The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.
Musk and Trump have brought nearly 100 days of failure and misery. Ruling as if they had a mandate (won less than 50 percent) they are extremely unpopular. Polls show rapid decline, with double-digit gaps between approval and disapproval. Musk, unelected, is reviled and leaving the White House. Tesla’s in trouble, profits down 71 percent.
It’s been a chaotic ride. In the name of cutting fraud, inefficiency and waste, Musk fired 58,200 federal workers, coerced 76,100 more to resign, with planned reductions of 145,400 others. However, Musk’s promise of saving $2 trillion for taxpayers was hot air. He now admits savings will only be $150 billion – and much of that is open to question. Worse, the respected nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service said that Musk’s dismantling of the federal work force will cost more than $135 billion. Moreover, the gutted IRS work force will result in about $8.5 billion in lost taxes (Budget Lab at Yale University).
Dismantling the federal work force has produced evisceration of many federal programs important to Wisconsinites. Firing foreign aid staff means farmers have lost a $2.1 billion market to feed the world’s hungry. Social Security is in chaos as experienced personnel are forced out along with closure of Social Security offices. FEMA and the National Weather Service will be far less effective given fewer workers. All staff at the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) were fired, impacting about 190,000 Wisconsin households who depend on LIHEAP’s funding for heating and cooling assistance. There’s more.
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If the Department of Veterans Affairs proceeds with 80,000 coerced resignations and firings, health care and benefits will be cruelly impaired. Don’t believe Wisconsin GOP Representative Derrick Van Orden who seemingly cares more about Trump than veterans. And, mass firings at the Department of Health and Human Services eliminated “the entire office that sets federal poverty guidelines, which determine whether tens of millions of Americans are eligible for … Medicaid, food assistance, child care and other services …” (Kaiser Family Foundation).
Musk is leaving, but the stench lingers. Trump’s 2026 budget will defund Head Start (serves about 15,000 Wisconsin children), on top of a $35 million cut this year. “Rural programs formerly under the Health Resources and Services Administration appear to be hard-hit. The rural hospital flexibility grants, state offices of rural health (including the UW-Madison Office of Rural Health), rural residency development program and at-risk rural hospitals program grants are listed as eliminations …” (Washington Post). Radio silence from Wisconsin GOP members of Congress.
There’s hope. All state medical associations, including the Wisconsin Medical Society, urged Congress not to support the $880 billion in Medicaid cuts in the GOP-passed (preliminary) budget reconciliation bill. The doctors said: “The proposed cuts disproportionately … harm rural communities. … (We) urge you to reject Medicaid funding cuts … .” Moreover, 12 GOP representatives have expressed opposition to “a final reconciliation bill that includes reduction in Medicaid coverage for vulnerable populations.” Unsurprisingly, Van Orden and other Wisconsin GOP representatives are silent. Listen to doctors.
– Kaplan wrote a guest column from Washington, D.C., for the Wisconsin State Journal from 1995 – 2009.
