DOGE Catch-All

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This seemed like something apart from the DOGE thread but maybe not?

Last night California Congressman Dave Min introduced a new bill into Congress called Bolstering America’s Democracy and Demanding Oversight and Government Ethics Act or the “BAD DOGE Act” for short.
 
Repurposing several existing older DOGE threads as a single DOGE catch-all as the omnibus Trump/DOGE thread seems to be so broad that attempted discussions become chaotic cross-talk.
 

DOGE website says Franklin’s Social Security office to close​


smokymountainnews.com

DOGE website says Franklin’s Social Security office to close

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has been eager to propose federal budget cuts that purport to save taxpayers money, but as the proposed cuts trickle down to the neighborhood level — like closing the U.S. Social Security Administration office in Franklin — residents are just as...
smokymountainnews.com
 
nycfan said:

DOGE website says Franklin’s Social Security office to close​


smokymountainnews.com

DOGE website says Franklin’s Social Security office to close

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has been eager to propose federal budget cuts that purport to save taxpayers money, but as the proposed cuts trickle down to the neighborhood level — like closing the U.S. Social Security Administration office in Franklin — residents are just as...
smokymountainnews.com
Click to expand...
“… The DOGE website features a “wall of receipts” listing contract terminations, grant terminations and lease terminations totaling more than 9.5 million square feet across 748 facilities nationally. The lease terminations would supposedly save $660 million in total over the life of the leases.

In North Carolina, 20 such leases are listed, from the mountains to the coast.

… Besides Franklin, additional Social Security Administration offices in Elizabeth City, Greenville and Roanoke Rapids are also listed as subject to lease termination.

… While many of these tasks can be completed by phone or online at ssa.gov, internet service isn’t universally available or affordable in rural Southern Appalachia, so visiting an office in person may the most convenient option, although it’s strictly necessary in certain cases.

For example, some disability claims require in-person interviews, and people applying for a Social Security card for the first time must show up in person.

… Of the 37 pre-DOGE Social Security offices in North Carolina, Franklin’s serves North Carolina’s westernmost residents and is the only one west of Asheville’s office, 68 miles from Franklin. Another office in Toccoa, Georgia, more than 50 miles distant, may also be an option for residents of the far west.

.., The DOGE website says that the lease for the 8,995 square-foot office costs $276,309 each year, and that the termination of the lease will save just over $1 million.

Although the Social Security Administration’s website suggests the office is still operating under its usual 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. hours Monday through Friday, DOGE’s information on the Franklin office says that the listing is a “True Termination — Agency Closed Office,” which came as quite a surprise to an operator reached in the Franklin office by The Smoky Mountain News on the afternoon of March 3.

The operator appeared to be shocked by the news of the closing and said they hadn’t heard anything about the possibility. An office manager subsequently directed all comment to the Social Security Administration’s regional public affairs office in Atlanta. No one answered the phone at the public affairs office, and no one has yet responded to a voicemail or email inquiry. …”
 
276,000 a year for 8500 sq feet of office space seems like an OK deal. And if Elon's team is micromanaging to this degree, they are wasting their time more than I thought.
 
superrific said:
276,000 a year for 8500 sq feet of office space seems like an OK deal. And if Elon's team is micromanaging to this degree, they are wasting their time more than I thought.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was curious about the cost as well and the rental cost per square foot is consistent with / on the low end of the range for office space generally in Franklin NC from what I could tell, so not like it is some exorbitant lease. 🤷‍♀️

Here is the so-called wall of receipts, which seems to provide the info in relatively random order and so far I have not found a search function:

doge.gov

Work | DOGE: Department of Government Efficiency | DOGE: Department of Government Efficiency

Work | DOGE: Department of Government Efficiency.
doge.gov doge.gov

And here is the savings page:

 
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As far as I can tell you have to scan the entire list of lease terminations visually scanning for NC to find the NC leases and if you click through for more info all you get is a box with this kind of “data”:

IMG_5345.jpeg

Update - If I click to show all leases and search for “, NC” on my phone I can find just the NC ones.
 
