do not. There&#8217;s also been some $10 billion frozen and canceled for the Natural Resources Conservation Service as well.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2189-member-exclusive?elementPosition=3&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
Democrats, of course, are very angry about all of this. All of the spending is going to have to be put permanently into the “no-spend” category by Congress. They can do so with a simple 50 vote majority in the Senate. That is presumably the path Congress is going to have to take.
The focus needs to move to Congress, because the truth is that President Trump and DOGE can temporarily freeze a lot of this funding, but unless it&#8217;s rescinded by Congress, it will go right back into place after a certain period of time.
This is the reason why Democrats are freaking out about all of this.
They&#8217;re worried that Republicans are going to start passing rescission bills that would make many of the freezes permanent and then turn the freezes into cuts.
According to Reuters, “The administration has cited Musk&#8217;s Department of Government Efficiency and the undoing of the federal government&#8217;s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as reasons for blocking congressionally approved funding.”
The question is how much the executive branch can actually block that funding under the 1974 Impoundment Control Act. Usually the president has to tweak levels by proposing cuts. That would be the rescission. That has not happened so far.
Which brings us to Congress. Right now it would be an act of political magic. Every time you get a Republican majority together, it&#8217;s a bit of political magic. The reason for that is because the Republican House majority is unbelievably narrow.
Even in the Senate of the United States, you have to acknowledge that senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) are likely to go the other way on major legislation. That cuts the GOP majority to 51 votes. There are still holdovers like Mitch McConnell (D-NY), who may vote against something President Trump wants. There are a wide variety of other senators with various interests.
So getting this whole thing together is an attempt to herd cats by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), as well as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA).
Can they do it? That&#8217;s the question.

President Trump Holds “Make America Wealthy Again Event” In White House Rose Garden

It’s Up To Congress Now

Ben Shapiro

Congress

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

DOGE

Elon Musk

Federal Government

John Thune

Mike Johnson

Opinion

President Trump

On Wednesday, Elon Musk declared a &#8220;tremendous amount&#8221; has been accomplished during the first 100 days of President Donald Trump&#8217;s second term, a message the tech guru delivered as he prepares to spend less time working on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative.
Musk — who has said he plans to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-significantly-cut-back-doge-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rededicate</a> himself to his electric car and energy company, Tesla, starting next month — trumpeted the Trump administration&#8217;s achievements during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
&#8220;The American people voted for secure borders, safe cities, and sensible spending, and that&#8217;s what they have gotten. A tremendous amount has been accomplished in the first 100 days,&#8221; Musk said, adding later, &#8220;This portends very well for what happens for the rest of the administration. I think this could be the greatest administration since the founding of the country.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a>: &quot;The people voted for secure borders, safe cities, and sensible spending and that&#39;s what they&#39;ve gotten. A tremendous amount has been accomplished in the first 100 days.&quot;<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &quot;You have been treated unfairly but the vast majority of people in this country really… <a href="https://t.co/I6X1WINZew">pic.twitter.com/I6X1WINZew</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1917623036351488445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
After helping Trump get elected last year, Musk <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/13/upshot/musk-doge-1-trillion-goal.html">endeavored</a> to remove $1 trillion in waste, fraud, and abuse from the federal budget via the DOGE initiative. With cuts to programs and jobs across the bureaucracy, DOGE&#8217;s website now says &#8220;estimated savings&#8221; have <a href="https://doge.gov/savings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reached</a> $160 billion.
Musk&#8217;s involvement with DOGE sparked controversy. There have been protests at Tesla locations across the United States and abroad, as well as incidents that the FBI says have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fbi-issues-warning-over-left-wing-terrorist-attacks-against-tesla" target="_blank" rel="noopener">involved</a> vandalism, arson, and gunfire, resulting in charges being filed against some alleged perpetrators.
During the Cabinet meeting, Trump said Musk &#8220;sacrificed a lot&#8221; and has been &#8220;treated very unfairly,&#8221; to which Musk quipped that people burning his cars is &#8220;not great.&#8221; The president also insisted that the &#8220;vast majority of people in this country really respect and appreciate you,&#8221; although recent polls show public support for Musk has <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/elon-musk-approval-low-reflecting-opposition-trump-cuts/story?id=121199149" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dropped</a> since the DOGE effort began.
Musk <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-significantly-cut-back-doge-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> in a Tesla earnings call that he believed &#8220;starting probably in the next month, May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly&#8221; while he planned to put more focus back on Tesla, which has just <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/22/tesla-tsla-earnings-report-q1-2025.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> a 71% net income drop in the first quarter, compared to one year ago.
Trump acknowledged that Musk wanted to &#8220;get back&#8221; to his cars, but he also told Musk, &#8220;You&#8217;re invited to stay as long as you want.&#8221; The president also said &#8220;a lot of stuff is being worked on&#8221; and contended that DOGE&#8217;s $160 billion savings figure &#8220;could be doubled and even tripled&#8221; as &#8220;a lot of things are being worked on that we don&#8217;t count because it&#8217;s not quite there.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a>: &quot;Elon, I love the double hat by the way.&quot;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a>: &quot;Well, Mr. President, you know they say I wear a lot of hats. Even my hat has a hat!&quot; <a href="https://t.co/iwlSpTDQVl">pic.twitter.com/iwlSpTDQVl</a>
&mdash; Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1917622693215756416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A light-hearted moment took place when Trump first began speaking to Musk and took note of how the tech executive was wearing multiple hats on his head. The top hat was a red one that read, &#8220;GULF OF AMERICA.&#8221;
&#8220;Elon, I love the double hat, by the way,&#8221; Trump said. Laughter erupted in the room as Trump added that Musk was &#8220;the only one that can do that and get away with it.&#8221; Musk replied, &#8220;Well, Mr. President, you know they say I wear a lot of hats. That&#8217;s true. Even my hat has a hat!&#8221; More laughs ensued.

