In today’s newsletter: A recording reveals the dramatic whipsawing of life as a public servant under DOGE; suspended funding for scholarships; when an untrue stat shapes federal policy; and more from our newsroom.
In a recording obtained by ProPublica, acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek portrayed his agency as facing peril, while also encouraging patience with “the DOGE kids.”
“It’s leaving me without a lot of hope. Maybe I should just get a warehouse job and drop school entirely.”
— Alexandria Ehlert, a college student pursuing a degree in the hopes of becoming a park ranger or climate scientist. Ehlert, a member of the Oneida nation, is one of about 20 College of Menominee Nation students who rely on scholarships funded through a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant. The Trump administration suspended the grant amid widespread cost-cutting efforts.
Unless other money can be found, Ehlert and the other scholarship students are in their final weeks on campus.
Listen to ProPublica Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg break down the source for the claim that only 6% of federal employees are working full time in their offices, and why the untrue statistic matters.
