Today’s notice: Shrinking the government is hard. Finding reasons to annex Canada may be easier. And, what one senator called “one of the most ignorant things I’ve ever heard.”
Big Government Will Likely Stay Big in the Age of DOGE
It seems like every day since the election, expectations rise for the Department of Government Efficiency (which, as a reminder, is not actually a department). Today, a look at what DOGE and Elon Musk are up against when it comes to creating a tiny government that is reliably MAGA. NOTUS’ Anna Kramer digs in on Schedule F, the federal employee classification created at the end of Donald Trump’s first term to make certain civil servants more like existing political appointees (i.e. easily fireable by a new administration).
Anna finds that Trump should be able to start reclassifying workers within about six months of taking office, which would mean some of the civil servants seen as insufficiently loyal could be fired before the year is up. That’s a huge deal to good government experts, who warn that loyalty tests will remove experience and expertise from important jobs. It’s in theory also a huge deal for DOGErs, who want to fire a lot of government workers.
But Anna reports that Schedule F likely won’t manifest as a dump truck full of pink slips, despite DOGE’s dreams. Bosses could get the axe, but “lower-level employees who have little actual power over implementation would not make good fits for Schedule F.”
Congress might have to get involved in any large changes to workforce numbers, and of course there’s plenty of support for DOGE there. But there are also layers of lobbyists and powerful interests backing most employee groups. Democrats like Sen. Tim Kaine and Rep. Gerry Connolly, who represent areas with lots of federal workers, have vowed to fight against mass firings — and they’ll likely find allies.
What About Making Federal Workers Fire Themselves?
If you peruse Reddit threads where federal workers congregate or talk to anyone with family working for an agency in D.C., you’ll find yourself in a conversation about whether Trump will force federal workers to return to the office full-time. Details of the plan remain hazy, but everyone has heard of it. And many are grumbling about it. That’s not surprising: A lot of bosses in the corporate world have faced vocal pushback over ordering people to come back to the office.
It was Joe Biden’s stated intention for federal workers to return to the office, too, though his administration ended up allowing workers to continue with some telework. His White House said it would make government work more efficient. DOGE backers have another reason for supporting an order back to work — Musk’s co-chair, Vivek Ramaswamy, predicted it would lead to thousands of workers quitting their jobs.
Unions representing federal workers don’t think so. “I don’t think Ramaswamy’s dreams are going to come true,” AFGE policy director Jacqueline Simon told NOTUS. “People are very, very, very dissatisfied, morale will go way down, but that doesn’t mean people won’t do it.” (Meaning they may not like their jobs, but they’re not going to walk away because they have to do them at an office.)
There is some research that backs this up. Over the summer, HR services provider BambooHR published a survey of bosses and HR leaders that showed a sizable number of them hoped return-to-office orders would lead to attrition. But around 37% of those surveyed said that “fewer employees than they expected quit during their RTO,” BambooHR reported. They had to resort to layoffs instead, which, as Anna reports, is a much harder thing to do for DOGE than for a corporate boss.
—Evan McMorris-Santoro
Front Page
- Tammy Duckworth Says Pete Hegseth Won’t Meet With Her Ahead of His Confirmation Hearing: Hegseth’s team says, “Any claims that Mr. Hegseth is ‘declining’ meetings with Democrat senators are 100% false.”
- Biden Never Finalized a Menthol Ban. What Will Trump Do?: Public health advocates are fighting the Biden administration in court next week.
- Trump’s Brief Visit Paying Homage to Jimmy Carter — And Congress’ Brief Partisan Standstill: What’s an acceptable amount of time for an incoming president to pay his respects to a former president?
- Ron DeSantis Isn’t Asking Congress for Advice on His Senate Pick: Members say the governor hasn’t asked for their input on who could fill the Senate seat.
Inside Trump’s Meeting With Senate Republicans
After a two-hour meeting Wednesday evening, Trump and Republican senators aren’t on the same page about whether they prefer one reconciliation bill or two.
Trump has been explicit that he prefers one “big, beautiful” bill. But Sens. Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and John Hoeven made the case for a two-pronged approach that bifurcates a border security, energy and defense bill from a tax overhaul package.
“Why? Because that unifies Republicans,” Cruz told reporters, adding that he “vigorously” expressed the importance of winning two major victories “rather than putting all the eggs in one basket and risking a very real risk of it not getting the votes to pass.”
Still, other senators think they know where Congress will ultimately land.
“It could go either way, but I think the momentum seems to be towards one coming from the House,” Sen. Rand Paul said.
The Senator Excited About Canada’s ‘Nice Weather’
Trump said he wants to make Canada the 51st state. Lawmakers who talked to NOTUS’ Mark Alfred and Haley Byrd Wilt don’t know whether to laugh or ready the troops.
Cruz, who was born in Canada, framed the president-elect’s call for U.S. expansionism as “mostly trolling Trudeau,” adding it “had a remarkably potent effect.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, however, is apparently interested, likening Canadian statehood to the addition of Hawaii to the union in 1959.
“It’d be like Hawaii, you know. Nice, nice weather,” Tuberville said, adding that he thinks “it’s all about national security.”
(Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz called Tuberville’s remark “one of the most ignorant things I’ve ever heard.”)
Quotable: California Democrats Sweat Trump’s Wildfire Comments
With multiple fires blazing, California Democrats are fuming at Trump’s blame of Gov. Gavin Newsom and the idea that the president-in-waiting might withhold disaster aid.
“It’s outrageously ridiculous,” Rep. Scott Peters told NOTUS’ Samuel Larreal of Trump’s claims that California’s water policy is to blame.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- Musk Vaulted to the Top of a Popular Videogame. Everyone’s Asking Where He Found the Time. By Sarah E. Needleman and Becky Peterson for The Wall Street Journal
- The Anti-Social Century by Derek Thompson for The Atlantic
- Landlords are accused of colluding to raise rents. See where. By Alyssa Fowers, Szu Yu Chen, Steven Rich and Rachel Lerman for The Washington Post
Be Social
Babydog down!
Babydog has joined us for the end of the speech … she had to go to the vet last night after cutting her paw on ice. pic.twitter.com/8jGdT3UkmG
— Amelia Knisely (@ameliaknisely) January 8, 2025
Tell Us Your Thoughts
Are you more productive working from home or in the office?
Send your thoughts to newsletters@notus.org.
Thank you for reading! If you like this edition of the NOTUS newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If this newsletter was shared with you, please subscribe (it’s free!).