Elon Salutes Trump’s First 100 Days: ‘Could Be The Greatest’ Ever

Cabinet

Donald Trump

Executive

General

Politics

A Labor Department program designed to train 16- to 24-year-olds to join the workforce spends more per person annually than Ivy League colleges, but participants wind up making minimum wage on average — raising questions about whether it should continue to exist.
The Job Corps pays teenage runaways, high school dropouts, and twentysomething ex-cons to live in dormitories and receive their GEDs and vocational training. The national cost per graduate was $188,000, with the average graduate staying 13.5 months. Of more than 110 campuses, the 10 least efficient averaged a cost of $385,000 per graduate. Job Corps participants earn $16,695 per year on average after leaving the program, according to new government data.
Nearly $2 billion in federal taxpayer money is spent annually on residential Job Corps campuses, a boon for the for-profit contractors who run them. But the dismal statistics about the program’s efficacy have never been fully public until the Trump administration released a <a href="https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/eta/eta20250425" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Transparency Report”</a> last week.
The Job Corps has only a 32% graduation rate, though statistics have typically been calculated using a misleading definition of “graduate,” which bumped the number up slightly to 39%. Of about 30,000 enrollees in the 2023-24 school year, roughly 10,000 were expelled for misconduct, 5,000 were booted for absconding, and 5,000 dropped out for other reasons. The average cost per enrollee, including those who dropped out or were expelled, was $50,000, with an average stay of 7.5 months, working out to $80,000 per year.
The Old Dominion Job Corps campus in Monroe, Virginia, had 95 enrollees in 2023, at a cost of $137,000 each. Only 17 successfully completed the program, amounting to a cost of $764,000 per graduate. Old Dominion is operated by ODLE Management Group LLC, which runs several campuses.
The Daily Wire reported this month that thousands of young people have been the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/multi-billion-dollar-federal-job-corps-breeding-ground-rape-crime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">victims of assault</a> and other crimes at Job Corps campuses, including a transgender-identifying girl who was assigned to live with a 23-year-old man who was charged with raping her.
A decade of oversight by government auditors and news media has found that the program attracts criminals and that some staff look the other way to avoid expelling members, which would lead to lost revenue — or negative attention — which could jeopardize the program.
At the Old Dominion campus with 95 enrollees, the campus officially reported 46 disciplinary infractions. At the Gary campus in San Marcos, Texas, there were 633 disciplinary incidents among 1,191 enrollees. The Oconaluftee campus in Cherokee, North Carolina, had 205 infractions over 162 enrollees, amounting to more than one per person.
The latest quarter of data showed that 72% of graduates were placed in jobs, though past investigations have found some Job Corps centers cooking the books on those numbers. The Gadsden campus in Alabama reported a 40% job placement rate, while the Gulfport campus in Mississippi claimed 100%.
Job Corps participants were typically not capable of remaining employed for long. After exiting the program, fewer than half had a job a few months out and were still working that job at the one-year mark.
<div id="attachment_900761" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-900761" class="size-large wp-image-900761" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/jobcorps1200-1024x573.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="573" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/jobcorps1200-1024x573.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/jobcorps1200-300x168.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/jobcorps1200-768x430.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/jobcorps1200.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Job Corps participants brawl / Youtube</div>
YouTube is full of videos of Job Corps “students” viciously fighting each other, and participants interviewed by The Daily Wire described a culture that is racially charged, where dysfunction dominates, and “snitches” are physically assaulted. Democrats have moved to lower behavioral standards even further by introducing a bill making it harder to expel students.
Contractors pay recruiting bonuses for finding prospects, and participants are paid to take part in the program in addition to covering their room, board, and medical. One recent graduate told The Daily Wire that contractors conceal the program&#8217;s failure to keep the cash coming, and that many participants wind up working in menial jobs they could have done without the expensive training.
“A lot of reasons they allow dangerous behavior to go covered up, as I imagine you may know, has to do with the entire program being a numbers game. The program also fails to complete its actual goal, which is to help at-risk youth find jobs,” he said. &#8220;I can&#8217;t think of a student I knew that has a job in the trade that they trained for. They have jobs in fast food.&#8221;
&#8220;A lot of these kids, their mentality is like middle schoolers. I&#8217;d say it&#8217;s equivalent to an inner city high school but with dorms. Because it&#8217;s with dorms, anything like fights or sexual assaults could happen at any time. Something&#8217;s gonna happen every day. Not everyone is a gangbanger but the vast majority are,&#8221; he added.
<div id="attachment_913287" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-913287" class="size-full wp-image-913287" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2087316292.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="528" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2087316292.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2087316292-300x155.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2087316292-768x396.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />The women&#8217;s dormitory at the Glenmont Job Corps Thursday March 15, 2012. (Photo by John Carl D&#8217;Annibale/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)</div>
GEDs are already available at no cost to young adults from most school districts, and unions often offer free training in the trades, making Job Corps’ value proposition dubious — though the nearly $2 billion a year spent on the program means that contractors will lobby hard to preserve their cash cow.
As part of its Department of Government Efficiency initiatives, the Trump administration may recommend significantly cutting Job Corps’ budget next year, a source familiar with the matter told The Daily Wire.
On April 1, the Labor Department said new enrollees will <a href="https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/dol/dol20250401" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not be accepted</a> at two Maine campuses. The Penobscot campus cost $91,000 per enrollee and had a 41% graduation rate, while the Loring campus cost $42,000 per enrollee, with only 38% completing the program.
“Taxpayers deserve to know the facts and outcomes of their multi-billion-dollar investment,” Labor Department Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Lori Frazier Bearden said in a statement. “This report underscores the department’s commitment to program transparency and accountability – both of which are essential for effective oversight, informed policymaking, and maintaining public trust.”
As The Daily Wire previously reported, eligibility requirements say that only people on welfare or living in poverty are eligible for the Job Corps, that refugees and non-citizen parolees are eligible, and that “no individual shall be denied enrollment in Job Corps solely on the basis of contact with the criminal justice system, except for the disqualifying felony convictions of murder…child abuse, or a crime involving rape or sexual assault.”
The program requires that applicants not be able to read at higher than an eighth grade level, saying they must be “unable to compute or solve problems… at a level necessary to function on the job, in the individual’s family, or in society,” or he must be homeless, a runaway, a high school dropout, or a victim of sex trafficking.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/multi-billion-dollar-federal-job-corps-breeding-ground-rape-crime">Multi-Billion Dollar Federal ‘Job Corps’ Is A Breeding Ground For Rape And Crime, Data Show</a>

