Local TV news stations KJCT and KKCO are reporting that Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is terminating the leases of four federal Agencies in Grand Junction:
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which works to recover the endangered fish species the Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, bonytail and razorback sucker. Its office is at 445 West Gunnison, Suite 140.
- The U.S. Geological Survey is the nation’s largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping agency. It provides the public with science about natural hazards that threaten people’s lives and livelihoods like the water, energy, minerals, and other natural resources we rely on, and provides information about the health of ecosystems and environment and the impacts of climate and land-use changes. It is also housed at 445 West Gunnison.
- The U.S. Attorneys Office, located at 205 North 4th Street, Suite 400, Grand Junction. It represents the United States in civil and criminal cases, protects people’s civil rights and liberties, promotes fairness, justice and equality, provides justice for victims of crime and upholds the rule of law. That office is headed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Hautzinger, formerly a two-term Mesa County District Attorney.
- The Social Security Administration, located at 825 N. Crest Dr, Grand Junction, near the airport. Local Social Security offices help provide financial protection for Americans, help people apply for benefits, manage their accounts, and get information about their rights and obligations. You usually need to go to a local Social Security office if you need help with a complex problem. After the office in G.J. closes, the next closest offices will be in Glenwood Springs and Montrose. If you are in Moab, after the Grand Junction office closes, your closest offices will also be Glenwood Springs or Montrose.
DOGE is not a real government agency. It was neither created nor approved by Congress. It has no actual power to close government agencies created by Congress, or to cut government spending approved by Congress or fire thousands of federal government employees. Despite this, Congress is not asserting its Constitutional prerogative to stop it.
A Veterans Administration Hospital employee reports that so far about 100 employees have been laid off from the local VA Hospital, and says he has to get to work 30 minutes early to get a parking spot because VA employees who previously worked from home have been ordered to report to work in person. The employee reports that the VA is having trouble finding work spaces for all of them.
Have questions about your taxes?
It will soon be much harder to get answers.
Billionaire Elon Musk wields a chainsaw at the 2/21 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), making fun of the cuts he is making to federal agencies and the mass-firings of thousands of federal employees
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is closing 110 taxpayer assistance offices across the country right the time of year when tax returns are coming due. DOGE has laid off 5,000 employees who work in the IRS’s enforcement and collections areas, and plans to lay off about 7,000 IRS employees in total. The IRS collects the tax revenue that keeps the country functioning, and that provides refunds to people who overpay their taxes through withholding.
Republicans have also frozen an additional $20.2 billion of Inflation Reduction Act funds allotted specifically for increased IRS audits, which effectively ends Democrats’ effort to increase IRS enforcement on the country’s wealthiest citizens and corporations.
Unelected co-president and billionaire Elon Musk, head of DOGE, have illegally accessed sensitive personal information on every taxpayer in the country who has filed a return, including their income, bank account and routing numbers, social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, details on whether they have incurred significant medical expenses, identification of their tax preparers, etc.
Musk is heading the unelected IT task force (DOGE) that is taking over government offices and firing thousands of civil service employees with no legal authority. The Republican-dominated U.S. Congress — the only entity that under the Constitutional separation of powers can put a stop to the illegal activities of the Trump administration — is doing nothing to stop it. Many courts have ruled that Trump must stop what he has been doing to federal government agencies and employees, and that he must stop freezing federal funding of Congressionally-approved appropriations. Despite this, Trump has sidestepped many of the court orders and forged ahead with massive destruction of the federal government.
According to the AP, the Grand Junction Social Security office will close June 21. It is the only Colorado office closing. Also according to the AP, beginning March 31st, all new applicants will be required to go to an office to confirm their identity in person if they can’t verify it through the online portal – a change that will impact rural retirees the most.
It’s unfortunate that rural retirees around here don’t seem to care about losing services, and this is just one example. But I’m sure future generations will be happy knowing that the Libs were owned.
Driving to Montrose or Glenwood Springs simply won’t be possible for so many of our fellow retirees. Is this “cutting waste” or “reducing fraud”? What was DOGE thinking? Oh, I know . . . it wasn’t.
HOW CAN ELON FIRE PEOPLE WHO DON’T WORK FOR HIM????
Like many others, I’m able to accomplish virtually everything about Social Security online, but there was one significant discrepancy a few years after my (early) retirement where I needed the expertise of our local office. That issue required one follow-up visit for confirmation of their preliminary efforts and its resolution, and I was so glad to be able to have this convenient and trustworthy in-person assistance. I wish that others in a similar situation would be able to enjoy the same nearby help . . . maybe not so much going forward. :~(
Don’t assume that *everyone* can do most things online. Caring for an elderly parent, I’ve seen that people can have real challenges dealing with online systems as they get older. Furthermore, many people in this county don’t have internet or a PC at home. I believe this closure will impact low income and disabled populations the most.
I agree with you completely on all points, Meghan. I was simply relating a great experience that I’d had at our local office. And for sure: those in our community (and beyond) who are less fortunate will feel much more pain from these indiscriminate cuts and actions.
