Due to Elon Musk’s agency founded on January 20, 2025 called Department Of Government Efficiency also known as DOGE begins to affect Bellevue East students and Bellevue families.
“This change in leadership would affect the way the government works; one of my family members works for the government and is getting lots of extra work because people in that department are getting fired,” freshman Cannon Bissaillon said.
New-elect President Donald Trump appointed former businessman Elon Musk as his Senior advisor. Because of this, Trump issued an executive order for DOGE and its agenda. Musk was appointed the president of DOGE, which started closely after Trump’s inauguration.
Multiple attempts were made to contact Nebraska representatives regarding government efficiency. However, all declined to comment.
According to the White House, DOGE’s agenda is to modernize federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity. The White House has also stated that since its establishment, DOGE has worked to commence a transformation in federal spending on contracts, grants, and loans to ensure government spending is transparent and government employees are accountable to the American public.
“I’ve heard of the recent changes within our government,” Bissaillon said. “One major change is that the amount of federal workers is vastly decreasing, in other words, many people are getting fired in order for the president to ‘save money’.”
As a result of DOGE, a mass firing of federal workers has occurred and new policies have been introduced to federal workers to ensure productivity. According to AP news, the Department Of Veterans Affairs has cut up to 1,000 workers and the Department of Defense said they were going to cut 5,400 workers.
“In addition to whatever stress people are feeling, you know, with a new transition coming in, they’re also thinking about how am I going to pay my rent?” former federal attorney Maura White said. “Other questions include, how am I going to pay for childcare for my kids? How am I going to do these things? It will be weeks and that really starts to affect people, you know, and really like, you know, it’s scary for a lot of people who count on their paycheck to make ends meet every single month.”
In spite of this mass firing, the Trump administration went after the nuclear safety workers and fired them during the mass federal worker cut’s. However, according to NBC news, Trump was working at unprecedented speed with his multiple directives and he and his administration want to un-fire nuclear safety workers.
“I think that that is something that when you see people who are really good at their job are experts in a field, are career people, we’re gonna lose a lot of our institutional knowledge and experience if some of the good people wind up leaving or get fired as a as a result of the cuts that are look like they’re coming our way,” White said.
During the first week of Trump’s administration, Trump issued multiple directives for federal workers. According to the U.S Office of Personnel Management, one of the policies the President required is that employees return to in-person work. Students at East are in close relation to the military base resulting in numerous military families (federal workers).
“If the government workforce gets smaller, then it would affect the families of those who got fired. Especially if that parent is the only one who works, this would make things a lot harder for those families,” Bissaillon said.
White observes different motives of her peers. After 15 years of service, White resigned from her job due to directives issued by the Trump administration. White was not able to work in person because she lives in Chicago and worked online.
“My experience is that my colleagues work really hard, whether they’re working at home, working on the road or working in the office.” White said. “And I know that they’re going to continue to do that, but I think that it’s been sort of a lot of focus of return to office and less flexibility for people who are professionals.”
Citizens’ response to this has been limited. Many decline to comment on Trump’s and DOGE’s movements, especially government workers, because of fear of backlash.
“While I would love to answer your questions, in today’s political climate, I do not think I can go on record with a school newspaper and answer them honestly without backlash,” instructor Rebekah Sidzyik said. “You can quote me on that because I think, in effect, saying nothing says a whole lot.”
These many directives are no reflection of the work that government staff do. According to the Federal News Network, federal employees, Representatives, Senators, judges, political appointees, the President and Vice President of the United States take an oath of office, showing their dedication and commitment to their jobs.
“Until you work in the federal government, you don’t understand all the different things that they do, that we as everyday Americans, take for granted, you know, all the work behind the scenes to make sure that our government runs a certain way,” White said, “And so once that starts to be cut away eventually, you’re going to see changes. And I’m not saying that there aren’t ways for the government to become more efficient with less people.”