Job Corps campus

Federal ‘Job Corps’ Spends Up To $764K Per Graduate. Participants Go On To Earn $17K Annually.

Jobs

The Justice Department this week slashed millions of dollars in grant funding for leftist organizations studying things like &#8220;toxic masculinity&#8221; and &#8220;systematic racism&#8221; as Attorney General Pam Bondi pushes to cut government waste, The Daily Wire has learned.
Before the cuts, which were described as &#8220;wave one,&#8221; millions of taxpayer dollars were going toward initiatives like filming black police officers in the name of racial equity, looking for ways to &#8220;resolve&#8221; drug crimes outside of the judicial system, and addressing so-called &#8220;toxic masculinity,&#8221; according to a list of several cut programs viewed by The Daily Wire. Teasing the cuts on Wednesday, Bondi <a href="https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/1915184169069818356" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that there would be &#8220;more to come.&#8221;
The first wave included cuts to over 360 programs and grants that were determined not to be in line with President Donald Trump&#8217;s law and order agenda. According to the Justice Department, organizations whose funding was cut will have 30 days to win back their funding if they can prove it &#8220;actually helps victims of crime as opposed to being a nebulous slush fund for vague liberal causes.&#8221;
The Justice Department said programs that do things like provide housing to domestic violence victims and provide opioid treatment will not be cut.
One specific grant sent $1.5 million toward a training program that included the creation of a “powerful 17-minute film documenting the journey of three Black police leaders” to “promote racial equity in police practice.” Another $1.5 million was going to an organization for “culturally and linguistically specific, trauma-informed, and accessible services” for “former justice-involved individuals,&#8221; a euphemism used by leftists for criminals.
Another $1 million had been allocated to “bridge socio-ecological contexts” by working with “culturally specific community-based organizations,&#8221; while a whopping $5 million was going to an organization that promotes &#8220;racial equity in victim services&#8221; and hosts &#8220;listening sessions in targeted communities.&#8221;
Several of the cut programs dealt with drug crimes, including one that appeared oriented toward letting drug offenders off the hook. One million dollar grant went toward an organization that pushed &#8220;an innovative approach to resolving&#8221; drug crimes “away from the court system.”  Another sent $1 million to an organization looking at “how universal service delivery could mitigate the impact of systemic racism” on drug diversion programs.
Yet another grant on the chopping block was $2 million given to a &#8220;feminist, culturally specific nonprofit organization&#8221; to address “structural racism and toxic masculinities.”
These programs were flagged with the help of the Department of Government Efficiency, which is scouring the federal government for partisan programs and wasteful spending.
“Under Attorney General Bondi’s leadership, the Department of Justice is committed to ensuring its resources are spent on arresting criminals, getting drugs off the streets, and crucial litigation,&#8221; Justice Department spokesman Gates McGavick told The Daily Wire. &#8220;We will always protect victims of crime and legitimate law enforcement initiatives, but we will no longer spend millions on ‘listening sessions’ and  ‘bridging socio-ecological contexts.’”

