The year Trump broke the federal government wapo.st/3MGmBTt by @hannahnatanson.bsky.social @merylkornfield.bsky.social @washingtonpost.com #NIH #CDC #FDA #CMS #HHS #DOGE #science #publichealth

Four takeaways from the latest release of Epstein files, via @merylkornfield.bsky.social Link: www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Inside the federal government as Trump and DOGE pushed it past its breaking point in 2025, as told by some of the more than 1,200 federal workers @hannahnatanson.bsky.social and @merylkornfield.bsky.social have spoken to this year

Trump administration admits to targeting blue states for energy grant cuts. DOJ lawyers argue in a court filing that it is constitutional to withhold funding based on partisan politics, via @merylkornfield.bsky.social @hannahnatanson.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

"If any lobbyist is granted permission to enter the Club Premises, such lobbyist must sign a non-disclosure agreement presented by Management prior to entry." Oh no, what a terrible restriction, lobbyists will hate that.

This email. #FOIA. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/20/m...

NEW: When Andrew Tate landed in the US, Customs & Border Protection seized his electronic devices. But @propublica.org found that a White House official told DHS to return the devices, emphasizing that the request came from the White House. By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro

Artist William Brody told me his painting of a Michigan farmhouse was used by the Labor Department in a recent social media campaign without his permission. And he said he disagrees with the rest of the campaign, which illustrates a White, male workforce. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Here's what it's like to call Social Security these days: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

“Cancer rates among young adults in the Corn Belt, a patchwork of golden fields and straight-line highways stretching across the heart of the Midwest, are rising more rapidly than in the country as a whole, a Washington Post data analysis reveals.” www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Amid this broader convo about SNAP, I'm re-upping our story about what's coming for Social Security benefits, including a rule change to rescind a Biden-era expansion of SSI eligibility for people in households receiving SNAP or other public assistance. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

NEW: After The Washington Post reported Monday on the demolition of the "East Wing facade," a new picture obtained by Law Dork that was taken on Tuesday shows that a substantial portion of the entirety of the East Wing has been demolished.

Employees who help regulate hazardous waste. Inspectors who check the quality of federal housing. An office that makes sure students with disabilities get the help they need. These are the targets of the latest government layoffs: www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

JUST IN: Chicago journalistsa re suing DHS and ICE over force used against reporters: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

The Trump administration wants to make it harder for older Americans to qualify for Social Security www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202... @merylkornfield.bsky.social

The Trump administration plans to end funding starting Wednesday for an oversight group that helps inspectors general root out waste, fraud and abuse.

Read @washingtonpost.com on administration plans to end funding of CIGIE. “I think this is just another star in the constellation of dismantling the federal inspector general community.” www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202... #IGs #OMB #InspectorsGeneral #Watchdogs @merylkornfield.bsky.social

"Federal agencies are just eight days away from seeing their funding lapse and having to shutter their offices, though which employees will be sent home remains unknown." www.govexec.com/workforce/20...

D.C. usually gets blamed for local crime, but Congress also a role to play. Specifically, the feds are supposed to reimburse D.C. for the costs of using local police for things like big protests and motorcades. But congressional funding hasn't kept up with costs: 51st.news/trump-dc-tak...

In case you might be wondering, VA's secretary did not say anything publicly when Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade suggested that mentally ill homeless people, which includes many veterans, should be killed. But he did criticize a reporter for seeking comment from officials.

Most Americans are critical of Trump on crime, the economy, immigration and other issues, a new Post-Ipsos poll finds. The survey paints a downbeat picture of the first eight months of Trump’s presidency www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

A new ref in the separation-of-powers battle? When the legislative branch’s chief watchdog retires soon, Trump will get to nominate his replacement www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

Hard to think of a more on-the-nose encapsulation of how far the online speech wars have swung in the year of our lord 2025 than major U.S. corporations racing to fire people whose tweets offended Milo Yiannopoulos

“Officials organized the state visit to minimize the president’s public exposure. Most of the pomp and ritual unfolded behind Windsor’s manicured hedges and its stone parapets”

The group behind Project 2025 wants a ‘Manhattan Project’ for more babies @jacobbogage.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

The Social Security Administration has conceded an issue with phone service, after denying it to NPR, and has announced a fix.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel says it’s investigating Jack Smith, the former Justice Department official who oversaw two federal prosecutions of Donald Trump, for potentially violating the law barring federal officials from political activity.

