‘Simply getting began’: Trump speech on DOGE, finances and border
President Donald Trump used his remarks earlier than a joint session of Congress to spell out his imaginative and prescient for the subsequent 4 years.
The Division of Authorities Effectivity, or DOGE, was entrance and heart throughout President Donald Trump’s handle to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
Trump repeatedly made claims of the group’s efficacy in trimming prices and the dimensions of presidency, and the group has slashed hundreds of jobs, terminated billions of {dollars}’ price of contracts and introduced uncertainty all through federal authorities.
He gave a lot of the credit score for DOGE’s work to Elon Musk, who sat in a primary spot near the front of the chamber.
“I’ve created the model new Division of Authorities Effectivity. Maybe you have heard of it. Which is headed by Elon Musk, who’s within the gallery tonight,” Trump mentioned. “Thanks, Elon, for working very exhausting. He did not want this, he did not want this. Thanks very a lot.
However does Musk deserve all of the credit score – or blame – for DOGE’s slashing of federal authorities employees and funds?
Does Elon Musk run DOGE?
Who’s Amy Gleason, the lady who really heads DOGE?
It was initially believed that Elon Musk was main the company as he had been instrumental in establishing the framework for what Trump wished to perform.
Scripps Information
It depends upon who you ask. Trump has repeatedly referred to as Musk the chief of DOGE and credited him with its work. That features a outstanding shoutout within the president’s handle to Congress on Tuesday.
Nevertheless, the Trump administration has argued in courtroom that Musk will not be the chief of DOGE, or perhaps a DOGE worker. It calls him a senior advisor with out decision-making authority.
As a substitute, Amy Gleason, a former official on the U.S. Digital Service, was publicly named performing DOGE administrator on Feb. 25. Gleason is a well being know-how government who has been a senior advisor within the U.S. Digital Service since January, in line with the Tennessean.
How a lot has DOGE saved to this point?
DOGE posts a “wall of receipts,” claiming to point out the place it has rooted out waste and fraud in federal companies.
As of March 2, the location signifies that it has saved $105 billion by a “mixture of fraud detection/deletion, contract/lease cancellations, contract/lease renegotiations, asset gross sales, grant cancellations, workforce reductions, programmatic modifications, and regulatory financial savings.”
This quantities to $652.17 per taxpayer, in line with the web site.
The DOGE web site claims to publish receipts of its budget-slashing efforts, however most gadgets listed are contracts canceled at varied federal departments and companies.
USA TODAY studies have additionally discovered major discrepancies with the DOGE financial savings listed on the location. This consists of an occasion the place it presupposed to have saved $881 million by terminating contracts on the Training Division, however the worth of the contracts was nearer to $676 million. One other occasion concerned a touted financial savings of $8 billion, which was really solely price $8 million.
Is DOGE sending checks to taxpayers?
Might $5,000 DOGE stimulus checks occur? This is what we all know.
$5,000 stimulus checks from the Trump administration’s push to cut back federal spending has been floated, however will it occur?
As of now, no. However the thought will get frequent dialogue.
There have been talks about sending a stimulus check of as much as $5,000 to American households from the federal funds DOGE frees up. Congress must approve the proposal, nonetheless, earlier than any type of stimulus cost could possibly be issued by the federal authorities. Thus, no checks might be despatched out in the intervening time and no timeline for funds exists.
Congressional officers have weighed in on the idea although and responses run the gamut. Some lawmakers have been supportive of the thought, however others have expressed a want to as a substitute pay down the deficit or see a extra detailed proposal earlier than formally weighing in.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, mentioned he wished to see particulars of the plan. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, mentioned he supported passing financial savings on to Individuals, however he would relatively that be carried out through the kid tax credit score.
How a lot cash might DOGE send out?
If the checks complete 20% of DOGE’s financial savings, as proposed by Azoria funding agency CEO James Fishback, it should save about $2 trillion to provide $5,000 checks for every of America’s roughly 80 million federal tax-paying households.
Based mostly on the March 2 posting on the wall of receipts, a 20% “DOGE Dividend” could be about $130 per taxpayer.
Musk has beforehand mentioned $2 trillion in cuts may not be doable. If it does occur, it might take longer than anticipated.
What does DOGE stand for?
The identify stands for Division of Authorities Effectivity, though it will not be an precise division. Trump created it as a temporary service that’s solely licensed to function till July 4, 2026.
DOGE is charged with slicing spending and laws to shrink the forms and measurement of the federal authorities.
DOGE’s identify can also be a reference to dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that Musk has championed for a number of years.