AG Bondi, FBI Director Patel Hold Press Conference In Florida After Drug Seizure

Bondi Ending Taxpayer Funded ‘Slush Fund’ Studying ‘Toxic Masculinity’ And ‘Structural Racism’

Department of Justice

Pam Bondi

Wokeness

Elon Musk says he will soon reduce his time overseeing the Trump administration&#8217;s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, a role that has taken a toll on his electric car and energy company, Tesla.
&#8220;The large slug of work necessary to get the DOGE team in place and working in the government to get the financial house in order is mostly done,&#8221; Musk said during a Tesla earnings call on Tuesday.
&#8220;And I think starting probably in the next month, May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly,&#8221; Musk continued, adding later, &#8220;I&#8217;ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla&#8230;&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BREAKING: Musk says he&#39;ll be cutting down time at DOGE starting in May to dedicate more time to Tesla but will spend a couple of days at DOGE a week for Trump&#39;s entire presidency.
&quot;The large amount of work necessary to get the DOGE team in place&#8230; is mostly done.&quot;
&quot;Starting… <a href="https://t.co/S6cy9kUB5m">pic.twitter.com/S6cy9kUB5m</a>
&mdash; Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1914800041354781078?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Musk suggested that he will continue working in DOGE for the remainder of President Donald Trump&#8217;s term, &#8220;a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the president would like me to do so.&#8221;
Tesla reported a 71% earnings drop over the past three months when <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/04/22/tesla-earnings-elon-musk-politics-stock/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">compared</a> to the first quarter of last year. But the company&#8217;s stock rose approximately 5% in after-hours trading as Musk reassured investors.
&#8220;Musk just made a huge step forward on call. DOGE work basically ending (1-2 days a week)…now his focus back on Tesla. Street needed to hear this,&#8221; Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a <a href="https://x.com/DivesTech/status/1914797271855648909" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> on X.
As the U.S. national debt approaches $37 trillion, Musk endeavored to remove $1 trillion from the federal budget. DOGE&#8217;s website says &#8220;estimated savings&#8221; have <a href="https://doge.gov/savings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reached</a> $160 billion amid cuts to programs and jobs across the bureaucracy.
However, Musk&#8217;s involvement with DOGE has sparked controversy, including protests at Tesla locations across the United States and abroad, as well as incidents that the FBI says have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fbi-issues-warning-over-left-wing-terrorist-attacks-against-tesla" target="_blank" rel="noopener">involved</a> vandalism, arson, and gunfire.
Musk said DOGE led to &#8220;some blowback,&#8221; but he stressed, &#8220;I think the work that we&#8217;re doing there is actually very important for trying to rein in the insane deficit that is leading our country, the United States, to destruction.&#8221;
DOGE has &#8220;made a lot of progress&#8221; addressing &#8220;waste and fraud,&#8221; Musk said. He also noted it is &#8220;natural&#8221; that those receiving &#8220;wasteful dollars and the fraudulent dollars&#8221; would try to &#8220;attack&#8221; him and those associated with him.

Elon To ‘Significantly’ Cut Back On DOGE Time

Tesla

U.S.

