Congress

Musk, Ramaswamy publish plan to slash workforce

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Civil service protections can’t stop large-scale firings of federal workers, the leaders of President-elect Donald Trump’s effort to downsize the government wrote Wednesday in an op-ed.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-leaders of Trump’s planned effort to cut federal rules and workers, authored a Wall Street Journal op-ed offering the most comprehensive plan sketched out so far for the new Trump endeavor.

They plan to serve as “outside volunteers” and will work with the Trump transition team to “identify and hire a lean team of small-government crusaders,” they wrote. The new team will work “in the new administration” closely with the White House Office of Management and Budget, the authors wrote.

Musk and Ramaswamy said they’ll advise the effort, which they’ve dubbed the “Department of Government Efficiency,” to pursue three major types of reforms: regulatory cuts, administrative reductions and cost-savings.

The team will work with legal experts inside government agencies and “aided by advanced technology” to identify rules that exceed the authority Congress granted agencies. Their team will then present their list of rules to Trump, “who can, by executive action, immediately pause the enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission,” they wrote.

‘Mass head-count reductions’
A big reduction in regulations “provides sound industrial logic for mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote. Their operation intends to identify “the minimum number of employees required at an agency” for it to perform its legal and constitutional duties.

“The number of federal employees to cut should be at least proportionate to the number of federal regulations that are nullified: Not only are fewer employees required to enforce fewer regulations, but the agency would produce fewer regulations once its scope of authority is properly limited,” they wrote.

Employees whose jobs are cut “deserve to be treated with respect,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote, and their goal would be to help support their “transition into the private sector.”

Trump can use existing laws “to give them incentives for early retirement and to make voluntary severance payments to facilitate a graceful exit,” they said.

The Trump advisers said that despite conventional wisdom, civil service protections can’t stop Trump or his appointees from firing federal workers, as long as the firings are “reductions in force” that don’t target specific workers.

Ramaswamy suggested recently that it would be possible to randomly fire workers based on their Social Security numbers. On Trump’s first day in office, he could fire workers whose numbers end in an even digit, Ramaswamy said, adding that the idea was a “thought experiment,” but would avoid lawsuits alleging discrimination.

As president, Trump would have the authority to implement rules “that would curtail administrative overgrowth, from large-scale firings to relocation of federal agencies out of the Washington area,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote.

They said they would welcome “a wave of voluntary terminations” of federal employees who don’t want to work from the office five days a week. “If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home,” they wrote.

Critics are assailing Trump’s plan to shred the federal government and target federal workers. But Musk and Ramaswamy say they welcome the fight.

“We are prepared for the onslaught from entrenched interests in Washington. We expect to prevail,” they wrote.

Congress

Ernst to head new Senate DOGE Caucus

Published

9 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Blue Light Newsroom

President-elect Donald Trump’s big plan to have Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy shape federal cost cutting has a new partnership with the Senate.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) will take charge of a new Senate DOGE Caucus, which will work with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Musk and Ramaswamy.

The DOGE group will be eyeing massive cuts to federal spending and the government workforce. The commission has been tasked with coordinating with and advising the White House and Office of Management and Budget.

“The tables are finally turning, the knives are out, and waste is on the chopping block,” Ernst said in a statement. “The Senate DOGE Caucus is ready to carry out critical oversight in Congress and use our legislative force to fight against the entrenched bureaucracy, trim the fat, and get Washington back to work for Americans.”

“We look forward to partnering with the Senate to downsize government. Grateful to Sen. Joni Ernst for her excellent suggestions yesterday!” Ramaswamy posted Friday on social media.

The New York Post first reported Ernst’s leadership of the new caucus.

The pair met at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort Thursday night, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

Other founding members of the caucus are Sens. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.). None serve on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which writes federal spending bills.

“Let’s start cutting some government!” Lee posted Friday.

The Senate move follows action in the House, where Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) will lead a new House Oversight subcommittee on DOGE.

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

Congress

Gaetz joins Cameo, charging hundreds for personalized video messages

Published

10 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Blue Light Newsroom

Matt Gaetz is following in the footsteps of another Republican who left Congress under a cloud of controversy … by joining Cameo.

A day after withdrawing from consideration as Donald Trump’s attorney general — and hours after the now-former Florida representative said in an interview that he would not return for the next Congress — Gaetz created an account on the app where celebrities and other public figures can charge hundreds of dollars or more for personalized video messages.

“I served in Congress. Trump nominated me to be US Attorney General (that didn’t work out). Once I fired the House Speaker,” reads the profile for the “Former Florida Congressman” that’s charging upwards of $500 a video. Semafor first reported Gaetz’s account.

Gaetz follows his one-time colleague, former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) — who was expelled from Congress late last year after a scathing ethics report into his conduct — in attempting to cash in on his fame on Cameo. Santos, who lists himself as a “Former congressional ‘icon,’” charges upwards of $250 for his videos.

Olivia Beavers contributed to this report.

Congress

Florida sets special election to fill Matt Gaetz vacancy on April Fool’s day

Published

11 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Blue Light Newsroom

MIAMI — Florida will conduct a special election on April 1, 2025, to fill the House seat vacated by Matt Gaetz, kicking off a sprint among Florida Republicans to represent the deep-red district.

Gaetz resigned from Congress after President-elect Donald Trump said he planned to appoint him as attorney general. He then dropped out of the running for that job on Thursday, citing the “distraction” of the upcoming confirmation process, which had raised questions about sexual misconduct and drug use allegations that he denies. Trump instead said he planned to nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

On Friday morning, Gaetz said he did not plan to return to Congress but hasn’t announced what he’ll do next.

“I’m gonna be fighting for President Trump,” Gaetz told Charlie Kirk on his radio show. “I’m gonna be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have. But I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress.”

It takes several months to fill the seat in the 1st District because of requirements around qualifying, overseas ballot deadlines and the need to hold both a primary and general election.

The primaries are set for January 28, but whoever wins the GOP nomination will be the heavy favorite over the Democratic pick.

“At Gov. Ron DeSantis’ direction, this special election is being conducted as quickly as statutorily possible,” Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring this election is held as soon as we are allowed to hold it by state law.”

GOP State Rep. Michelle Salzman filed on Tuesday to run for Gaetz’s 1st District, while Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis said he was “strongly considering” doing the same. “We’ve got a historic opportunity to fight the swamp, end lawfare and return power back into the hands of Americans,” he wrote on X.

GOP State Rep. Joel Rudman also has filed to run, saying in a press release Friday morning that he would “stand in lockstep” with Trump. Another name floated for the District 1 seat is DeSantis chief of staff James Uthmeier.

If Patronis were to run, then DeSantis would get to select his replacement for CFO. That would help line up a challenge in 2026 to state Sen. Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota), who has already filed to run for the position and has the Trump endorsement — but is a longtime DeSantis foe.

An endorsement by Trump in the race would likely serve to anoint the future representative. Salzman endorsed DeSantis in the primary while Patronis — who’d been weighing a 2026 gubernatorial run — stayed neutral until DeSantis dropped out.

Florida will soon have another special election to schedule. Trump also tapped Rep. Mike Waltz to be his national security adviser. But that special election isn’t on the calendar yet because Waltz has not announced when he will resign and could serve at the start of the new Congress next year — which is not unusual for members nominated to serve in a president-elect’s administration.