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Politics & Government

Terminate Federal Employees Through Push to End Remote Work, Says CNN

President-elect Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy expected to end remote work.

Base image credits: X and MSNBC. Text and image collage credit: MHProNews' L.A. "Tony" Kovach for the Patch.
Base image credits: X and MSNBC. Text and image collage credit: MHProNews' L.A. "Tony" Kovach for the Patch.

According to left-leaning CNN: “President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, a nongovernmental entity helmed by billionaire Elon Musk and biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, is expected to make a push for an end to remote work across federal agencies as a way to help reduce the federal workforce through attrition.” The CNN report was amplified by left-leaning MSN at this link here.

The news article continued by saying "Both Musk and Ramaswamy have recently publicly lamented the number of employees working remotely across the government.

A source familiar with early discussions about the focus of DOGE, as the initiative is known, told CNN that while nothing is final, early priorities include an effort to immediately end remote work across federal agencies, making a five-day work week a requirement for all federal employees.

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“It’s a no-brainer step and many companies have done this. So why shouldn’t federal employees who are paid with taxpayer dollars be required to be in office?” the source said," to CNN.

CNN stated: "Currently, not all federal workers are required to be in the office five days a week. Each agency determines its remote policy to best complete its mission. There are 1.3 million federal workers approved for telework, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management. Government data shows teleworking federal workers spend 60% of their time performing work in person."

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“The implication that federal employees writ large are not working in-person is simply not backed up by data and reality,” Everett Kelley, national president for the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents more than 800,000 federal workers, told CNN in a statement. “When it comes to changes in working conditions that could impact union contracts, AFGE takes the position that such changes must be negotiated with the union through the normal collective bargaining process.”

So, when DOGE is touted as set to go after waste, fraud, corruption, and abuse in federal federal programs, it will also seek to pare back federal employees.


CNN also said the the following.

Other targets beyond remote work

Remote work isn’t the only cost-cutting measure that is likely to be addressed through executive orders.

The source familiar with early discussions on DOGE said that very early on in the administration, there are expected to be several other executive orders that have the fingerprints of DOGE and are aimed at cutting costs.

But DOGE recommendations aren’t likely to solely take the form of executive orders, which can easily be overturned under future administrations, the source said. “There will also be a longer-term plan for more and deeper reductions through the rulemaking process,” the source added.

Ramaswamy recently took to social media to note plans for cutting funds for programs Congress no longer authorizes but that still receive appropriations.

“We shouldn’t let the government spend money on programs that have expired. Yet that’s exactly what happens today: half a *trillion* dollars of taxpayer funds ($516 B+) goes each year to programs which Congress has allowed to expire. There are 1,200+ programs that are no longer authorized but still receive appropriations. This is totally nuts,” he posted on X.

The source familiar with early discussions told CNN that Musk and Ramaswamy don’t plan on reinventing the wheel when it comes to determining how to best cut the fat in government spending.

“They’ll be pulling from existing reports from Congress and the executive branch and previous outside government commissions focused on cutting government spending,” the source said, noting that previous conservative targets will inform what DOGE does. “They don’t view themselves as having the only answer to government spending and efficiency.”

Musk and Ramaswamy are currently identifying all the places across the sprawling federal government where they might be able to cut, according to the source, while Ramaswamy is simultaneously taking the lead on crafting the legal justification for the cuts they recommend.
They will hire additional people eventually, but it’s going to be a small, nimble team, the source said. “It won’t be hundreds of people. It will be very small. A lot of this is going to also involve agencies identifying places to cut. It’s going to be on them too.”

== End of CNN quoted article ==

"Elon and Vivek" have made working to cut government waste, fraud, and corruption by providing services to DOGE voluntary.


There are decades of research by federal officials as well as nonprofit groups that document stunningly high levels of money wasted by public officials.

"$233 Billion to $521 Billion Annually" is what the Government Office of Accountability (GAO) said is the loss of taxpayer money. "Fraud Risk Management: 2018-2022 Data Show Federal Government Loses an Estimated $233 Billion to $521 Billion Annually to Fraud, Based on Various Risk Environments." That per the GAO-24-105833 Published: Apr 16, 2024. Publicly Released: Apr 16, 2024.

