1. United States
2. S.C.
3. Letter

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) left a disastrous legacy defined by administrative chaos, failed cost-cutting targets, and service disruptions. Though the initiative was formally dissolved in late 2025, its impacts on the federal government continue to be felt heavily. Here is a brief accounting of DOGE's disastrous tenure - 1. DOGE sparked widespread operational instability by conducting mass firings of federal workers and relying heavily on algorithms to cut spending, which led to numerous errors and the need to rehire terminated staff. - These sweeping disruptions led to protests and legal challenges, with watchdog groups heavily criticizing the approach as damaging to institutional knowledge and government infrastructure. 2. DOGE was responsible for a massive breach of American's personal data, which seems to have been mined for personal profit. The data still has not been accounted for, and the administration has not held anyone responsible for this illegal breach. 3. DOGE-led cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) significantly reduced forecasting staff, which critics and analyses linked to severe delays in critical weather alerts. 4. The agency's intervention in the USAID resulted in the termination of vital personnel and global programs. The Center for American Progress and The Lancet highlighted the profound human toll of these aid cuts, projecting severe downstream consequences on global health and mortality rates. 5. Moves to restructure the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) created a mass exodus of medical professionals and created massive backlogs for disability claims and GI Bill processing. 6. Despite ambitious promises to aggressively reduce federal expenditures and eliminate trillions in waste, an extensive analysis published by the New York Times revealed that DOGE ultimately failed to meet its stated $2 trillion budget-saving targets. - Critics argued that the project's aggressive approach stripped the government of essential regulatory and consumer protections without securing genuine economic efficiency. 7. DOGE cuts cost more money than was saved. An example of this is cutting a Central American screwworm monitoring program that cost an estimated $15 million per year to maintain. That $15 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the $1 billion the Trump administration is now looking at to get the current screwworm outbreak under control. These are just a few examples of Trump and DOGE's disastrous legacy. More upsetting is the fact that Congress, lead by the Republican Dominated House and Senate, abdicated their responsibility to check Trump and DOGE. Congress is the only power allowed to dismantle a government agency that it has created. Congress is the only power that can strip funding that Congress appropriated to a federal agency. And yet, the Republican Dominated Congress sat back, ceded their power, and allowed DOGE, under Trump's direction, to take an ace to our federal agencies. The damage done to the trust we once had in the federal government, and to the agencies themselves, could take decades to repair. Shame on you all. You betrayed your oath to the Constitution when you ceded your co-equal power to the Executive Branch. You betrayed your constituents, who you pledge to represent, and instead gave your loyalty to one man, Donald Trump. This will be your legacy.