The Trump administration is planning to close 132 State Department offices and cut U.S. personnel, The Free Press <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/trump-state-shake-up-rubio" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on Tuesday.
The closures will affect offices that focus on instituting democracy overseas, countering extremism, and protecting human rights, according to The Free Press. The administration seeks to reduce the number of State Department offices by 17%, from 734 to 602. Undersecretaries were also reportedly given 30 days to present plans to slash personnel in individual departments by 15%.
&#8220;Today is the day. Under @POTUS’ leadership and at my direction, we are reversing decades of bloat and bureaucracy at the State Department,&#8221; Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on social media. &#8220;These sweeping changes will empower our talented diplomats to put America and Americans first.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Today is the day. Under <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>’ leadership and at my direction, we are reversing decades of bloat and bureaucracy at the State Department. 
These sweeping changes will empower our talented diplomats to put America and Americans first. <a href="https://t.co/CGWz3JrYwu">pic.twitter.com/CGWz3JrYwu</a>
&mdash; Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecRubio/status/1914680613275161078?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In a statement, Rubio confirmed that massive changes are coming to the State Department, adding that it is currently &#8220;bloated, bureaucratic, and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great power competition.&#8221;
&#8220;Over the past 15 years, the Department&#8217;s footprint has had unprecedented growth and costs have soared. But far from seeing a return on investment, taxpayers have seen less effective and efficient diplomacy,&#8221; the statement added. &#8220;The sprawling bureaucracy created a system more beholden to radical political ideology than advancing America&#8217;s core national interests.&#8221;
A report by The New York Times published on Sunday claimed that the State Department&#8217;s restructuring would also &#8220;shut down embassies and consulates across&#8221; Africa. Rubio <a href="https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1913928218450579630" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to the Times report, calling it &#8220;fake news.&#8221;
According to The Free Press, internal documents show that the Trump administration plans to eliminate State Department offices &#8220;that focus on a variety of foreign policy issues and are viewed by the Trump administration as no longer necessary.&#8221; Around 700 positions for civil service and foreign service employees in those offices are expected to be cut.
“This approach will empower the Department from the ground up, from the bureaus to the embassies,” Rubio added. “Region-specific functions will be consolidated to increase functionality, redundant offices will be removed, and non-statutory programs that are misaligned with America’s core national interests will cease to exist.”
On Tuesday morning, around a dozen top State Department officials were informed by leadership of the overhaul, a senior official told The Free Press. The State Department is the latest in the Trump administration to be the center of significant cuts.
Trump&#8217;s Department of Government Efficiency project, which is influenced by senior adviser Elon Musk, has targeted numerous government agencies, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Department of Energy, the Department of Education, and the Department of Defense, among others.

Marco Rubio

‘Sweeping Changes’: State Dept Shuttering More Than 130 Offices, Slashing Staff

State Department

Trump Administration

President Donald Trump on Thursday extended the freeze on hiring new government workers for another 90 days.
The administration has said that the freeze is part of an effort to make the government more efficient and promote fiscal responsibility. The freeze, now in effect until July 15, includes exceptions for the military and other national security-related positions. 
“No Federal civilian position that is presently vacant may be filled, and no new position may be created, except as otherwise provided for in this memorandum or required by applicable law,” Trump wrote in a memo. “In carrying out this memorandum, the heads of agencies shall seek efficient use of existing personnel and funds to improve public services and the delivery of those services.”
The memorandum said that the freeze does not apply to military personnel of the Armed Forces or positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, and public safety. Agencies are allowed to apply for exemptions to the hiring freeze to the Office of Management and Budget, which can grant exemptions on a case-by-case basis.
&#8220;The extension of the hiring freeze is a critical step in shrinking the federal government and ensuring taxpayer dollars are used efficiently,&#8221; the White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-extends-the-hiring-freeze/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;The American people elected President Trump to drain the swamp and end ineffective government programs that empower government without achieving measurable results.&#8221;
For the IRS, Trump&#8217;s memo says the staffing moratorium will remain in effect until otherwise determined by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in consultation with OMB Director Russ Vought and acting Department of Government Efficiency Administrator Amy Gleason.
If they determine &#8220;that it is in the national interest to terminate the freeze,&#8221; they are directed to publish a notice in the Federal Register.
The IRS has already <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tax-day-miracle-over-20k-irs-employees-took-trumps-second-buyout-offer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lost thousands</a> of employees this year, with more than 20,000 taking buyout offers from the Trump administration to leave their positions, and another 7,000 probationary workers being terminated. The firings are currently being challenged in court.
After the freeze ends for the other government departments and agencies, the White House said that federal entities will only be allowed to hire one new employee for every four that leave. The White House said that during former President Joe Biden&#8217;s last two years in office, one out of every four new jobs was in government. 
“President Trump is committed to reversing this trend by prioritizing private-sector job growth and reducing the federal workforce to focus on essential functions,” the White House said.

MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-09-58-AM-7418

Trump Extends Hiring Freeze: ‘Critical Step In Shrinking The Federal Govt’

