What is DOGE really doing—and why is it so controversial? The answer lies in an esoteric if straightforward concept that began in the world of budgeting: Zero-basing. As a general rule, most organizations, businesses, agencies, and even households building budgets start by asking themselves a simple question: What did we spend last year? To […]
04
Mar
Mar
To crack down on Pentagon spending, the Defense Department adopted a program in 2015 to track spending on lodging and entertainment. But so few officials used the Visa government travel charge card that nearly 4 million card transactions worth $1.2 billion couldn’t be reviewed in enough detail to check for misuse, abuse, and fraud, the Pentagon’s Office […]
04
Mar
Mar
Our independent judiciary, with the power and duty to protect individual rights and to hold the political branches to their constitutional boundaries, is a foundation of our republic and a hallmark of American exceptionalism. But it is under grave attack from people in powerful positions and their legal sycophants, who are giving currency to notions […]
04
Mar
Mar
I thought it would, perhaps, be useful to take a moment to discuss the big events at the White House where Zelensky met Trump. It is unprecedented that a visiting dignitary would behave the way Zelensky did, or for that matter show up in a tight-fitting sweatshirt and slacks, something Mr. Trump disliked. To begin […]
03
Mar
Mar
The Trump administration is doubling down on deregulation: Where the previous Trump administration removed five regulations for every new one, the target is now 10. Our research shows that cutting regulations will increase gross domestic product, expand investment, and cut inflation without raising taxes. We used RegData 5.0, a text-based database that tracks regulatory intensity in the Federal […]
03
Mar
Mar
Topline: The Department of Education’s employee headcount fell by 13.9% between 2000 and 2024 but its spending increased by 749% during that time, according to a new report from OpenTheBooks.com. Meanwhile, reading and math student proficiency on standardized tests has fallen. Key facts: In 2000, the Department of Education had 4,930 employees and […]
03
Mar
Mar
As Elon Musk and his tech team urge their fellow Americans to become “domestic auditors” to help rein in federal spending, people have been encouraged to use the Treasury Department’s usaspending.gov website to identify and track government finance. \But usaspending.gov is wrong on the biggest picture, RealClearInvestigations found. The total amount of spending across “all agencies,” […]
03
Mar
Mar
“What kind of diplomacy, J.D., [are you] speaking about?” That was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky interrupting the question-and-answer portion of a Feb. 28 Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior officials that was to precede Zelensky signing a rare earth minerals agreement with the U.S. […]
01
Mar
Mar
Legislation in the U.S. House and Senate to rein in the federal bureaucracy and allow poor performers to be fired or disciplined would “codify” the efforts of the Trump administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency initiative, said Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga. Loudermilk, along with Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., in the Senate, proposed similar versions of legislation […]
01
Mar
Mar
Do we have ghost employees in the federal government? Elon thinks so. And, frankly, so do I. Ghost employees receiving paychecks and the government unions received dues on fake employees https://t.co/j93DdJCjWa pic.twitter.com/gHb5K65xxY — MrDirt (@MrDirt66) February 23, 2025 How many? Nobody knows for sure. That’s a large part of the reason Elon is asking employees […]