In a bold attempt to streamline federal spending, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has initiated some of the most sweeping budget cuts in recent U.S. history. On January 20, 2025, President Trump returned to office and soon partnered with tech billionaire Elon Musk to reshape the future of America.
One of their first major initiatives was the implementation of DOGE cuts, designed to end what they called the “tyranny of the bureaucracy,” reduce the national debt and save taxpayer money. However, despite these intentions, the cuts have had the opposite effect, forcing citizens to pay more to the federal government than in previous years.
Regardless of the ambitious goals set by DOGE, the execution of these cuts will lead to significant disruptions across various federal agencies and services. For example, many predict that cuts to the educational system will soon be applied and cuts to money provided for teachers and schools will soon follow.
Ken Muraoka, a teacher at Ida B. Wells says, “We haven’t seen cuts yet, but we are preparing for cuts to funding of education.”
“Services that people haven’t paid attention to, like educational research, will slow down, drawing focus to it [lack of funding],” says Muraoka.
Muraoka says he hasn’t been directly affected, though he says that others close to him have felt the impact. “My sister in law is the CEO of a clean energy company that specializes in offshore wind. Her world got turned upside down with the DOGE cuts and the suspension of federal funding for clean energy projects. This forced her to cut back and lay off people.”
Unfortunately, this is happening all over the U.S. A total of 280 thousand federal employees have been laid off due to the DOGE Cuts, and this number is only rising.
Muraoka says, “The US has made huge progress in the past 50 years in prioritizing being the global leader in progress. These cuts have undone that progress and caused irreparable harm to the US’s place of prominence in the world. There is now a question of whether or not the United States is a reliable, stable partner.”
However, the cuts go beyond education or clean energy. The impact of the DOGE cuts is rippling through nearly every corner of American society.
Hospitals are delaying services, small businesses tied to federal contracts are shutting their doors and research labs are struggling to hold on, not only to their research. Access to healthcare has been a struggle for many Americans for years, but since the cuts, healthcare facilities have had less funding, resulting in the closing of hospitals and clinics across the U.S.
Due to the DOGE cuts, there is also less access to care for populations like veterans, seniors and individuals with disabilities.
Aside from healthcare, major scientific institutions like National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have also suffered massive setbacks due to the DOGE cuts.
NASA has lost over $42 million in contracts and grants. This has stalled key research and educational programs, as well as setting back space exploration by years.
Given Elon Musk’s role as a major contractor for NASA and the main force behind the DOGE cuts and decisions, the cuts are conflicting.
Meanwhile, the NIH has been forced to eliminate several programs and cancel contracts, cutting around $4 million from its budget. Like NASA, the NIH now faces serious delays in medical research, including projects aimed at curing diseases and responding to public health threats.
Americans have watched large and successful businesses fall to the ground, and their thoughts and opinions have been clear.
Recently, in Chicago, Illinois, federal workers from across the state gathered to protest the targeted job cuts that DOGE implemented. In New York City, New York, there was a march protesting library cuts that was part of the “Hands Off!” movement.
Following the protests, there has been a large amount of social media backlash regarding the cuts to governmental services and data privacy.
Many people have mocked Musk online for his role in the cuts. Online critics have made fun of Tesla (Musk’s car company) and Cyber Trucks, which is one of Tesla’s newly released cars.
Posts on Instagram and TikTok have captions saying, “I never thought I would put a sticker on my car until now.” Many companies are making stickers that say things like “Bought this car before Elon went crazy” and “Eco-friendly, not Elon-friendly.”
Politicians on both sides of the aisle have responded to the cuts. While some Republicans back the plan, many progressive leaders are calling it catastrophic.
Paul D. Tonko, a republican representative, says in a Facebook post that the “devastating DOGE cuts are making it harder for working families to put food on the table.”
Another politician, Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO president, says the cuts “Will hurt workers. They’ve treated federal workers with blatant disregard and have been nothing short of dehumanizing and insulting toward them.”
DOGE cuts have not only weakened our economy, but it has also driven our government further apart with different ideas and opinions.
As we see more of the impacts of DOGE cuts, it’s clear they’ve caused more harm than help, disrupting important parts of life instead of making things more efficient.
Recently, Musk resigned from leading the DOGE cuts, but that doesn’t undo the damage caused by the cuts, and it also doesn’t stop future decisions regarding the cuts from being implemented.
