Vivek Ramaswamy to leave DOGE and announce run for Ohio governor, sources say
Saul Loeb/AFP/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is planning to leave his new appointment leading The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and announce a run for Ohio governor, according to two sources familiar with the planning.
Ramaswamy is expected to announce his run for governor early next week, the sources said.
President-elect Donald Trump had tapped Ramaswamy to lead the newly created DOGE alongside Elon Musk, with the goal of slashing back government spending.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Veterans Affairs is preparing to lay off as many as 80,000 workers in the coming weeks in the latest phase of the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal workforce, according to an internal memo obtained by ABC News.
VA Secretary Doug Collins later confirmed the planned cuts in a video posted to X, saying the agency is aiming for a 15% workforce cut that could begin in the coming months.
Collins said the VA will continue to hire for open “mission critical” positions while the agency downsizes in other areas, so that “health care and benefits for VA beneficiaries are not impacted.”
“We regret anyone who loses their job, and it’s extraordinarily difficult for me as a VA leader, and your secretary, to make these types of decisions. But the federal government does not exist to employ people. It exists to serve people,” Collins said.
Top Republicans and Democrats raised concerns with the plans and how they might be implemented.
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, said on X that that “the Department of Veterans Affairs is in need of reform but current efforts to downsize the department and increase efficiency must be done in a more responsible manner.”
“I expect the VA to work with Congress to right size the VA workforce and allow us to legislate necessary changes,” he added.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the panel, criticized the announcement, saying the “plan prioritizes private sector profits over veterans’ care, balancing the budget on the backs of those who served.”
In a March 4 memo to senior agency leaders, chief of staff Christopher Syrek said the VA’s “initial objective is to return to our 2019-end strength numbers of 399,957 employees” as part of the Department of Government Efficiency-led wave of large-scale firings and reorganization of agencies.
“VA, in partnership with our DOGE leads, will move out aggressively, while taking a pragmatic and disciplined approach to identify and eliminate waste, reduce management and bureaucracy, reduce footprint, and increase workplace efficiency,” Syrek said in the memo obtained by ABC News.
Already, the VA has said it has dismissed 2,400 probationary workers — although some were subsequently hired back to the agency, workers and lawmakers told ABC News.
Agencies are required to submit the first piece of their reorganization plans — with proposals for potential layoffs — to the Office of Personnel Management by March 13.
The VA did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Even as the VA prepares to trim its workforce, the agency has faced setbacks in other cost-cutting efforts.
On Wednesday, Collins announced that the agency had saved $900 million by canceling more than 500 “non mission critical and duplicative” contracts, after initially claiming the agency had identified $2 billion in contracts for potential savings.
The agency has faced internal resistance to the contract cuts — some of which directly support medical care and facilities — and has reversed the cancellation of many of the initial batch of more than 800 originally identified for cuts.
(WASHINGTON) — Democratic lawmakers continue to protest tech billionaire Elon Musk’s sweeping influence over government decisions and material, with protests, proposed legislation and other attempts to obstruct President Donald Trump’s agenda and the efforts of his close ally to cut what the Trump administration considers wasteful spending.
Dozens of lawmakers appeared Tuesday at a “Nobody Elected Elon” rally outside the Treasury Department, each delivering fiery attacks directed toward Trump and Musk. They described Musk’s action as a “heist,” a “takeover” and an “abuse of power.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley went as far as calling Musk a “Nazi nepo baby.”
Democrats have pushed back against Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts, mounting growing protests, introducing legislation and threatening to try to derail his agenda by holding up confirmation of his appointees.
Rep. Maxine Waters said, “We have got to tell Elon Musk, ‘Nobody elected your ass. Nobody told you you could get all of our private information. Nobody told you you could be in charge of the payments of this country.’”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren added, “Not one Democrat in America voted for Elon Musk, not one not one Republican in America voted for Elon Musk, not one independent in America voted for Elon Musk, not one libertarian in America voted for Elon Musk, dammit, not one vegetarian in America voted for Elon Musk, and yet, Elon Musk is seizing the power that belongs to the American people.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal cautioned his Republican colleagues that Musk’s actions could have harmful consequences for their constituents as well.
Sen. Chris Murphy struck a similar tone as his Democratic colleagues, threatening to stall Trump’s nominees from being confirmed should Musk continue his overreach.
“You will remember this is the moment that made a difference for America, because the message here is, we have to reach beyond this crowd, reach beyond this city. Reach beyond Democrats, to Republicans and say you’re losing your country too,” Murphy said.
Pressley reached out to Republicans, too.
“I want to say to our Republican colleagues, pay attention. We’re here today in the hopes that you will see the light. But if you do not see the light, we will bring the fire. Resist,” she said Rep. Pressley.
During multiple times, there were chants of “Lock him up!” from the crowd, which appeared to be directed at Trump and Musk.
Murphy also made a dig at the young staffers reportedly working for DOGE.
“When we open up the Senate every single morning, we don’t pledge allegiance to the billionaires. We don’t. We don’t pledge allegiance to Elon Musk. We don’t pledge allegiance to the creepy 22 year olds working for Elon Musk. We pledge allegiance to the United States of America,” he said to cheers.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said they’re pushing joint legislation that would block ‘unlawful meddling’ in the Treasury Department’s payment systems — responding to news on Monday that Treasury gave Musk and representatives of DOGE access to its vast federal payment system.
