Here’s a ‘dead’ person on Social Security in Seattle, with plenty to say
“DOGE Has 10 Staffers at Social Security in Hunt for Dead People,” the headlines read this past week.
I found a dead person on Social Security. Right here in Seattle, on Capitol Hill.
Of course the circumstances of Ned Johnson’s death were completely the opposite of what Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency had claimed was rampant.
“You wake up one day and discover you’re dead,” Johnson told me. “It’s been truly surreal.”
Why 10 Senate Democrats say they sided with Republicans to avert a shutdown
Ten Senate Democrats voted Friday to help Republicans break a 60-vote filibuster and advance a Trump-backed government funding bill that paves the way for Congress to avoid a midnight shutdown deadline.
With Democrats' help, Senate votes to avert a government shutdown
The Senate passed a House-approved government funding bill that averts a government shutdown that was set to be triggered at the end of the day Friday.
The Senate voted 54 to 46 to pass the bill. The approval of the bill follows several Democrats voting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to keep the funding bill moving forward despite blowback from other members of their party.
Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen voted in favor of the bill. All other Democrats voted against it...
Senate passes Trump-endorsed fix to avert DC budget cuts
Senators voted Friday to pass legislation to prevent cuts to the District of Columbia’s local budget after city officials warned the District faced a $1 billion hit under a stopgap government funding bill approved by the Senate moments earlier.
The bill, which allows D.C. to continue operating at its adopted fiscal 2025 budget, passed by voice vote.
The Trump administration may exclude government spending from GDP, obscuring the impact of DOGE cuts
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that government spending could be separated from gross domestic product reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn.
“You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.”
US Congress nowhere close to deal to avert shutdown ahead of March 14 deadline
With less than two weeks to go before a March 14 deadline, Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress appear to be nowhere close to a deal to avert a government shutdown that would throw Washington into deeper turmoil...
Rasmussen Reports poll finds majority of voters think feds act as ‘government gangsters’
A new Rasmussen Reports poll found that the federal government as a whole acts as “government gangsters.”
Rasmussen Reports cited FBI Director Kash Patel’s book, entitled “Government Gangsters,” and asked voters: How much of the time do you believe the federal government acts as government gangsters?"
Respondents said all of the time (17%), most of the time (24%) and some of the time (28%) for a subtotal of 69%. Rarely or never was 22% and not sure was 9%.
White House orders agencies to prepare for large-scale firings
The White House is directing federal agencies to prepare for large-scale layoffs, so-called reductions in force (RIF), according to guidance sent out by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management on Wednesday.
Why it matters: To date, job cuts in the federal workforce have mostly affected probationary employees who are relatively easy to fire — RIFs are a more drastic step. Agencies were given two weeks to make plans for "significant" layoffs.
Typically, in a RIF, positions are permanently eliminated.
Hochul launches ‘You’re hired’ initiative to hire workers fired by DOGE
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) launched a “You’re hired” initiative to attract former federal workers fired by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Hochul has begun publicly positioning herself as a major Democratic opponent of President Donald Trump, clashing with him last week over his intervention to kill New York City’s controversial congestion pricing plan. She trolled the president again on Tuesday, flipping Trump’s famous catchphrase to attract workers laid off by Elon Musk’s DOGE.
4 conspiracy theories that have driven policy under Trump
President Donald Trump is no stranger to conspiracy: He rose to political prominence by touting the racist lie that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. His team isn’t either: Take Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s longtime baseless conviction that childhood vaccines cause autism or the billionaire Elon Musk’s promotion of the 2016 “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory.