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Everybody has an opinion on what’s going on. Not the same opinion, though. In general, people don’t like the way the Trump administration is going about shrinking what it calls a bloated and corrupt bureaucracy. Yet many federal employees agree the government is inefficient and could be cut in some ways.
Federal News Network inbound mail has drawn lots of questions, comments, and plenty of inside-the-agency tips our reporters have followed up on.
One reader from the Department of Veterans Affairs wrote in to say he felt Federal News Network’s coverage of the DOGE activities is biased against the Trump administration.
“I support efforts to reduce the bloated government and have a more efficient and lean system that better supports our Veterans and other entities within the government,” he wrote. “I can tell you stories about many employees across government agencies (not just mine) that do not put in their full eight-hour days.”
That doesn’t reflect the bulk of our incoming commentary, which ranges from outrage and disgust to sadness and puzzled. But the agreement that there’s room to improve efficiency is part of a consistent strain.
Many readers have asked detailed questions about their particular situations. They want to know about retirement eligibility, health care plans and whether reductions in force (RIFs) or early retirement payouts will be available.
Others worry about long-term retirement. Several people wrote to ask whether Congress will change the calculation for the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) from a three-year to a five-year average. Answer: It’s included in a bill, but impossible to tell if it will ever become law. Also in the legislative soup is a proposal raising the contribution new federal employees make to the FERS system to 4.4% for everyone.
I wish we could answer them all.
DOGE officials say they’re cutting selectively, discovering needless or inefficient programs one-by-one. But they act as if the government is a giant, undifferentiated chub of bologna, which you reduce in a meat slicer. All the slices come out looking and tasting alike.
How may times have you heard someone say, ‘The way to cut government is not with a hatchet or a chainsaw, but rather with a scalpel.’ I say neither. The hatchet threatens services, and anyway, major reform needs buy-in from Congress. Most federal spending buys one congressional constituent or another. The scalpel seldom cuts deep enough for real reform.
The nation lacks consensus on what, if anything, it doesn’t want of the federal government. So spending rises inexorably to the point of unsustainability, which brings the country to where it is now. No serious answers.
Other correspondents don’t like some of the tactics people in the administration have taken. Particularly rankling is how members of the national security team used the Signal app for official business.
“As a military spouse, I’ve watched my husband deploy time and again — missing birthdays, holidays, and even the birth of our daughter,” one reader wrote. “Each time, we live by strict operational security (OPSEC) guidelines. We communicate in coded language, avoid sharing dates or locations, and accept the silence because we know lives are at stake.”
The writer continued: “That’s why the Signal group chat scandal isn’t just disappointing — it’s infuriating. Individuals at the highest levels of government treated sensitive national security information like casual group chat gossip, with no apparent consequences. If my husband — a Navy commander select preparing to lead a squadron of over 100 service members — were to mishandle classified information, even unintentionally, he would be immediately discharged. His career destroyed. Our family’s future upended.”
Uncertainty thus continues. The worry over the tariff-battered stock market is affecting everyone, Thrift Savings Plan or 401K holders. At least in the Washington D.C. area, we’re distracted by anticipation of the Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin breaking the National Hockey League record of career goals scored.
The post Trump and DOGE spark opinions, but not everyone agrees first appeared on Federal News Network.