A month ago (Oct 15, 2024" Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) said: "Citizens Against Government Waste Releases $5 Trillion in Prime Waste-Cutting Recommendations." From their press release on that date was the following.

Citizens Against Government Waste Releases $5 Trillion in Prime Waste-Cutting Recommendations

Press Release

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released Prime Cuts 2024, the latest edition of the group’s comprehensive recommendations to eliminate waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in the federal government.

Here are the facts:

  • Prime Cuts has been published annually since 1993 and addresses every area of government spending.
  • Total savings from Prime Cuts 2024 are $377 billion in the first year and $5.1 trillion over five years.
  • There are 539 recommendations from bipartisan and nonpartisan sources, including the Government Accountability Office, Congressional Budget Office, and the budgets of former Presidents Trump and Obama.
  • Since CAGW’s inception in 1984, implementation of the group’s recommendations has helped save taxpayers more than $2.4 trillion.

Prime Cuts 2024 includes the following recommendations:

  • Reduce Medicare improper payments by 50 percent, which would save $25.6 billion over five years.
  • Eliminate Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs), which would save $16.5 billion over five years.
  • Sell excess federal property and reform leasing practices, saving $15 billion over five years.
  • Eliminate the sugar, dairy, and peanut programs, which would collectively save $6.4 billion over five years.
  • Eliminate earmarks for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, saving $1.4 billion over five years.
  • Eliminate the Market Access Program (MAP), a corporate welfare program that funnels taxpayer dollars to large, profitable corporations and trade associations, saving $878 million over five years.

CAGW President Tom Schatz said in a statement:

“The fiscal status of the United States is shameful and chilling. The national debt has reached a catastrophic $35.4 trillion and will grow at a record pace over the next decade until it reaches $50.7 trillion. Inflation is still causing American families and businesses to struggle, and Congress continues to squander the taxpayers’ money. The only way to rein in excessive and inefficient government spending and reduce the deficit and debt is for elected officials to reduce waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. Prime Cuts 2024 is not only required reading for taxpayers, the media, and legislators, but also a roadmap for the bold action needed to restore fiscal sanity and help prevent a financial disaster.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.

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Neighbors and fellow Americans, take note. It may be that the nation was curiously blessed by experiencing approaching 4 painful years of the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris (D) regime. There appears to be more happening with Trump Transition 2.0 than occurred during Trump 1.0.

https://patch.com/florida/lake...

https://patch.com/florida/lake...

Time will tell if DOGE lives up to the talk, because there already is and will likely be pushback against cutting huge amounts of fat out of federal spending. But President-elect Donald J. Trump (R) and his Vice-President-elect J.D. Vance (R) are pushing for reformers. Not only are leftists howling, but so are RINO Republicans. That may be a good thing, because those howls are indicators that they over the target.

The only time you catch flak, as the saying goes, is when you are over the target.

Programming notice. In a planned article, exit polling revealed that Trump improved over his 2020 performance with virtually every major demographic group. Women. Minorities. Young people. Groups like Turning Point USA and the Young Americans Foundation are among those who are turning youth into believers in limited government and more traditional values.


Watch for that planned report.

The Trump Transition must be over several targets. The slams, slurs, and smears have already been unleashed. Get more behind-the-scenes insights here. Stay tuned for more from yours truly here on the Patch.

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--Affordable housing, mobile homes and manufactured homes related topics:

--> Realtor-What Is a Manufactured Home? The Next Step Beyond Mobile Homes

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L. A. “Tony” Kovach is a publisher who has earned multiple awards in history. He and his family live in a manufactured home on private property in Winter Haven, FL. He is the co-founder of ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com (MHLivingNews.com) andManufacturedHomeProNews.com (MHProNews.com), trade publications serving segments of the manufactured home industry. Having worked in several segments of the manufactured home industry for over 3 decades, Kovach is a widely acknowledged and often praised expert on manufactured housing. ###

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