|
Today federal workers nationwide are calling for support for a "Save Our Services Day of Action" mobilizing nationwide in opposition to Elon Musk's efforts to dismantle government agencies through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Workers plan to protest outside of federal buildings and Tesla dealerships to show support for the work of federal agencies. "It's not just about federal workers," says Eric Blanc, author and assistant professor of labor studies at Rutgers University. "If they take out the federal unions, that's our best block right now against Trump's authoritarian power grab." This comes as Musk has gained access to the sensitive information of millions of Americans, all the while laying off government workers en masse. The layoffs have affected the FAA, NIH, IRS and more.
|
|
For the arts institution, which receives only a small portion of its budget from federal funding, the perennial challenge is to raise additional revenue through ticket sales and private donations.
|
|
Employees from Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency are gaining access to vast amounts of information held by federal agencies, even as lawsuits try to stop them.
|
|
As President Trump continues to sign new executive orders attacking transgender people and their rights, we hear voices of protest from New York, where hundreds of people rallied Monday outside NYU Langone Hospital in Manhattan to demand it continue providing gender-affirming care for trans patients, after news that some patients had been dropped by the hospital. This comes after the Trump administration signed an order withholding federal research and education grants from hospitals that offer gender-affirming care to transgender people under 19.
|
|
Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and unelected adviser to President Donald Trump, is asserting control over much of the federal bureaucracy and sensitive government computer systems despite lacking clear authority. The highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department was pushed out after refusing to hand Musk's team the keys to the government's entire payment system and the $6 trillion in payments the system processes annually, including Social Security checks, tax refunds and Medicare benefits. Musk and his team have also seized control at the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration, key institutions that function as the central nervous system of the U.S. government. "In any other situation, this would be called state capture, and people around the world would be condemning it," says Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid, who writes in a new blog post that Elon Musk is staging a coup. We also speak with Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, who warns that Musk could be laying the groundwork for major tax cuts Republicans have promised that will disproportionately benefit corporations and wealthy people like him. "Elon Musk is going to pay for his tax cut with your Social Security," says Owens.
|
|
