The Specifics Matter
Agency shakeups: In the first Cabinet meeting of the new administration, President Donald Trump announced that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Lee Zeldin will be cutting 65 percent of his agency’s workforce, or almost 10,000 jobs. “Hours later, an E.P.A. official said Mr. Trump was referring to overall agency budget cuts and not a 65 percent reduction in personnel,” reports The New York Times. Trump and co. should get their stories straight and be consistent, but a massive headcount reduction at the agency will probably be necessary regardless.
“After recently identifying $20 billion fraudulent in spending, Administrator Zeldin is committed to eliminating 65% of the EPA’s wasteful spending,” says White House spokesman Taylor Rogers. “The $20 billion Rogers referred to is the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, for which the Biden administration placed $20 billion in grants to be administered by nonprofit groups in Citibank,” adds Politico. “EPA has not identified any fraud under the program but is trying to get the money back from Citibank.”
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund has become something of a controversy (though calling it “fraudulent” is probably not accurate). The massive grant, doled out as former President Joe Biden was winding down his time in office, was supposed to fund clean energy and transportation projects in poorer communities. That $20 billion cited is a chunk of the slightly larger $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). (You might be wondering, “What does this have to do with reducing inflation?“ Absolutely nothing, of course. Thanks, Biden. In that sense, all unrelated things authorized by the IRA are fraudulent, I suppose, deliberately branded as something they’re not.)
Anyway, the grant was basically given to financial institutions, which doled it out to nonprofits who would give home retrofitting grants to individual homeowners (among other things). Certain amounts were earmarked for rural areas and tribal nations. It all seems like something that shouldn’t be in the government’s purview. Now, Zeldin has vowed to get this money back, to end the contracts and rescind the grants. But the administration has done this in a maximally aggressive way, and senators are chafing at the methods, saying that this money was legally appropriated by Congress and that circumventing that process is wrong. For example, “Trump administration officials had instructed Denise Cheung, a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s office, to start a criminal probe of the funding in an effort to claw back the money that is currently held by Citibank, which holds a financial agency agreement with the Treasury,” reports Reuters. But Cheung resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s office last week over this very issue, saying the administration made an improper demand.
This whole saga feels like the second-term Trump administration in a nutshell: Identifying a legitimately bad use of taxpayer dollars; publicizing how insane it is; wrongly flouting separation of powers as a means of attempting to get that money back; Democrats getting next-level apoplectic at them for the methods, seemingly unable to concede the foolishness of the spending in the first place; rinse and repeat.
DOGE and the software licenses: “Agencies often have more software licenses than employees, and the licenses are often idle (i.e. paid for, but not installed on any computer),” writes the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on its X account, implying this is some sort of significant cost-savings. “For example, at GSA [General Services Administration], with 13,000 employees, there are: 37,000 WinZip licenses; 19,000 training software subscriptions (and multiple parallel training software platforms); 7,500 project management software seats
Article from Reason.com
The Reason Magazine website is a go-to destination for libertarians seeking cogent analysis, investigative reporting, and thought-provoking commentary. Championing the principles of individual freedom, limited government, and free markets, the site offers a diverse range of articles, videos, and podcasts that challenge conventional wisdom and advocate for libertarian solutions. Whether you’re interested in politics, culture, or technology, Reason provides a unique lens that prioritizes liberty and rational discourse. It’s an essential resource for those who value critical thinking and nuanced debate in the pursuit of a freer society.