Alina Habba, showing off her wondrous advocacy skills yet again. Who lets her speak for the administration in any way?
 
nycfan said:
“… The DOGE website features a “wall of receipts” listing contract terminations, grant terminations and lease terminations totaling more than 9.5 million square feet across 748 facilities nationally. The lease terminations would supposedly save $660 million in total over the life of the leases.

In North Carolina, 20 such leases are listed, from the mountains to the coast.

… Besides Franklin, additional Social Security Administration offices in Elizabeth City, Greenville and Roanoke Rapids are also listed as subject to lease termination.

… While many of these tasks can be completed by phone or online at ssa.gov, internet service isn’t universally available or affordable in rural Southern Appalachia, so visiting an office in person may the most convenient option, although it’s strictly necessary in certain cases.

For example, some disability claims require in-person interviews, and people applying for a Social Security card for the first time must show up in person.

… Of the 37 pre-DOGE Social Security offices in North Carolina, Franklin’s serves North Carolina’s westernmost residents and is the only one west of Asheville’s office, 68 miles from Franklin. Another office in Toccoa, Georgia, more than 50 miles distant, may also be an option for residents of the far west.

.., The DOGE website says that the lease for the 8,995 square-foot office costs $276,309 each year, and that the termination of the lease will save just over $1 million.

Although the Social Security Administration’s website suggests the office is still operating under its usual 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. hours Monday through Friday, DOGE’s information on the Franklin office says that the listing is a “True Termination — Agency Closed Office,” which came as quite a surprise to an operator reached in the Franklin office by The Smoky Mountain News on the afternoon of March 3.

The operator appeared to be shocked by the news of the closing and said they hadn’t heard anything about the possibility. An office manager subsequently directed all comment to the Social Security Administration’s regional public affairs office in Atlanta. No one answered the phone at the public affairs office, and no one has yet responded to a voicemail or email inquiry. …”
Click to expand...
good, good.

this will be super helpful for everyone.
 

Fired US government workers with top security clearances were not given exit briefings, sources say​


"Some U.S. government workers with top security clearances fired in mass layoffs overseen by Elon Musk in recent weeks were not given standard exit briefings and advised on what to do if approached by foreign adversaries, four sources told Reuters.

The lack of so-called "read outs" for workers with clearances dismissed by Musk's Department of Government Efficiency in February could raise security risks as they dealt with secret information on everything from managing nuclear weapons to protecting the power grid from influence by adversaries and ensuring the safety of U.S international development staffers, former security officials said...."
 

Veterans Are Caught Up in Trump’s and Musk’s Work Force Overhaul​

Nearly 30 percent of civil service employees in the federal government are veterans, and Democrats are highlighting their firings by taking some as guests to President Trump’s address Tuesday.

www.nytimes.com

Veterans Are Caught Up in Trump’s and Musk’s Work Force Overhaul

Nearly 30 percent of civil service employees in the federal government are veterans, and Democrats are highlighting their firings by taking some as guests to President Trump’s address Tuesday.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

"...Nearly 30 percent of civil service employees in the federal government are veterans, according to data as of September 2024 from the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources arm.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk have fired about 20,000 employees who were in probationary status, based on data compiled by The New York Times. About 30 percent of those probationary workers — or 6,000 — were veterans, according to a count by Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee as of Feb. 23.

This includes more than 2,000 veterans at the Department of Defense, 676 at Treasury, about 500 at Energy and 450 at Agriculture.

More job losses are around the corner, as agencies begin a formal process known as “reduction in force,” including at the Pentagon where veterans make up 43 percent of the civilian work force, according to data from O.P.M.

...Mr. Trump said he was aware of the veterans affected by the firings.

“We take good care of our veterans, so we’re watching that very carefully, and we hope it’s going to be as small a number as possible,” Mr. Trump said last Thursday in the Oval Office. “But we are having great success at slimming down our government.” ..."
 
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