The Department of Government Efficiency, at the direction of Elon Musk, has dominated the headlines throughout the first month of the second Trump administration, but despite blowback, efforts to cut the government are still going forward.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the next targets for staff cuts include the Labor Department, the Social Security Administration, and the General Services Administration. Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian said in a notice sent to GSA workers Tuesday that the agency would be “conducting a Reduction in Force.”
While the cuts to the government continue, reception to DOGE has grown increasingly polarized since the effort began upon Trump’s return to the White House last month. Some Republicans have expressed anxiety and frustration over some of the sweeping cuts, after vocal uproar from activists nationwide.
Nevertheless, President Donald Trump reaffirmed his support of DOGE efforts Wednesday during a Cabinet meeting and by signing another executive order emboldening the cuts to government waste. The executive order will establish a “DOGE team lead” at each federal agency to work closely with the head of each agency to move toward enacting DOGE’s cuts across the government.
“Each Agency Head shall, with assistance as requested from the agency’s DOGE Team Lead, build a centralized technological system within the agency to seamlessly record every payment issued by the agency pursuant to each of the agency’s covered contracts and grants, along with a brief, written justification for each payment submitted by the agency employee who approved the payment,” the order reads.
The executive action also instructs the head of the GSA to “submit a plan to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget for the disposition of Government-owned real property which has been deemed by the agency as no longer needed” within 60 days of the Wednesday order.
Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) faced a bruising town hall in his home district, where several attendees expressed their outrage over DOGE’s government cuts. The initiatives DOGE has pushed have also faced various legal challenges in court.
Feeling the pressure from the heated town hall, McCormick told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this week that he still supported the efforts but wanted to see DOGE work slower as it makes cuts.
“I think we’re just moving a little too fast,” McCormick said. “We should have impact studies on each department as we do it, and I’m sure we can do that. We’re moving really, really rapidly, and we don’t know the impact.”
During a Thursday appearance on Fox and Friends, McCormick also denounced celebrating people losing their jobs in the federal government. McCormick advised DOGE and Republicans to “be careful about messaging.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) pushed back on the uproar at the town halls, dismissing many of the attendees as “paid protesters” and “Democrats who went to the events early and filled up the seats,” while on CNN’s The Source on Wednesday evening.
“One Republican acknowledged they were his constituents,” Johnson said. “That’s fantastic, OK, but they had Democrats come and fill the seats early, all right? This is an old playbook that they pulled out and ran, and it made it look like that what is happening in Washington is unpopular.”
Johnson said polling data show that DOGE and cuts to the federal government are still broadly popular with the public. A Harvard CAPS-Harris poll released earlier this week showed that 83% of voters would rather see cuts to government spending rather than tax increases, and 77% believe a full examination of government spending is necessary.
While additional property cuts are part of DOGE’s near future, another round of job cuts in various agencies pushed by DOGE is also reportedly expected in the coming days.
TRACKING WHAT DOGE IS DOING ACROSS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
The cuts to the workforce and to government property come as workers in the federal bureaucracy have been summoned back to in-office work. The impact of return-to-work has been felt throughout the District of Columbia, with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announcing ridership earlier this week reached near-prepandemic levels.
With the job status of troves of federal workers uncertain, local jurisdictions surrounding Washington have set up resources for displaced former government employees. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) unveiled new resources on Monday for Virginia residents affected by DOGE cuts to the workforce.