DOGE’s Mission Impossible
– By Howard Sierer –
Pres. Trump’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” – actually not a true department but a collection of his advisors – is a long-overdue attempt to cull ineffective and inefficient programs and agencies from a federal government that tries to do too much. The effort deserves the enthusiastic support of all Americans but the chances of substantial success are somewhere between slim and none.
To see why, envision the federal government as a giant “whack-a-mole” organization. Every existing department, agency and commission has its bureaucrats who will rise in indignation, explaining why their mission and work is indispensable to the nation. And every one of these organizations will have special interest groups who benefit and who will besiege Congress with petitions to spare it.
Recommendations to combine or consolidate organizations are likely to energize bureaucrats to move their existing jobs into the combined organization, preserving all prior functions and retaining all the previous headcount and budget.
With thousands of such bureaucratic cubbyholes of resistance to change, the general public will be unable to form rational opinions on which ones are indeed important or why their funding shouldn’t be cut. If there’s one thing bureaucrats are good at it is preserving their organizations and expanding their scope.
So why hasn’t Congress been performing DOGE’s role? The founders envisioned it as the dominant branch of government. In practice, however, many Americans don’t recognize this role for Congress because the legislative branch has systematically surrendered its constitutional authority to the executive branch, especially when it comes to spending. The number and scope of programs and agencies Congress has authorized far exceeds the capacity of a slow-moving deliberative body to monitor effectively.
Hoping to influence DOGE, a Cato Institute white paper lays out rationale and a roadmap for DOGE to accomplish its stated goals. The paper outlines specific steps that could be taken to reduce the number and scope of federal programs, reduce the costs of those remaining to make the government solvent, and reduce regulations to allow a smaller and more focused and effective bureaucracy. Two recommendations caught my eye in particular.
First, return the government to undertaking only its constitutionally enumerated functions. A single phrase in Article I, Section 8 “…and provide for the general welfare,” has over the last 200 years opened the door to a virtually unlimited scope of federal programs and spending that are not enumerated. The 10th Amendment, which reads “powers not delegated to the United States…are reserved to the states,” has been essentially ignored when Congress goes about “providing for the general welfare.”
For starters, Cato recommends privatizing the following federal activities and services: AMTRAC, USPS, ATC, TVA, and PMCs. The fact that most of us don’t know what many of these entities are illustrates the point that the government is doing many activities that would be more efficiently done by private industry.
Further efficiencies would be readily achieved by transferring the functions of the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Reclamation to the states where their functions could be more attuned to local needs and priorities. Even National Parks could be transferred to state control and funding.
I am less enthusiastic about Cato’s second recommendation that much of what they propose can be accomplished by executive action without Congress. This is exactly what DOGE has announced it plans to do. Congress has only itself to blame if DOGE uses previously-granted legislative authority to bypass the lawmakers. But these actions will serve to highlight Congress’ abdication of its authority to the executive branch. And anything accomplished by executive order can be undone by our next president on 21 January 2029.
Nonetheless, I support two executive actions that have a likelihood of sticking beyond 2029. First, ordering the Census Bureau and all other executive agencies to stop collecting race and ethnicity data. Such data allows those practicing identity politics to ply their trade, dividing citizens into groupings of victims and victimizers. Preparations for the 2030 census will be too far along to change by 2029.
Second, eliminate DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) training and practices throughout the government. These noble ideals become unconstitutional when they inevitably result in programs that favor one group of people over others and are increasingly unpopular with the public.
Another idea worthy of wide support: get Congress back to its proper role by supporting the bipartisan Trust Act, introduced in both the Senate and the House last session. The act would create discrete rescue committees for each of the federal trust funds that are barreling toward insolvency—Social Security, Medicare Part A and highways. The bill would empower each rescue committee to bring its proposed solution directly to the House and Senate floors for a vote so congressional leadership couldn’t kill reform efforts by shielding its members from making tough votes.
Here’s another proven idea worth a look: Congress could adopt a sunset law similar to Arizona’s. Every department, agency and commission would come up for a vote once every eight years to decide whether it should be reauthorized and at what level of funding.
The above steps would increase individual freedom, reduce tax burdens and set the federal government on a path toward fiscal solvency. Each one of them will be attacked by the bureaucracy currently administering it and by the special interests that currently benefit.
I’ll take freedom, lower taxes and a solvent government.