Maybe someone could come up with a way to provide these people with internet and a PC. There are so many aid societies in the county…I’m sure there’s someone who would/could step up if they knew there was a need.
Problem solved…darn it!
PS. Mesa County has a slew of organizations that help the elderly and the poor. Some of these are volunteer organizations. For instance, I work on a crew that builds handicap ramps for low income people.
If you know of someone who needs help with SS stuff maybe you could contact Mesa County for some kind of volunteer help.
badhatharry,
First of all, I have been a caregiver to people with disabilities for over 25 years here in the valley. If you had a clue and were conscientious of people who have a disability, you would NOT EVER refer to them as being “handicap” and that you volunteer to build handicap ramps. This offensive term came from times when people with disabilities stood on corners begging for money while holding out their cap to put the money in. In other words, they had to beg for money for bare necessities. It is completely offensive and has not been standard language for the disabled community for decades. You are so out of touch, but keep patting yourself on the back for all of those handicap ramps you help build. Just understand that with all the proposed cuts to Medicaid, these valuable benefits, like ramps being installed on homes of people with disabilities will likely no longer be covered by Medicaid. Get ready to be much busier with your volunteering.
Oh, and by the way, I sign my given name to these chats, unlike you hiding behind your badhatharry acronym.
I knew it was going to hit home soon. The Social Security office makes no sense. Keep Glenwood open, but close GJ? Trump set up SS cuts last night with his speech. Spewed lies about the numbers. I think this is going to hit Mesa County Republicans harder than they realize, but they will still find a way to justify it.
If somehow your SS doesn’t show up there literally won’t be any getting it back when SS offices across the country close. Republicans in Mesa County I’m sure are giddy over this and the other closers as well.
There aren’t enough negative words to describe how evil these people are.
OMG!
Do you really think he’s gonna cut Social Security like he did the last time he was president?
Are you saying you don’t believe he will do it?
Are you saying that’s what you believe I believe?
Not playing word games. I asked a simple question. You refused to answer, which is an answer in itself.
Harry will never admit his true positions until he’s completely sure he’ll have no repurcussions for them.
Mission accomplished then.
What are you talking about? He is ALREADY cutting Social Security.
Cutting staff so that it takes 250+ days to process an application for disability – that is a cut.
Closing offices so that people have to drive over an hour to meet with a live person – that is a cut.
Cutting staff and cutting services, these are cuts.
When did he start cutting staff? I looked at the website and it is saying the length of determination time is because they are trying to take care of a backlog…or something.
I think there are anticipated cuts but they haven’t happened yet.
But, by all means…feel free to be outraged.
It looks like they are planning to cut 7000 jobs…leaving 50,000 jobs intact.
It also looks like they’re going to try to make it as painless as possible for the employees.
Also…they seem to believe they can serve recipients well with better efficiencies.
Personally, I doubt there is any government agency that can’t be run more efficiently and economically.
That’s what this is really all about and the whining and finger pointing by democrats is why these kinds of cuts never get made…and why our national debt is so out of control.
The national debt is out of control mostly because Trump cut federal revenue drastically through his 2017 “Tax Cuts & Jobs Act,” the benefits of which have disproportionately accrued to the wealthiest Americans and corporations: “The Tax Cuts & Jobs Act cut taxes substantially from 2018 through 2025. The resulting deficits have added $1 to $2 trillion to the federal debt.” — Tax Policy Center at the Brookings Institution. Trump now wants to extend the Act, which would add $4.6 Trillion more to the national deficit over the next 10 years. — Bogage, Jacob (June 24, 2024). “The national debt is ballooning. The next president probably won’t stop it”. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/06/24/trump-biden-national-debt/
I concur with your response.
Wait time to talk to someone as Social Security on the phone was 2 hours BEFORE the cuts.
Thanks, Anne, for the addresses and additional info, seems like it would be interesting to hear what Pete H. has to say, is he losing his job? And, how much are these cancelled leases costing? In my experience if you cancel a lease before it’s due, you have pretty damned high penalties, so is this saving $$$ – or costing the taxpayer even more?
I tried calling the U.S. Attorney’s office this afternoon to ask those questions, and only got voicemail after many rings, so I was unable to find out what is going on there.
Fiscally conservative economists say; “So right now I would say DOGE has saved $2 billion, which, to put it in context, is one-thirty-fifth of 1 percent of the federal budget, otherwise known as budget dust.
they’re cutting $2 billion for savings but they’re adding $4,500 billion in deficit. It’s $2 billion versus $4,500 billion. There’s $191 billion a year lost to payment errors. There are 2.3 million civilian employees. If we eliminated one quarter of them — which would be remarkable, that would be laying off nearly 600,000 workers and not replacing them — you would save 1 percent of federal spending.
Grand theater with NO transparency or fact!
I have a friend who just started at the VA as a nurse running a program for homeless vets. She is pretty sure she will be part of the cuts. The irony is, she voted for sexual predator and felon 47.