This week, Elon Musk’s special
government employee status ended, concluding his tenure as DOGE’s
ringleader. But let’s be clear: Musk’s departure doesn’t change the fact
that DOGE’s damaging cuts are ravaging communities across the country –
raising families’ costs, making neighborhoods less safe, and
threatening essential benefits like Medicaid, Medicare, and Social
Security – and that Trump’s crusade is just getting started.
In fact, Musk’s successor, Russell Vought, is one of the architects of Project 2025 who has a nearly 20-year record
working on Republican efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare –
including overseeing numerous Trump budget proposals, including at least
one that significantly cut Medicare and Social Security over a ten-year
period.
It’s proof that DOGE’s extreme agenda,
which is causing ordinary families to fall behind, is full steam ahead –
as Trump and his allies in Congress push forward deep cuts to
Americans’ essential benefits. Last week, Congressional Republicans
advanced the largest cuts to Medicaid and SNAP in history – which would
result in 14 million Americans losing health coverage, 3 million
households without food assistance, and an increased burden for millions
with higher education and energy costs. All while adding over $4 trillion to the deficit.
That’s all to help push forward tax cuts for themselves and their billionaire buddies – with “the bulk of the financial benefits in the legislation […] flow[ing] to the wealthiest Americans.” According to recent analysis from Accountable.US,
of the top 35 richest congressional Republicans—worth $2.5 billion
collectively—28 sit on key committees overseeing cuts, and will all be
able to take advantage of Trump-endorsed tax cuts aimed to benefit the wealthy.
Americans’ deserve real government
reforms to cut red tape, eliminate waste, and ensure taxpayers are able
to access the services they pay for. That was never DOGE’s goal –
instead Trump and Musk tried to gut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security,
to line their own pockets and those of their billionaire friends with
tax cuts – and the Administration is only just getting started.
HOW TRUMP HIS ALLIES IN CONGRESS ARE HARMING FAMILIES
- Forcing Americans to go hungry, eliminating food banks for those in need: Earlier this year, amidst DOGE’s efforts, the Trump administration cut nearly $1 billion in Department of Agriculture funding for food banks and domestic agriculture. Now, food banks in Virginia and Washington, DC
are feeling the pain as they lose at least 1.4 million meals because of
these DOGE-style cuts. The cruel and needless slashing of food
programs are hitting rural counties hardest, at a time when Americans
are struggling with higher prices under Trump’s failed economic agenda.
As the leader of a local food bank described it:
“We’ve never before faced a situation like we are in now, where need is
well beyond any disaster or financial crisis that we’ve seen, and the
government’s response is to take food away. This isn’t about ideology.
It’s about math.” With other experts noting that:
“What’s happening in rural Virginia is not an outlier but part of a
national trend: Food banks across the country are also seeing demand
surge.”
- Limiting our ability to respond to disasters like tornados, wildfires, and hurricanes: After Trump
and Musk’s DOGE fired nearly 2,000 NOAA employees, including many
responsible for managing extreme weather events, responding to natural
disasters, and more, the damaging impact is becoming increasingly clear.
Five former directors of the National Weather Service
have warned that additional cuts to the agency’s staffing could lead to
unnecessary deaths during severe weather including tornadoes,
wildfires, and hurricanes. This month, as tornados swept through Kentucky, Missouri, and Virginia and cost 42 lives, a regional National Weather Service field office in Kentucky lacked staff
to fully monitor the storm, and some offices have also scaled back
balloon launches which collect weather data and assist with daily
forecasting.
- Axing preparation efforts for natural disasters ahead of hurricane season: As hurricane season begins, the Trump Administration axed FEMA’s strategic plan, which includes preparation for responding to natural disasters. In describing the importance of the plan, one FEMA employee said:
“It’s our guiding star. We use this to decide agency priorities and
pathways to achieve them. Without it, we’re adrift. It’s clear that the
person steering the agency…is here to take it apart, one piece at a
time.”
- Experts sound the alarm on National Nuclear Security Administration disruptions, and the threat to national security: After Trump and Musk abruptly laid off hundreds of employees
at the National Nuclear Security Administration before hastily
attempting to rehire them, experts are calling the Administration’s
disruption a “recipe for disaster.”
The agency, which has fewer than 1,900 federal employees overseeing
more than 60,000 contractors who build and maintain the U.S. nuclear
arsenal, is struggling to fill crucial safety roles – threatening our
national security. As a former NNSA official said, “I worry that understaffing will cause delays, ultimately, in our delivery of warheads to the military.”
- Eliminating public library resources, cutting off educational opportunities: After
Trump and Musk cut millions in funding for the Institute of Museum and
Library Services, libraries across the United States are scaling back
back on e-books, audiobooks and loan programs. The funding cuts
have meant that: “Maine has laid off a fifth of its staff and
temporarily closed its state library after not receiving the remainder
of its annual funding. Libraries in Mississippi have indefinitely
stopped offering a popular e-book service, and the South Dakota state
library has suspended its interlibrary loan program.”
SOCIAL CONTENT TO LIFT
- @accountable-us.bsky.social:
ICYMI: Congressional Republicans are gutting investments that mostly
benefit their own states. Their war on the Inflation Reduction Act could
kill jobs, raise energy bills, and cost red districts billions—just to
extend tax cuts for the ultra-rich. newrepublic.com/article/1953…
- @accountable-us.bsky.social:
The poorest Americans would lose over $1,000. The top 0.1% would gain
nearly $400K. That’s the congressional Republicans’ “big, beautiful
bill”: less health care, fewer SNAP benefits—for you. Bigger tax
breaks—for them. newrepublic.com/article/1955…
- @accountable-us.bsky.social:
6 House Republicans betrayed a promise to protect Medicaid and now
MILLIONS of Americans are at risk of losing healthcare.All this to pay
for tax cuts to the wealthiest few. accountable.us/congressiona…
- @repdelbene.bsky.social:
DOGE said its takeover of Social Security was to root out waste, fraud,
& abuse but just 2 cases out of 110,000 were flagged to potentially
be fraudulent. This red tape resulted in retirement claims processing
slowing by 25%!
- @schiff.senate.gov:
DOGE has failed at making government more efficient. If they’re looking
to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, may I suggest President Trump’s request
for a third Air Force One, a “gift” from Qatar that will cost a fortune
to retrofit.
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Budget cuts by DOGE are hitting
critical services hard—healthcare, farmers’ aid, research, veterans’
care, and Head Start programs.
Feeling the impact?
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