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

White House

Former President Joe Biden broke his three-month silence Tuesday evening, addressing Social Security in his first public speech since President Trump took office.
Biden <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jcqOgFBM7Q">addressed</a> a gathering of advocates for disabled people in Chicago, accusing Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency of trying to “dismantle” Social Security.
Biden, already 30 minutes late, was off to a rough start as the former president appeared to begin <a href="https://x.com/theblaze/status/1912269480887017978">reading</a> off the teleprompter while the walkout music was still playing, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was inaudible to the audience.
The former president began the speech with a bizarre boast about his bona fides as a pro-civil rights senator, rambling, “I remember pulling in, pulling into the parking lot. And I had never seen, I had never seen hardly any black people in Scranton at the time. And I was only going in fourth grade. And I remember seeing the kids going by at the time, colored kids on a bus going by.”
“They never turned right to go to Claremont High School. I wondered why. I asked my mom, ‘Why?’ ‘So in Delaware, I&#8217;m not allowed to go to school, public school with white kids, honey.’ That sparked my sense of outrage as a kid, just like it does [sic].”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
President Biden randomly starts screaming in his first speech since leaving office. He tells a story about seeing black kids on buses:
&quot;I remember watching a bus go by. It was full of colored kids…I had never seen those.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/LdcpiLKSXV">pic.twitter.com/LdcpiLKSXV</a>
&mdash; The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) <a href="https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1912279115111247946?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Transitioning back to the teleprompter, Biden launched into an assault on Trump’s pullback of the bureaucracy, listing off a number of “achievements” under his administration that the current president is supposedly destroying.
“In fewer than 100 days, this new administration has [caused] so much damage and so much destruction. It&#8217;s kind of breathtaking it could happen that soon. They’ve taken a hatchet to the Social Security Administration.”
In a bizarre claim, Biden said, “We strengthened the anti-fraud measures to protect people&#8217;s identities and to make sure benefits are going to people who actually they belong to. By the way, those 300-year-old folks getting that Social Security, I want to meet them because I like to figure out how to live that.”
This is despite Elon Musk’s DOGE uncovering countless cases of fraud and abuse since Biden’s departure.
Throughout the speech, Biden frequently shifted from either a barely audible whisper or practically shouting at the audience, mirroring many speeches from the end of his presidency.
Fox News had to briefly cut Biden’s speech short to fact-check a multitude of false statements, with Brett Baier cutting the president during his remarks.
“President Biden in Chicago talking about Social Security there, saying the administration has ‘dismantled’ Social Security. They have fired and gotten rid of a number of employees, but in that interview with ElonMusk and his DOGE team, they said they&#8217;re going after waste, fraud, and abuse in Social Security.”
“And also President Trump has said that he will not touch benefits. In fact, Elon Musk is pledging that benefits will be protected more by what they&#8217;re doing.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WATCH: Fox News cuts away from Joe Biden’s speech for a fact check on his Social Security claims from <a href="https://twitter.com/BretBaier?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BretBaier</a>:
“President Biden in Chicago talking about Social Security there, saying the administration has ‘dismantled’ Social Security. They have fired and gotten rid of a… <a href="https://t.co/SWcbksxEwC">pic.twitter.com/SWcbksxEwC</a>
&mdash; TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TVNewsNow/status/1912277205607923767?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Musk did raise eyebrows several weeks ago during an appearance on the &#8220;Joe Rogan Experience&#8221; podcast when he called Social Security &#8220;the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time,&#8221; arguing that the amount being paid into the system is dwarfed by future obligations.
Trump addressed the program during his March speech to Congress, citing &#8220;shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program for our seniors and that our seniors and people that we love rely on.&#8221;
The Social Security Administration has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/15/biden-social-security-speech-trump/">lost</a> 7,000 employees under the streamlining efforts of Trump and Musk, with thousands more cuts planned.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt <a href="https://x.com/VigilantFox/status/1912251020648018017">joked</a> about Biden’s appearance at a Monday conference. “My first reaction when seeing former President Biden was speaking tonight was — I’m shocked he is speaking at nighttime,” she said. “I thought his bedtime was much earlier than his speech tonight.”

Former President Biden Speaks at ACRD Conference in Chicago

Late, Rambling, And Off-Key: Biden Stumbles Through First Post-Trump Speech

Joe Biden

Social Security

Three Democratic-led states accounted for the vast majority of unemployment fraud since 2020, according to an initial survey of such fraud by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
California, New York, and Massachusetts tallied nearly 80% of improper unemployment insurance benefits handed out since 2020. An initial review of claims by DOGE found $382 million in fraudulent payments.
The DOGE audit found that “24.5k people over 115 years old claimed $59M in benefits,” “28k people between 1 and 5 years old claimed $254M in benefits,” and “9.7k people with birth dates over 15 years in the future claimed $69M in benefits.”
“In one case, someone with a birthday in 2154 claimed $41k,” DOGE added in a post on X.
Of those flagged claims, California, New York, and Massachusetts accounted for over $300 million.
“California, New York, and Massachusetts accounted for most of these improper claims, totaling $305M in unemployment benefits,” said DOGE. “Additionally, California accounted for 68% of the unemployment benefits paid to parolees identified by CBP on the terrorist watchlist or with criminal records.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
California, New York, and Massachusetts accounted for most of these improper claims, totaling $305M in unemployment benefits.
Additionally, California accounted for 68% of the unemployment benefits paid to parolees identified by CBP on the terrorist watchlist or with criminal… <a href="https://t.co/6jYGfxW7Fr">https://t.co/6jYGfxW7Fr</a>
&mdash; Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) <a href="https://twitter.com/DOGE/status/1910449939487895905?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
White House spokesman Harrison Fields said the revelation is an example of the kind of governance that pushed people to move from deep blue states such as California and New York to Republican-led states such as Texas and Florida.
“There’s a reason for the mass exodus from Democrat-run states that have mismanaged their economies and driven residents to the nearest Republican-led state,” Fields told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-states-blame-most-nearly-400-million-unemployment-fraud" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a>. “High taxes, poor stewardship of taxpayer dollars and progressive policies continue to yield negative results, which is why Americans overwhelmingly support the work of DOGE.”
California, New York, and Massachusetts are under solid Democratic control. Democrats control the governor’s office, the state House, and the Senate in each state, while also having the offices of secretary of state and attorney general as well.
DOGE is spearheading the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. DOGE analysts have been working with government departments to identify potential wasteful spending and spending that does not align with President Donald Trump’s priorities.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced $5.1 billion in cuts to Pentagon spending on Thursday that were identified by DOGE.
“This one is, as they say, a big one,” said Hegseth in a <a href="https://x.com/SecDef/status/1910462447795716557" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a> posted to social media. “We’re signing a memo right now directing the termination of $5.1 billion in DOD contracts – not million, that’s with a B – $5.1 billion in DOD contracts.”

