All posts tagged: DogE

DOGE Sued over ‘Disruption and Attempted Destruction’ of NEH

DOGE Sued over ‘Disruption and Attempted Destruction’ of NEH

Published by skeptic

On Thursday, the Federation of State Humanities Councils and Oregon Humanities jointly filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Oregon against the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for “the disruption and attempted destruction” of the NEH and 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils. As part of the suit, the organizations are seeking the restoration of terminated grants and to ensure that congressional appropriations flow to humanities councils. When the grants were canceled following extreme cuts made by DOGE, many organizations and humanities councils said they could no longer effectively fulfill their duties to local communities without fiscal means. Related Articles “Funding for the humanities benefits every single American, and support for this work and humanities councils has historically been bipartisan,” Phoebe Stein, president of the Federation of State Humanities Councils, said in a statement. “Federal dollars from NEH flow through the state and jurisdictional humanities councils to community organizations in nearly every county in the country. State and jurisdictional humanities councils help veterans heal, teach children to …

A ‘Trump Card Visa’ Is Already Showing Up in Immigration Forms

A ‘Trump Card Visa’ Is Already Showing Up in Immigration Forms

Published by skeptic

The US government has the capacity to dole out roughly 1.1 million permanent resident cards in the current fiscal year, which are divided into categories for family members, workers with advanced skills, and other groups based on precise rules. Lutnick originally proposed Trump’s gold card as a replacement for one of these categories, known as the EB-5 investor visa, which is perhaps the closest thing the United States currently has to a golden visa. Created by Congress in 1990, the program currently allows roughly 10,000 foreigners to obtain a green card each year by making a $1.05 million investment in the United States (or $800,000 in rural areas and regions plagued by high unemployment), supporting at least 10 full-time jobs. When the program was initially crafted, experts say, lawmakers went to great lengths to ensure it wasn’t seen as a pathway for corrupt oligarchs to unfairly buy their way into the United States. Part of that effort was ensuring immigration authorities carefully assess each EB-5 application to verify the investment funds aren’t coming from illegal …

What has DOGE done in Trump’s first 100 days? : NPR

What has DOGE done in Trump’s first 100 days? : NPR

Published by Sam

Elon Musk wielding a chainsaw at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Feb. 20, 2025 in Oxon Hill, Md. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Andrew Harnik/Getty Images When President Trump returned to the White House in January, he promised to “restore competence and effectiveness” to the federal government by establishing a Department of Government Efficiency. In the lead-up to his inauguration, DOGE evolved from a meme to an outside commission to a White House office given carte blanche to upend the executive branch in the name of combating perceived waste, fraud and abuse. A small cadre of software engineers and others with connections to billionaire Elon Musk quickly fanned out across federal agencies, where they have encouraged the firing of tens of thousands of federal employees, overseen the effective dismantling of agencies, slashed spending on foreign food aid, medical research and basic office supplies and burrowed into multiple sensitive data systems. Last week, Musk said he would spend less time on DOGE and focus on Tesla, as the 130-day clock on his …

The ACLU Is Suing the Government to Get Access to DOGE Records

The ACLU Is Suing the Government to Get Access to DOGE Records

Published by skeptic

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the US Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In its lawsuit, the ACLU accuses the agencies of violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by ignoring the ACLU’s requests and subsequent appeals for information concerning the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) “attempted or actual access” to sensitive federal databases. The ACLU began pursuing documents under the federal transparency law in February, as WIRED first reported, responding to reports that Elon Musk’s DOGE operatives were seeking access to troves of personal information belonging to US citizens, including US Department of Treasury records that contain “millions of Social Security numbers, bank accounts, business finances,” and more. Over the last few months, extensive reporting by WIRED and other outlets has exposed DOGE’s attempts to access and analyze sensitive data on federal employees, the American public, and immigrants to the US. In its complaint, the ACLU argues that DOGE’s access to highly sensitive information about Americans’ health and finances raises …

The CFPB Has Been Gutted

The CFPB Has Been Gutted

Published by skeptic

More than 1,400 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) workers were terminated from their positions on Thursday amid a broader Trump administration shakeup at the independent government agency, sources tell WIRED. There were around 1,700 employees in total at the CFPB. The mass reduction in force, or RIF, comes nearly a month after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order barring the Trump administration from removing probationary employees at the CFPB and other agencies. On Friday, an appeals court ruled that the CFPB could begin terminations again so long as “individual assessments” were conducted for each terminated employee. Around 200 employees will be left at the CFPB, effectively gutting the agency Elon Musk has previously said should be ‘deleted.’ In an email sent to CFPB staff on Wednesday, CFPB chief legal officer Mark Paoletta announced that the agency would be shifting its focus away from its supervisory roles and towards “tangible harm to consumers.” Medical debt, student loans, consumer data, and digital payments have all been identified as topics the CFPB will “deprioritize,” according to …

