I wouldn't even begin to guess. This has all moved so quickly that I've yet to find what seems to be a reliable source on what is actually changing.
My point, though, was only that we've so far seen moves to reduce headcount and pause programs. That could be the first step to closing down departments entirely, but it could also be the first step to rebuilding their own version of that department.
Interesting, that hasn't been my experience of the Republican party over the last few decades.
I grew up over that time in a very red part of the country.
In the 90s I always heard of the republican party as the party of small government and individual freedoms.
Starting at least with Bush/Cheney that didn't line up. The party seemed to want a larger military budget, increased federal powers, and a stronger executive branch.
Republican voters I knew largely followed that pattern. They didn't want to see departments closed or authority removed from the government. They just wanted their views written into law. Abortion is a great example, the republican party strongly pushed for regulating what individuals could or could not do, very few were arguing that abortion rights were outside the federal government's authority.
Yes but these aren’t “spend more money on the department of X” laws or ideas. Other than military and law enforcement, which I already mentioned. Bush consolidating power under DHS and expanding wiretaps is of course Republican party values.
Bush cut funding for education and pushed it to private schools. He cut antipoverty initiatives and pushed funding to church groups. Cut funding for stem cell research. And of course cut taxes for the rich.
The antiabortion response is to cut funds to anything touching abortion (not, say, provide more support to mothers.) And make way for expanded power over reproductive rights at the state level.
A ban on abortions, in this example, would be codifying the government's legal authority to make such a decision.
That's first order building, there is no need for rebuilding in that scenario.
With regards to the broader DOGE topic, they aren't banning anything yet that I've seen outside of the authority that we already granted the executive branch. I don't necessarily agree with what they're doing, but from the bits and pieces I can pull out of largely political reporting it does seem like they're staying within the bounds of what the executive branch is technically allowed to do.
There will be a legal debate whether there are within the rules to not spend money budgeted by congress. That will come down to an opinion whether the argument that departments are not acting in good faith or reasonably executing their mandate is found by the courts to be reasonable.
Personal freedom, except for things they don't like and except for people they don't like. It was always like that.
That being said, right now there was enough written over years by hard core conservatives and specifically by heritage foundation and in project 2025 to know what they want.
The same people were not to remove abortion protection either, I still remember how everyone and his brother framed that worry as paranoid ... two years before the exact same people did it.
To be fair, we never really had abortion protections. A supreme court ruling isn't law, its precedent. Precedent can be challenged much easier and can be superseded by legislation.
For sure, when they say they want to close down departments, I'm sure they don't mean it. I see the insanity of their actions and, I too, find comfort in pretending that there is going to be something stable left afterwards /s/
I wouldn't even begin to guess. This has all moved so quickly that I've yet to find what seems to be a reliable source on what is actually changing.
My point, though, was only that we've so far seen moves to reduce headcount and pause programs. That could be the first step to closing down departments entirely, but it could also be the first step to rebuilding their own version of that department.