DC Department of Employment Services

DOGE Review Finds Three Dem States Account For Most Unemployment Fraud Since 2020

Economy

Fraud

Unemployment

Millions of dollars in federal unemployment benefits have been paid out to people who haven&#8217;t even been born yet, according to the most recent findings from the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez DeRemer shared some of the data during a cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump, saying that in partnership with DOGE, the Department of Labor had uncovered fraudulent unemployment insurance payments — that totaled hundreds of millions of dollars — going to to several groups of people who were by definition unqualified to receive them.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨HOLY FRAUD🚨
&quot;We have almost 25,000 who are over 115 years-old who are collecting $59 million that we have sent out…
…28,000 people between 1 and 5 years-old have collected fraudulent payments at the tune of $254 million…
…10,000 who have not been born yet, 15 years into… <a href="https://t.co/XupNNCVw9s">pic.twitter.com/XupNNCVw9s</a>
&mdash; Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1910384943030554768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Unemployment insurance fraud — that trust needs to be whole for the American people,&#8221; DeRemer said. &#8220;When we need it, we need it for who deserves it. That&#8217;s not what we&#8217;re seeing in the numbers we saw last night, again, exposed by our partners at DOGE at the Department of Labor.&#8221;
&#8220;Since 2020, over $400 million of payments have gone out already,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;And when you hear these numbers — apparently in the United States we have over — almost 25,000 who are over 115 years-old who are collecting $59 million that we have sent out to people. Talk about fraudulent behavior.&#8221;
&#8220;Mr. President, 28,000 people between 1 and 5 years old have collected fraudulent payments at the tune of $254 million has gone out,&#8221; she added. &#8220;And lastly, 10,000 who have not been born yet, 15 years into the future, $69 million, and they haven&#8217;t even been born yet.&#8221;
&#8220;In one case, they will be born 129 years from now. The United States sent them $41,000,&#8221; DeRemer said. &#8220;And they&#8217;re not born yet. So, under the Department of Labor, those are the things that we&#8217;re uncovering. I couldn&#8217;t be more honored to tell the American people that we&#8217;re bringing back their dollars and were saving them — returning them to the United States Treasury.&#8221;
DOGE has also recently uncovered the fact that millions of non-citizens were given <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/see-the-staggering-number-of-illegals-who-got-social-security-numbers-under-joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Social Security Numbers</a> during President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration — and that a number of them had registered to vote and had voted in American elections.

Chavez-DeRemer Labor Hearing in Washington

People Who Haven’t Been Born Yet Collected Millions In Federal Unemployment: DOGE

People Who Haven't Been Born Yet Collected Millions In Federal Unemployment: DOGE