At a news conference at the Capitol, the Democratic leaders unveiled the bill as the “Stop the Steal” Act, a play off of Trump’s rallying cry as he sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The legislation would deny special government employees and anyone with conflicts of interest or a lack of appropriate clearance any access to the Treasury payment system. It also would include personal tax information into existing privacy protections, according to Schumer.
The White House said Monday that Musk received status as a special government employee, meaning he’s a short-term federal worker who works under looser ethics rules.
Jeffries said the legislation will be introduced “in short order” to prevent “unlawful access with respect to the Department of Treasury’s payment system connected to people who are trying to steal personal, sensitive and confidential information related to Social Security recipients, Medicare recipients, taxpayers, businesses, not-for-profits, veterans and everyday Americans.”
“It is unacceptable, unconscionable and unAmerican,” he said.
Given the Republican majority in both chambers of Congress, it is unlikely the legislation will advance. However, Schumer and Jeffries outlined other avenues Democrats could take. Schumer threatened to block funding legislation until there are changes and added that Democrats would also hold shadow hearings with whistleblowers.
Though the leaders repeatedly mentioned DOGE, they stayed away from directly saying Elon Musk’s name until asked by reporters.
Jeffries avoided saying the legislation was solely focused on Musk but rather centered around the “whole process” of the recent Treasury moves, when asked how concerned he was specifically about the Tesla founder.
“We’re concerned that Musk is in charge of DOGE, but we’re concerned about the how the whole process works, and ultimately the buck falls with Donald Trump, the president,” Jeffries said. “But we are concerned that a small number of people are concerned with the whole process, including Musk and including the others,” Jeffries said.
The Democrats repeatedly downplayed DOGE’s power.
“It has no authority to make spending decisions, to shut down programs or ignore federal law. This is not debatable. This is an indisputable fact: No authority for spending decisions to shut down programs or ignore federal law,” Schumer warned.
Schumer said that “all 47 Democrats” in the Senate would oppose the confirmation of Office of Management and Budget nominee Russell Vought in light of the federal funding freezes announced last week.
“We are united in our agreement that Russell Vought is a dangerous and destructive choice to lead the Office of Management and Budget, and we saw a precursor to his leadership last week during the dangerous federal funding fees that crippled nearly crippled critical duties of the federal government and its operations,” Schumer said.
“Senate Democrats will unanimously oppose him and do everything we can to prevent him from needing OMB,” he added.
(WASHINGTON) — Transgender service members are fighting back against the Pentagon’s recent announcement requiring the separation of transgender people from the military.
Lt. Cmdr. Geirid Morgan has served in the Navy for 14 years as part of the medical service corps. She told ABC News that as an openly transgender woman, seeing the ban in “black and white” was “jarring.”
“I just want everyone to know that [transgender military members] have been serving honorably and effectively for a decade now,” Morgan said. “We serve in almost every job role you can imagine in the military. We have doctors, lawyers, fighter pilots, special operations personnel.
“This is a calling, this is a this is a life of sacrifice, a life of service. This isn’t just a job, this isn’t just a career,” Morgan added. “We’re all over the place. We’re doing the jobs. We’re doing it effectively, and that’s it.”
Morgan is part of a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal against President Donald Trump following his executive order banning transgender service members from the military.
On Wednesday night, the Pentagon’s new transgender policy, as approved by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was disclosed in a memo filed as an exhibit file by the Defense Department in another court case challenging Trump’s order.
The memo requires the Pentagon to form a procedure to identify transgender troops by March 26 and separate them from the military by June 25, unless they receive an exemption. This would include service members receiving some form of treatment or hormones for that diagnosis of gender dysphoria, as well as those who have gone through a gender-affirming surgery.
“I’m going to put my uniform on every day, go to work, do my job with the best of my abilities for as long as I’m able to,” Morgan added.
Sasha Buchert, an attorney for Lambda Legal who served in the military while openly transgender, told ABC News that the recent Pentagon memorandum does not come as a surprise.
“This is exactly what we anticipated, and it’s exactly how we framed up our complaint and our motion for preliminary injunction,” Buchert said on Thursday. “The executive order, frankly, is dripping with animus, and we expected nothing less than exactly what we got today. So there is absolutely no surprises, and it’s absolutely shameful.”
When asked what else could be expected of the Trump administration regarding transgender service members, Buchert said there is “no bottom” to how extreme the administration may take things.
“Of all of the national security priorities that we have and all of the domestic priorities we have as a country, they’ve chosen transgender people as a top priority of things to work on,” Buchert said. “I think it’s shameful and disgraceful and has caused great harm to both transgender military service members and their families, but also to the military at large.”
“This is just plain wrong,” Buchert added. “This is the opposite of a meritocracy.”
The lawsuit, Shilling v. Trump, claims the ban on transgender service members is unconstitutional and violates fairness principles. Plaintiffs include transgender service members from a range of military branches affected by the Trump administration.
Buchert added that removing thousands of transgender service members will negatively affect the military financially given the U.S. military investment in each troop’s training and development. A 2020 Palm Center study found the removal of these troops would cost nearly $1 billion.
There are currently 4,240 active-duty, National Guard and Reserve service members who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a defense official previously told ABC News.