🧵A thread on covering Social Security this week... Earlier this month, the agency had quietly announced that it would now require people calling the main 1-800 number for some routine tasks to go through a multi-pronged authentication to prove they aren't fraudsters.

We sought this number for months, and we finally got it this week when @merylkornfield.bsky.social and @hannahnatanson.bsky.social presented their own tally — compiled through reporting from sources and constant calls to more than a dozen agencies. No one else has been able to report it until now.

ANOTHER EXCLUSIVE from the @washingtonpost.com : The federal government is paying more than 154,000 people not to work. Great reporting from @merylkornfield.bsky.social @hannahnatanson.bsky.social @laurameckler.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

A Washington Post analysis found President Trump and his appointees allegedly defied court orders in a third of over 160 lawsuits with substantive rulings, which experts say pose an unprecedented threat to the U.S. legal system.

When Trump showed off a prototype of the $5 million “gold card” visa in April, he said it would be available “in about less than two weeks.” But in reality, any Trump gold visas are a long way off — if they can ever be implemented at all. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Can confirm this email is authentic — and about nothing in it is true. Social Security income is still taxed. This bill does nothing to change that. It’s willful disinformation on the part of SSA. It’s a lie.

EXCLU: Sen. Bernie Sanders wants an investigation of Health Secretary RFK Jr.’s recent decision to fire all 17 members of the nation’s top vaccine advisory committee. via @margaretmanto.bsky.social www.notus.org/health-scien...

New from @hannahnatanson.bsky.social and I: Trump accelerates push to reward loyalty in federal workforce www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

We hosted a live chat for @washingtonpost.com readers last week about DOGE and federal workforce issues, and we got a question about how sourcing works. Let me explain:

Intel chief Tulsi Gabbard placed a top adviser inside the ODNI’s watchdog office, compromising the watchdog's integrity as it probes Signalgate, officials say, by @merylkornfield.bsky.social & @ellenwapo.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Trump defends his wave of pardons by alleging a "weaponized Department of Justice" was out-of-control Former prosecutors note: The prosecutions of the pardoned Jan 6 rioters were launched...... during the final weeks of the first Trump Administration

RFK Jr. said his “Make America Healthy Again” Commission report used “gold-standard” science. Seven of the studies it cited don’t actually exist. www.notus.org/health-scien...

One of Trump’s IG picks is a former GOP Rep. accused of putting his mistress and fiancée’s daughter on the payroll. Another is a GOP lawyer once accused of mishandling taxpayers’ money. A 3rd advised the secretary she’d be a watchdog of. Past IGs have concerns. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

AmeriCorps volunteers get paid an average of $18K a year to help this country’s most vulnerable. They were cut — and it went nearly unnoticed. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Morale is sinking in the VA as workers fear looming cuts. “The veterans now check in and ask us how we are doing” “There’s some cracks starting to show” “Fearful, paranoid, demoralized” www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

How DOGE’s grand plan to remake Social Security is backfiring. Many major Musk-driven changes have been reversed after proving ineffective, while others are badly damaging customer service and satisfaction @hannahnatanson.bsky.social @merylkornfield.bsky.social

Belated post on this app (which I will be using more now!): I've started covering the federal workforce and am interested in tips, story ideas and general advice. Feel free to message me here, or I'm on Signal at 301-821-2013.

"When Richard VanMetter tried to buy a sandwich, he didn’t realize he was dead." Read @merylkornfield.bsky.social & co on a scenario that could happen to many more people as Musk moves aggressively to transfer more names to the government's "Death Master File" www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Congrats to NPF Paul Miller alum @merylkornfield.bsky.social and NPF speakers Devlin Barrett, Peter Jamison, Michael Kranish, Annah Aschbrenner and the rest of the team for their breaking news Pulitzer!

New from 404 Media: hundreds of subreddits, including some of the most popular, are considering banning all links/content/screenshots from X/Twitter. r/NFL, r/hockey, r/baseball, r/nba, r/formula1, r/ComicBookMovies, r/MadeMeSmile, so many more. Some already have. www.404media.co/hundreds-of-...

It's fun to hate the media but I've yet to see a Trump decision that wasn't previewed/explained in advance by reporters. The reason Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 (which was a ruse) was that NYT/Politico kept running good factual stories about its implications.

U.S. #homelessness surges to record level: Annual report attributed the historically high number to several factors, including a multi-year surge in home prices and a reduction in covid-era assistance, by @merylkornfield.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/... via @washingtonpost.com