Emergency Food for 3 Million Children Is Stuck in DOGE Limbo

Emergency Food for 3 Million Children Is Stuck in DOGE Limbo

Published by José

After Elon Musk made a public show of remedying an apparent error in DOGE’s massive cuts to foreign aid, the Trump administration has quietly doubled down on its decision to stop sending emergency food to millions of children who are starving in Bangladesh, Somalia, and other countries. Without urgent intervention, many of these children are likely to die within months, experts told me. As DOGE was gutting USAID in February, it alarmed the global-health community by issuing stop-work orders to the two American companies that make a lifesaving peanut paste widely recognized as the best treatment for malnutrition. The companies—Edesia and Mana Nutrition—subsequently received USAID’s go-ahead to continue their work. But soon after that, their contracts were officially canceled. When news of the cancellation was made public, Elon Musk vowed to investigate the issue and “fix it.” Hours later, Musk announced that one contract had been restored days earlier; that night, the second company received notice that its contract had been reinstated. According to Mana and Edesia, however, that was only the start of the …

Students with disabilities lost a helpful program to DOGE cuts : NPR

Students with disabilities lost a helpful program to DOGE cuts : NPR

Published by Sam

Logan, 17 and a junior at Newton South High School, stands in his room in Newton, Mass. Logan was part of a program called Charting My Path, which helps students with disabilities prepare for life after high school. The Trump administration cancelled the program in February. Cassandra Klos for NPR hide caption toggle caption Cassandra Klos for NPR If you visit the website for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), you’ll find a “Wall of Receipts” listing more than 7,000 federal contracts it has terminated. Little detail is provided, besides the “savings” from each cancellation, and it’s hard to determine the cost or collateral damage of all these cuts. But for some families, there has been a cost. One of these programs, cancelled on Feb. 10, was called Charting My Path for Future Success. It was a research-based effort to help students with disabilities make the sometimes difficult transition from high school into college or the world of work and self-sufficiency. For just three weeks, beginning in January, some 1,600 high school juniors were …

Palantir Is Helping DOGE With a Massive IRS Data Project

Palantir Is Helping DOGE With a Massive IRS Data Project

Published by skeptic

Palantir, the software company cofounded by Peter Thiel, is part of an effort by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to build a new “mega API” for accessing Internal Revenue Service records, IRS sources tell WIRED. For the past three days, DOGE and a handful of Palantir representatives, along with dozens of career IRS engineers, have been collaborating to build a single API layer above all IRS databases at an event previously characterized to WIRED as a “hackathon,” sources tell WIRED. Palantir representatives have been onsite at the event this week, a source with direct knowledge tells WIRED. APIs are application programming interfaces, which enable different applications to exchange data and could be used to move IRS data to the cloud and access it there. DOGE has expressed an interest in the API project possibly touching all IRS data, which includes taxpayer names, addresses, social security numbers, tax returns, and employment data. The IRS API layer could also allow someone to compare IRS data against interoperable datasets from other agencies. Should this project …

The ALA is Suing DOGE Over “Gutting” the IMLS

The ALA is Suing DOGE Over “Gutting” the IMLS

Published by skeptic

Book Riot Editorial is made up of passionate readers, writers, and book lovers dedicated to delivering insightful book recommendations, literary analysis, and the latest in book culture. With expertise spanning multiple genres and a deep understanding of the publishing industry, we offer thoughtful commentary, book deals, and news that matters to readers. Whether it’s uncovering hidden gems, analyzing literary trends, or championing diverse voices, Book Riot’s editorial team is here to keep you informed and inspired. View All posts by Community The American Library Association (ALA) and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees has filed a lawsuit against  the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), among other defendants, for “the Trump administration’s gutting of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).” The lawsuit argues that DOGE’s actions against IMLS—including firing employees, ending the grant programs, and stopping all of the institute’s work—were illegal and unconstitutional. It claims that these actions violate Article I and Article II of the constitution. The organizations also say these actions will cause “immediate and disastrous consequences for …

DOGE reportedly planning a hackathon to build ‘mega API’ for IRS data

DOGE reportedly planning a hackathon to build ‘mega API’ for IRS data

Published by skeptic

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plans to host a hackathon next week focused on the creation of a “mega API” that will provide access to taxpayer data, according to Wired. Wired says the hackathon is being organized by two DOGE staffers at the Internal Revenue Service — Gavin Kliger and Sam Corcos, who’s also CEO at healthtech startup Levels. Corcos has reportedly been telling others at DOGE that his goal is to build “one new API to rule them all.” This would make it easy for cloud providers to access IRS data including taxpayer names, addresses, social security numbers, tax returns, and employment information, which could all be exported to external systems. According to Wired, a third-party party vendor would manage parts of the project, with Palantir “consistently” brought up as a candidate. “It’s basically an open door controlled by Musk for all Americans’ most sensitive information with none of the rules that normally secure that data,” an anonymous IRS worker reportedly told Wired. Source link