Jen Psaki: What do you think? There’s this question about what leverage, you have to be really creative. There’s only so much leverage, different kinds of leverage you can use in the minority. What do you think about this notion of threatening a government shutdown? And how far do you think it should go?
Jasmine Crockett (D-TX): Yeah, so I don’t think that this is really a threat of a government shutdown. Here’s the reality. They believe that they have a mandate. They believe that this little itty bitty win that they had, where this is a slimmer majority in the House than they had when I swore in. Um, they believe winning over the Senate, they believe winning the White House, that they have a mandate. And listen, my policies don’t align with that mandate. So if you believe that this is what the American people want, then get it done, all of y’all, cause y’all have a Trump trifecta. But don’t come to us for me to do things like tear my community apart by making sure that we get rid of the Department of Education, by making sure that Elon Musk somehow and his little cronies. And just to be clear, if you’re talking about, somebody sent me a meme today and it said, if Elon Musk was really serious about cutting out waste, then why wouldn’t he go get a bunch of accountants. Instead, he went and got computer programmers. That tells you what this is, it’s a nefarious thing that they’re up to. And we know that we are probably gonna have difficulty with them complying with the law. But right now we know that in the House they’re gonna have 217 to 215. What that means for everybody sitting at home, is that they literally cannot lose one vote. So go be great.
Jen Psaki: Go be great. So I asked about the government shutdown. You’re right…
Fraud, waste, and abuse in the U.S. government are both pervasive and rampant, infiltrating all departments and agencies.
DOGE has focused on leveraging technology to enhance government operations, with an emphasis on data management, automation, and the creation of tailored software solutions. Programmers are adept at analyzing large datasets, automating routine tasks, and developing tools for real-time monitoring, which are vital for spotting inefficiencies or fraudulent activities. Eliminating outdated systems can also facilitate the reduction of fraud, waste, and abuse, making these issues not only harder to perpetrate but also easier to detect. Accountants, however, are not typically trained to implement these technological solutions.
There is no public information definitively stating that DOGE did not also employ accountants; therefore, we should not rely on memes for factual evidence about their staff composition.