Areas of Common Ground
Despite partisan divides, most Americans agree on these key points:
- âś“Government should deliver services efficiently and respect taxpayer dollars
- âś“Genuine waste, fraud, and abuse should be eliminated wherever found
- âś“Agencies should be accountable to elected leaders and to the public
+ 4 more areas of agreement below
What's the Challenge?
In 2025 the Trump administration launched the most aggressive restructuring of the federal civilian workforce in decades. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) drove rapid headcount reductions through deferred-resignation offers, probationary terminations, and reductions in force across many agencies; Schedule F-style executive orders sought to reclassify thousands of career employees as at-will; and entire offices and programs were cut, consolidated, or paused. Supporters argued the federal workforce had grown too large, too expensive, and too unaccountable to voters, and that aggressive action was the only way to deliver promised efficiency. Critics argued the changes were chaotic, often illegal, bypassed Congress's spending power, hollowed out essential expertise, and degraded services Americans rely on. Many actions are under court review.
Where Most Americans Agree
Government should deliver services efficiently and respect taxpayer dollars
Genuine waste, fraud, and abuse should be eliminated wherever found
Agencies should be accountable to elected leaders and to the public
Career civil servants with deep expertise are an asset worth preserving
Reorganizations should be deliberate enough to avoid breaking essential services
Veterans, retirees, and others who depend on federal programs shouldn't lose services through executive chaos
Congress, not unilateral executive action, has the constitutional power of the purse
Source: Pew Research Center, Partnership for Public Service 2024-2025
Current Perspectives from Both Sides
Understanding the full debate requires hearing what each side actually argues—not caricatures or strawmen.
Progressive Perspective
- •Mass firings of career civil servants are illegal, capricious, and have already disrupted critical services from Social Security to air traffic control
- •DOGE operated outside normal oversight, with limited transparency about who decided what to cut and why
- •Eliminating offices that protect consumers, workers, and the environment doesn't 'cut waste'—it removes guardrails
- •Schedule F-style reclassification politicizes the civil service and invites cronyism
- •Cutting expertise hollows out the government's ability to do anything well, including the policies conservatives say they want
- •Congress, not the executive branch, decides what programs are funded—unilateral cuts violate the Impoundment Control Act
Conservative Perspective
- •The federal workforce had grown bloated and unresponsive; voters elected a president to fix that
- •Career civil servants too often resist policy direction from elected leadership, undermining democratic accountability
- •Decades of bipartisan promises to streamline government produced little; aggressive action was the only path to results
- •Initial DOGE estimates point to real savings that benefit taxpayers and reduce long-term debt pressure
- •Many agency functions are duplicative, outdated, or could be delivered better by states or the private sector
- •Making it easier to fire poor performers brings federal employment closer to how the rest of the country works
These represent current talking points from each side of the political spectrum. Understanding both perspectives is essential for productive dialogue.
Evidence-Based Facts
The federal civilian workforce numbered roughly 2.4 million before the 2025 restructuring; DOGE-driven actions and deferred-resignation offers reduced headcount by an estimated several hundred thousand over 2025
Source: Office of Personnel Management; Partnership for Public Service tracker
The civilian workforce is about the same size today as it was in the early 1970s, even though federal spending and population have grown substantially
Multiple federal courts have issued injunctions or rulings against portions of the 2025 reductions, including mass terminations of probationary employees and the dismantling of certain congressionally established agencies
Source: Congressional Research Service; ongoing federal court rulings
DOGE's own public savings claims have been substantially revised downward by independent analysts and the Government Accountability Office
Source: Government Accountability Office; New York Times and AP analyses
Federal employee compensation accounts for less than 5% of total federal spending; entitlements and interest dominate the budget
Source: Congressional Budget Office
Learn More
Partnership for Public Service
Non-partisan research on the federal workforce and good government
Partnership for Public Service
Government Accountability Office
Non-partisan congressional watchdog assessing federal programs and spending
GAO
Congressional Research Service Reports
Non-partisan analysis of federal workforce law and executive authority
CRS
Questions for Thoughtful Debate
How should the federal workforce be sized and structured for the 21st century?
What's the right balance between political accountability and an independent, expert civil service?
When can the executive branch reduce or eliminate programs without Congress?
How do we distinguish genuine waste from services someone depends on?
Should reorganizations be paced to avoid breaking essential services, even if slower?
How should pay, hiring, and firing rules differ between government and the private sector?