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GSA Eliminates 18F

nextgov.com

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Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#431

Post by rayiner »

Barracoon wrote: post #430
rayiner wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The civil servants should have stayed in their lane: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/resistance-from-with... I grew up in the DC area 30 years ago. Civil servants declaring “Resistance” to the agenda of the duly elected president would have been unthinkable then. That destroys the premise of a civil service that is a machine that processes paperwork and doesn’t think for itself.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/3331 The agenda of the president does not matter

The resistance at Trump’s inauguration has to do with Trump’s immigration and environmental policies. Which undoubtedly are within his lawful executive powers.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#432

Post by rights_reminder »

verall wrote: post #417
rights_reminder wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of my comment was that, in the US, the government has to create an elaborate body of law to trick people into thinking the law says something which it does not say. If we did not have limitations on the taxing power of congress, they could just write a simple law that says "There is hereby imposed on all labor of every person working in the 50 states a tax equal to..." The fact that there is no such sentenc…

This is very interesting. Do you just not pay your income taxes?

[dead]

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#433

Post by rights_reminder »

beej71 wrote: post #408
rights_reminder wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

99% of Americans are not supposed to be filing a tax return. Unless you paid US source income to it's foreign owner, you should not be either. What gave you the idea that you needed to?

The IRS rules. But tell me more

[dead]

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#434

Post by rayiner »

sunshowers wrote: post #377
rayiner wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The system of “checks and balances” is between Congress, the President, and the Judiciary. Show me where in the constitution it says employees of the executive branch are constitutional actors that have a role within that system?

You might be thinking of unitary executive theory, which is harebrained right-wing fringe nonsense. Public servants in the US swear an oath to the constitution, not to the president, and have an obligation to disobey clearly unconstitutional orders no matter the personal cost (that's what swearing an oath means).

The January 2017 “Resistance” wasn’t about “clearly unconstitutional orders.” It was about opposing Trump’s lawful policies on immigration and the environment.

Everyone agrees civil servants can disobey “clearly unconstitutional orders.” But civil servants must work equally hard to execute the policies of the president regardless of party, right? Biden’s student loan forgiveness was based on thin but colorable legal interpretations that were ultimately found to be incorrect. Civil servants who worked to implement Biden’s policies must work just as hard to implement Trump’s executive order say effectuating mass deportations, correct?

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#435

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

jonstewart wrote: post #333
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The goal is to make government as dysfunctional as possible (beside the part that enforces corruption [for your side]), so people want it to get smaller and smaller (except for the corrupt parts that benefit exclusively them), so that it costs less, so that they pay less taxes, so that they have even more money (that they don't need). They definitely do not care if this "makes things worse". Often, it's intended.

It’s not about paying taxes. The super rich don’t really pay taxes, and they don’t care whether the middle class pays taxes. It’s about regulation. The only thing that can counteract the super rich are government regulators.

> The super rich don’t really pay taxes,

No.

They often pay FAR less than an average person as a percentage, often times paying nothing for a year.

In total amounts - most of them are still paying millions in taxes per year - most of them end up paying tens if not hundreds of millions in taxes over their lifetimes.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#436

Post by cushychicken »

omnivore wrote: post #132

This thing was always underutilized even by the last 2 administrations. For all of the purported DOGE savings, these folks actually legitimately saved money from agencies, which is why big contractor shops were so opposed. They didn't take Congressional appropriations and charged agencies for work, but couldn't just go to agencies and pitch business, they had to be reached out to. Can't imagine how much better the th…

Why couldn’t they go out and pitch their services to agencies?

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#437

Post by jonstewart »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #435
jonstewart wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not about paying taxes. The super rich don’t really pay taxes, and they don’t care whether the middle class pays taxes. It’s about regulation. The only thing that can counteract the super rich are government regulators.

> The super rich don’t really pay taxes, No. They often pay FAR less than an average person as a percentage, often times paying nothing for a year. In total amounts - most of them are still paying millions in taxes per year - most of them end up paying tens if not hundreds of millions in taxes over their lifetimes.

Thank you for agreeing with me. I think everyone else on HN understands how percentages work.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#438

Post by toomuchtodo »

tzs wrote: post #227
toomuchtodo wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Login.gov is the default idp for the Social Security Administration, supports 200+ federal agencies for identity, and IRS was in the works to onboard Login.gov (to replace ID.me). They handle over 10 million monthly active users and 40 million monthly sign-ins across nearly 50 agencies and states. I would be interested in knowing why it could not serve as the sole idp for VA.gov, as there must be a reason, regardless…

> IRS was in the works to onboard Login.gov (to replace ID.me) Has anyone agency completed replacing ID.me with Login.gov? For that matter do any agencies that support both Login.gov and ID.me have a way for users to switch which one they use? When the ssa.gov first started asking people who used username/password login to add one of Login.gov or ID.me, I picked ID.me because I already had an ID.me account for use wi…

Current guidance from the SSA login flow is to not use Login.gov if you already have an ID.me account. Identity provider transitions are fraught with peril, and I hesitate to provide guidance that potentially locks you out of the SSA website without any recourse or customer service. Therefore, for the time being, my guidance is to keep using your ID.me idp and login until an official update is provided. I will take a note to provide an update if updated guidance becomes available to me through any channel.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#439

Post by djur »

skissane wrote: post #426
djur wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do any of the old USDS staff survive? 40 were laid off and 21 resigned (and Musk claimed that they would have been fired for being Democrats, regardless). That's approximately 60% of the total. https://apnews.com/article/doge-elon-musk-federal-government... As for "government agency", I was using your language: > If a government agency has a culture [etc]... the agency becomes a target Again, your claim here is tha…

> Again, your claim here is that it's typical and predictable that new administrations conduct ideological purges on the civil service. No, I'm not denying this is reaching a level which hasn't been seen before. But, perceptions of political impartiality of civil servants have been greatly eroded. Imagine if the situation were reversed, if Democrats had a widespread perception that the federal bureaucracy had a pro-G…

I don't have to imagine.

The ICE union endorsed Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024 -- the only presidential endorsements it has ever made.

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/immigration-customs-e...

The FBI has traditionally leaned Republican (it has never had a Democratic director), as has the US military (especially the Air Force).

Biden did not purge ICE, nor did he replace Trump's FBI director, etc.

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