usaid today--fema tomorrow?

Certainly, things are running at breakneck speed back in Washington D.C. There are Presidential Nominations for department heads, new Presidential Executive Orders and then especially troubling to me is an “ex officio” organization with what appears to be unlimited access to federal department records. That would be DOGE  Since I’m linking to a News Nation Prime report, you should understand their background. Then there is this story on the political topic de jure, Members of Congress refused entry to USAID agency shuttered by Trump administration

While the target today is USAID, I am wondering which agency or department will be next to come under the microscope. I caught a brief CSPAN video of US Senator Brian Schatz (D) HI talking about some of the rumblings he has heard being bantered about what should happen to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Maybe it should be put under the US Department of Transportation? He characterized those types of discussions as what you might hear in a dorm room as college students bantered about a topic they know nothing about.

There is a quote I like and use often. “You can have it good, fast or cheap, but you only get two of the three.” I’ll use the example of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo that went out last week (sometimes today feels like dog years) cancelling all grant fund distribution. It was rescinded the next day after howls of protest reached Republican and Democratic elected leaders alike. That memo would be an example of “Fast and Cheap.” Which mean it wasn’t very good. What it lacked was “staffing” of the memo across all agencies so they understood what was being proposed.

As the administration moves quickly to make things happen fast and make things “cheaper” I do think that the “good” part will be left in the dust. Once the federal Humpty Dumpty is strewn all about, it will take decades of effort by all the future President’s Men to put things back together again.