The White House moved to put an end to a costly federal initiative that has been the vehicle behind decades of government policies driven by climate alarmism, The Daily Wire confirmed on Wednesday.
Administration sources told the The Daily Wire that changes have been put in motion to eliminate the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which was created by Congress in 1990 and has been funneled billions of dollars to research climate change. It is responsible for producing a National Climate Assessment, which is considered the &#8220;crown jewel&#8221; of climate research and is used by agencies across government to justify costly programs intended to alleviate climate change.
On Wednesday, two days after The Daily Wire published an investigation into how the U.S. Global Change Research Program spends its government funds, the spending has officially been cancelled. Specifically pinpointed was millions of dollars awarded through NASA for a consulting firm called ICF, which coordinated the creation of the National Climate Assessment for the government.
According to Politico, which <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/09/trump-moves-to-hobble-major-climate-study-00280405">first reported</a> the elimination, getting rid of ICF&#8217;s contract was a fatal blow to the climate initiative. &#8220;Killing that contract has &#8216;forever severed&#8217; climate change work occurring across agencies,&#8221; Politico reported.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meet-the-government-contractor-raking-in-millions-to-spread-climate-doom/">Meet The Government Consultants Raking In Millions To Spread Climate Doom</a>
The administration&#8217;s Office of Management and Budget and Office of Science and Technology Policy coordinated with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, on the decision to eliminate the contract. There is no expectation that there will be another National Climate Assessment, which was expected in 2026.
A source familiar with the decision says ICF, the consulting firm, was allowing its own bias to influence the reports.
&#8220;ICF has produced assessments riddled with worst-case scenarios, obfuscating the assumptions underlying dire predictions about what the planet will be like in 100 years,&#8221; the administration source explained. &#8220;The quality of the information is low, and the Administration is committed to basing decisions on realistic assumptions that comport with legal standards.&#8221;
Climate scientists who previously worked on the National Climate Assessment reports said ICF had outsized influence over its findings. The scientist said ICF runs the show, virtually controlling the entire U.S. Global Change Research Program.
“By providing all staff for the USGCRP, a federal agency, the ICF exerts undue influence over the global change narrative and priorities presented by the federal government,” said the scientist, who requested anonymity to discuss the work. “The ICF, through the USGCRP, exerts an undue influence on the production of the National Climate Assessment every four years. With the exception of its Executive Director and the Director of the National Climate Assessment, the ICF supplies all staff associated with the USGCRP.”
The Daily Wire was able to identify the active contract through NASA that was poised to deliver more than $10 million to ICF to continue its work. The contract was first<a href="https://investor.icf.com/news-releases/news-release-details/nasa-awards-icf-34-million-contract-support-us-global-change"> announced</a> in June 2021, and described as a $34 million, five-year contract to help with the National Climate Assessments. Only $18 million had been paid out, according to the<a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_IDV_80HQTR21D0004_8000"> government spending database.</a> But with another assessment on deck and ICF under contract for another year, the additional $16 million could have been disbursed in the next year.
It was long-suspected that Russell Vought, who leads the Office of Management and Budget for Trump, had the climate programs in his sights. Vought had specifically called out the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s report, arguing that the bureaucrats who write it end up with outsized power over government action. He’s called for an investigation of the political leanings of the contractors that assemble the report.
Neither ICF nor the U.S. Global Change Research Program responded to requests for comment.
Houston Keene, a former journalist who now directs Democracy Restored, a government transparency watchdog that has spotlighted the U.S. Global Change Research Program, said cancelling the contract was a &#8220;step in the right direction.&#8221;
&#8220;This is one step in the right direction toward restoring the integrity in government climate science,&#8221; Keene said. &#8220;Yet given the largesse of the climate lobby and the DOGE revelations, there is likely much more to uncover.&#8221;

Globe on US dollar bill banknotes pile background.

Trump Admin Moves To Shut Down Government’s Climate Doom Factory

Climate Change

Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) warned Democrats during a recent speech against &#8220;demonizing&#8221; people simply because they have built businesses and earned some measure of success — but he gave them a free pass to go ahead and &#8220;demonize&#8221; billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Walz, who spent time during the 2024 presidential campaign criticizing current Vice President JD Vance&#8217;s humble upbringing, made the comments during a town hall in Youngstown, Ohio.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨TIM WALZ: We should &quot;DEMONIZE&quot; people like Elon Musk!
He calls Elon a &quot;greedy bastard&quot; who doesn&#39;t pay taxes. <a href="https://t.co/PNbzz5aDym">pic.twitter.com/PNbzz5aDym</a>
&mdash; Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1910008450626502918?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I think Democrats, supporting families, supporting the working class, supporting unions — but I think we have to separate and have a message here: It’s okay in America to be successful, we should celebrate that when people are successful,&#8221; Walz said. &#8220;My beef is — what my beef is, once you get successful, don’t be a greedy bastard and not pay your taxes, don&#8217;t do that.&#8221;
&#8220;Let those young men who see this — now, I would argue this: we&#8217;re creating a false narrative from them that everybody is super-rich and has Lamborghinis and life is easy, but that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re going to have to figure out in our society about social media and all those things,&#8221; he continued.
&#8220;But I don&#8217;t think that we should be the party that demonizes someone because they&#8217;re able to afford something or they&#8217;re able to work hard and got something,&#8221; Walz added. &#8220;What we should demonize is people like Elon Musk and those people that do that &#8230; that&#8217;s different. That&#8217;s different.&#8221;
Walz&#8217;s comments come amid weeks of physical and sometimes violent attacks — both on individually owned Teslas and on Tesla dealerships — aimed at Musk over his involvement with President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
And Walz, who lost his own bid for the vice-presidency last November, is not the only high-ranking Democrat who refused to denounce the recent violence. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, when confronted over the attacks on Teslas, would not condemn them.
&#8220;I can&#8217;t talk about Tesla, but Elon Musk is a disaster for America,&#8221; Schumer <a href="https://x.com/WesternLensman/status/1909812151973192082" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.

Gov. Tim Walz

Tim Walz: Democrats Shouldn’t ‘Demonize’ Successful People — Unless They’re Elon Musk

Tim Walz: Democrats Shouldn't 'Demonize' Successful People — Unless They're Elon Musk

Chuck Schumer

JD Vance

Tim Walz

Menu