Newsletter
Trump and Musk’s DOGE: Slashing Health Care, Feeding Billionaires
Trump and Musk Assault Health Care and Social Security, While Enriching Themselves
Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their allies in Congress are carrying out their latest attack on the services Americans depend on with dramatic cuts to health care and food assistance. Their plan would kick 10.3 million Americans off of Medicaid, and eliminate $300 billion in food assistance funding which 42 million hungry Americans rely on. But Republicans’ devastating cuts are just the latest step in the war on families that they’ve been advancing for months.
Trump and Musk’s DOGE has already cut at least 10,000 Health and Human Services employees, accessed Americans’ private health care data, and at least a $1 billion in support for food banks and farmers. And DOGE is not stopping there, their sights are also on getting their hands on Americans’ personal financial data including Social Security and food assistance records.
As ordinary families see the benefits they depend on disappear, Trump, Musk, and Republicans’ plans have been a boon for themselves and their Billionaire backers – with massive tax cuts that disproportionately benefitting the wealthy. On top of that, Trump and Musks’ DOGE cuts to the Internal Revenue Service and at least a third of its auditors have made it easier for wealthy tax cheats to further avoid paying their fair share. Trump and Musk’s cuts have meant “Christmas [came] early if you cheated on your taxes this year.”
Americans deserve real reforms to cut red tape and waste, and ensure the government delivers for taxpayers. But Trump and Musk’s DOGE isn’t even bothering to try to make government more efficient. Instead it’s a vehicle for their Billionaire-first agenda: making themselves and their ultra-wealthy pals richer, while axing essential benefits like health care and Social Security, and driving up costs for everyone else.
HOW THE TRUMP-MUSK ADMINISTRATION’S DOGE IS HARMING FAMILIES
- Targeting major cuts to Social Security, threatening seniors’ benefits: Trump and Musk’s DOGE continued their crusade against Social Security by suing to allow DOGE to access Americans’ personal financial data. It’s just the latest step unraveling the earned benefit that 69 millions seniors rely on and have paid into for decades. Earlier this year, Donald Trump and Elon Musk announced they would cut 7,000 jobs – or 12% of the workforce – from the Social Security Administration, which has already led to significant increases in wait times for service, and the Social Security Administration website has crashed multiple times. In the words of one data privacy expert: “If DOGE gets a hold of this information, it opens the floodgates on a host of potential harms. It also normalizes a very dangerous practice for other federal agencies.”
- Harming veterans by creating chaos at the VA: A new report reveals the scale of Trump and Musk’s destruction to the veterans services, as VA hospitals and clinics are sending “desperate messages” making clear DOGE’s cuts are threatening veterans’ health care and life-saving cancer research trials. Among DOGE’s harms to veterans’ care: VA doctors in Pennsylvania have warned that sweeping cuts could cause more than a thousand veterans to lose access to treatment, the VA in Detroit has warned that it is unable to track oncology treatment and recurrences, and treatment trials have been delayed. It comes as earlier this year, Trump and Musk’s DOGE promised they would cut 80,000 VA employees, and earlier this month, DOGE shut down the “only affordable option for many vets who are seriously behind on their VA home loans.”
- Firing National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) employees, hindering our ability to respond to disasters: Trump and Musk’s DOGE has fired at least 2,000 NOAA employees responsible for managing extreme weather events, responding to natural disasters, and more. Already, those cuts are hampering our ability to respond to disasters including a major oil spill off Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, and experts are sounding the alarm on the danger these cuts pose to Americans’ safety. As one noted: “We are very concerned about staff and expertise that won’t be able to respond to this oil spill. No part of NOAA has been spared from DOGE and early retirements, we know the expertise is not there and the support from the agency and the support isn’t there for the responses.”
- Communities across the country feel the pain from Americorps cuts: Trump and Musk’s cuts to Americorps are leading to the elimination of community service projects in communities across the country. In St. Louis, DOGE’s cuts have eliminated half a million dollars in funding for projects to expand scientific educational opportunities for kids. In Michigan, DOGE’s cuts led to cuts to math and science tutoring programs in 65 school districts. And in Virginia, at least 16 community service grants were cut. As one official involved in St. Louis’s program described it: “I am having a little bit of trouble understanding the politics of providing additional educational experiences to children. So it’s a little perplexing. This is a program that is shown to be a benefit to the children.”
SOCIAL CONTENT TO LIFT
- @accountable-us.bsky.social: House Republicans are pushing a Medicaid overhaul that could leave millions without coverage. States would face new mandates, fewer funding options, and work requirements—just to pay for more tax cuts and political favors. www.politico.com/news/2025/05…
- @accountable-us.bsky.social: Medicaid isn’t waste. It’s what keeps millions of people with disabilities out of institutions and in their homes. Republican cuts would rip away care, independence—and dignity.
- @kirstengillibrand.bsky.social: Despite staffing shortages, Elon Musk and his DOGE boys continued to push out valuable FAA employees. Now, we’re witnessing the consequences of DOGE’s careless cuts. President Trump must prioritize passenger safety over Elon Musk’s corrupt agenda.
- @schumer.senate.gov: 1000 measles cases. It’s no coincidence that this has happened after DOGE cancelled $11 billion that went to state and local public health departments. It’s no coincidence that this has happened after the CDC fired infectious disease experts. Trump and RFK Jr. must act to stop measles now.
