NEW: The so-called Department of Government Efficiency effort has failed to deliver on its outsized promises to cut costs and increase efficiency, NPR's latest analysis of federal data finds.

npr.org/2025/10/01/nx-… Agencies ordered to drastically slash their workforces over the last eight months are now hiring back hundreds of workers, as they struggle to perform basic operations or carry out some of President Trump's top policy priorities.

npr.org/2025/10/01/nx-…

NPR EXCLUSIVE:

The Department of Agriculture is demanding states hand over personal data of food assistance recipients — including Social Security numbers, addresses and, in at least one state, citizenship status, according to emails shared with NPR.

npr.org/2025/05/09/nx-… USDA’s demand for sensitive data from states about more than 40 million food stamp recipients comes as DOGE is amassing government data for immigration enforcement purposes.

npr.org/2025/05/09/nx-…

NPR EXCLUSIVE: A whistleblower tells Congress and NPR that DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data from the NLRB and hid its tracks.

A must-read from @JennaMC_Laugh.

npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-… According to an official whistleblower disclosure obtained by NPR, technical staff members were alarmed about what DOGE engineers did when they were granted access to the NLRB, particularly when those staffers noticed a spike in data leaving the agency.

npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-…

NEW: The DOGE staffer who resigned from his post over old racist tweets — and who broke data-sharing rules, an audit found — has been rehired to work with sensitive data at several federal agencies.

More revelations from weekend court filings:

npr.org/2025/03/31/nx-… Marko Elez is a Department of Labor employee detailed to the DOGE entity within the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and at least three other federal agencies, per court filings.

https://x.com/stphnfwlr/status/1906748345764212927

Fewer than 50 people have highest level access to Social Security databases with hundreds of millions of people's private financial+personal info.

But only one also has access to the government's HR+student loan files.

A 🧵on NPR's DOGE access story:

npr.org/2025/03/26/nx-… In one court case challenging DOGE access to data at OPM/Ed/Treasury, a failed redaction reveals DOGE affiliate Akash Bobba is documented in court filings as working for:

Social Security Administration (Employee 1)
Education (ED-1) and
OPM (OPM-3)

NEW: An NPR review of thousands of pages of records across a dozen+ federal lawsuits finds an alarming pattern across agencies, where DOGE has given conflicting information about what data it has accessed, who has that access, and most importantly — why.

npr.org/2025/03/26/nx-… Fewer than 50 people have access to Social Security Administration databases containing hundreds of millions of people's private financial and personal information.

But only one also has access to the government's human resources and student loan files.

npr.org/2025/03/26/nx-…

NEW: When DOGE updated its savings tracker this week with new “receipts,” it quietly deleted errors worth billions, added new errors and still has little verified savings from cancelling contracts — about $2.3 billion (up from ~$2 billion)

More digging:

npr.org/2025/03/01/nx-… The White House has not responded to multiple requests over the last two weeks to explain the DOGE savings process, why changes have been made to the data, or if they are concerned about an official government data source sharing inaccurate information.

npr.org/2025/03/01/nx-…

Worth noting: the terminated contracts highlighted in these DOGE screenshots won’t actually save any money, according to… the DOGE screenshots!

The amount obligated (budgeted) = max ceiling, *and* the second is a call on a blanket purchase agreement about to close anyways.

https://twitter.com/doge/status/1892825640727929077

Don’t just take my word for it, you can look at the public contract data yourself to confirm:

1) usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD…

2) usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD…

Explanation of why DOGE has overstated savings so far: npr.org/2025/02/19/nx-…

A police officer was on the scene and immediately rushed over to engage the shooter and *still* nine people died in what is a uniquely American ritual of mass shootings and convos about potential law changes get overshadowed by another mass shooting.

nytimes.com/2023/05/06/us/… Some GOP lawmakers are blaming “mental health.”

Meanwhile, the Texas Tribune reports “Texas’ shortage of mental health care professionals is getting worse” and “When it comes to upping mental health services, Texas has a Medicaid problem”

texastribune.org/2023/04/28/tex…

NEW: SoS Brad Raffensperger has set Georgia's presidential preference primary for March 12, 2024, dealing a blow to Democrats' hopes for an earlier (if symbolic) contest and giving Republicans a chance to select delegates for multiple candidates. #gapol

gpb.org/news/2023/05/0… Georgia's presidential primary will come one week after "Super Tuesday" of states like Texas, California and North Carolina and a week before other key states like Arizona, Florida and Ohio.

gpb.org/news/2023/05/0…

NEW: Judge gives Fulton County DA Fani Willis an extra two weeks to respond to Donald Trump's motion to essentially shut down any prosecution of post-2020 election interference after a fake elector joined the motion last week.

Combined response now due by May 15. #gapol Last month, Trump's Georgia attorneys filed a sweeping motion seeking to:

-quash the semi-public special purpose grand jury final report
-prevent *any* prosecutors from using *any* evidence gathered by SPGJ
-disqualify Fulton DA from prosecution

https://twitter.com/stphnfwlr/status/1637861429427462176?s=20

STORY: Fulton DA Fani Willis is seeking to remove a lawyer from representing 10 Georgia Republicans who served as fake 2020 electors for Donald Trump after several of them allegedly accused a fellow elector of breaking state law last week. #gapol

gpb.org/news/2023/04/1… The filing also allege the attorney also failed to notify her clients of potential immunity deals that prosecutors offered last summer + comes as charging decisions are expected soon in the sweeping investigation into Trump-led effort to overturn 2020.

gpb.org/news/2023/04/1…

NEW filing in Georgia election interference probe - DA Fani Willis seeking to DQ an attorney for 10 of the GOP fake electors, citing interviews *last week* where some electors pointed fingers at another for violating law among other things. #gapol

documentcloud.org/documents/2378… Also, the DA's office says that some of the 10 fake electors that Kimberly Debrow represents said they were never offered potential immunity, despite co-counsel telling the court none of them were interested.

https://twitter.com/stphnfwlr/status/1648377840847536142?s=20

NPR gets ~2% of its money from federal grants, a few million dollars, and it’s editorially independent.

Also, an outlet like Voice of America is literally US-funded media and has no label.

It’s not about facts, it’s just capitalizing on poor media literacy to prove a point.

https://twitter.com/paleofuture/status/1643470373344915459

Linking to facts about NPR’s funding source isn’t going to change the minds of the people pushing/cheering for this, because they’re not operating in good faith.

It’s similar to people who hate The Media when they actually mean something specific.

npr.org/about-npr/1786…

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene just spoke at a protest in Manhattan, said Trump was innocent (of charges that nobody has seen), in a crowded area that was overwhelmingly media + that was only heard on cameras because she was drowned out IRL by some counterprotestors. #gapol Rep. Greene said nothing she hasn't said before, there really wasn't a need for most of those cameras/people to turn it into a pushing/shoving media circus, we still don't know what the charges are and everyone's blowing smoke but hey, it's content!