DOGE’s Destruction Continues Under Vought’s Watch, Groundwork’s Jacquez Says
DOGE’s Destruction Continues Under Vought’s Watch, Groundwork’s Jacquez Says
Today, Office of Management & Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought will be on Capitol Hill to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the Trump administration’s recissions package to make DOGE cuts permanent.
Ahead of Vought’s testimony, Groundwork Collaborative’s Chief of Policy & Advocacy Alex Jacquez released the following statement:
“Musk may have been pushed out of Washington, but Russell Vought is working overtime to ensure DOGE’s destruction carries on. At a time when working families are facing rising costs thanks to Trump’s chaotic economic agenda, Vought is trying to slash basic needs programs to give the ultra wealthy another tax giveaway. Vought will continue to sell DOGE’s reckless mission, but the American people aren’t buying it.”
BACKGROUND
- DOGE has made it harder for people to get their Social Security benefits. DOGE significantly cut staff at the Social Security Administration SSA – resulting in website crashes, field office staff reductions of more than 25% in some communities, longer wait times, and over a million hours per year wasted on unnecessary travel.
- DOGE cuts have drastically impacted the Veterans Health Administration, which serves more than 9 million veterans annually. DOGE has already fired at least 2,400 staffers while more than 14,000 VA healthcare staffers applied to the Deferred Resignation Program, including over 200 doctors, 1,700 nurses and almost 900 advanced medical support assistants. The impact on veterans has been drastic. So many nurses quit in a rural Illinois hospital that it was forced to close its acute care unit. A backlog of 2,298 unread radiology exams developed in Orlando as radiologists quit. And over 1,000 veterans were informed they could no longer receive treatment for severe diseases, including metastatic head and neck cancers.
- DOGE is attempting to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) by cutting its workforce by 90 percent, which will enable exploitative companies and financial firms to profit at the expense of consumers. Since its creation in 2011, the CFPB has put over $21 billion back into the pockets of more than 200 million consumers.
- As of early March 2025, the IRS lost 11 percent of its total workforce and 31 percent of the revenue agents who conduct audits. It is estimated that cutting IRS staff will reduce federal revenues between $64 billion and $350 billion over ten years. Researchers have found that cutting IRS staff will reduce federal revenues between $64 billion and $350 billion over ten years.
- In an effort to mislead the public about the harm of DOGE cuts, President Trump and Vought failed to submit the required budget and spending plans laying out the Administration’s policy goals.
- Ahead of Vought’s appearance before the House Appropriations Committee earlier this month, Trump and Vought failed to submit a full budget.
- In addition, Trump and Vought’s OMB failed to submit detailed spending plans for each government agency to the Appropriations Committees, which were due on April 29. Spending plans have not been submitted or are missing basic funding details.
- Recent polling found that independent voters swung 29 points against DOGE in just three months.
Read a full breakdown of the impact of DOGE on working families HERE.
