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Amid his quest to trim $2 trillion from the federal funds, Elon Musk has set his sights on the Division of Veterans Affairs — however not, in fact, the military that necessitates such post-service care.
In a statement to Military.com, a VA spokesperson confirmed that one of the young men working for Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) has been despatched there, and has been granted entry to the division’s laptop programs.
“The DOGE worker shall be solely targeted on bettering VA efficiency and effectivity and won’t have entry to veterans’ or VA beneficiaries’ information,” the division’s press secretary Pete Kasperowicz informed the web site, in what appears to be an try to melt the optics.
It stays unknown which of the “DOGE boys” working for Musk’s authorities takeover workplace has been granted entry to VA computer systems. As Kasperowicz defined, the DOGE employee is targeted partially on “figuring out wasteful contracts,” although it is laborious to think about something occurring on the VA costing almost as a lot because the $466.3 billion taxpayer dollars america spent on protection contracting in 2023.
The information comes after a Democratic senator warned that certainly one of Musk’s youthful flunkies had been seen traipsing into the VA’s Washington headquarters — a sighting that adopted the workplace’s alarming infiltration of the Treasury.
“We should always all be deeply involved about what it might imply to offer Elon Musk and his cronies free rein at VA,” Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, warned in a statement. “I’m already listening to that DOGE could have barged into VA as we speak.”
“Musk and his associates have already got the non-public monetary data of each veteran receiving incapacity or training advantages due to their unlawful information mining on the Division of Treasury,” wrote Murray, the rating Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “Will they now have a look at non-public well being information of veterans? What else will they do that might put the well being and security of our veterans in danger?”
Although it now looks as if historical historical past amid Musk and Donald Trump’s blitz-like attacks on authorities as we all know it, this information additionally comes after the VA rapidly abolished its complete range, fairness, and inclusion (DEI) program following the president’s govt order requiring all DEI initiatives be shuttered.
In an announcement, the historically racist department bragged that the roughly 60 DEI workers on the VA who at the moment are on paid go away make a mixed $8 million in annual wage. Evidently, it’s going to take an unattainable variety of tiny cuts like that to get anyplace close to the needle-moving financial savings Musk has promised.
If Musk and his DOGE lackeys do attempt to minimize advantages for veterans, although, they might discover themselves in a heck of a combat — maybe even with a few of Musk’s former supporters.
Extra on the DOGE catastrophe: Young DOGE Engineer Now Has Access to The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Which Warns Americans When Hurricanes are Forming
