The Paper Trail: June 3, 2025

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The Paper Trail

Announcements

Making the Most of Your Resources: Working with GAO: POGO’s virtual training on working with GAO will be Friday, June 13 at 12 noon. This event is only open to staff in Congress, GAO, and CRS. Register HERE.

Top stories for June 3, 2025

White House budget office rebukes watchdog over “invasive” probes: “GAO’s requests are voluminous, burdensome, and inappropriately invasive,” OMB General Counsel Mark Paoletta wrote in a letter. Going forward, Paoletta said, the budget office will only cooperate with GAO “in a manner that ensures that the burdens of such engagements do not unduly impede” its ability to execute the president’s agenda. (Jeff Stein, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: Budget head Vought floats impoundment to sidestep Congress on DOGE cuts (Avery Lotz, Axios)

Trump’s picks for oversight roles will jeopardize independent scrutiny of government operations, watchdog groups say: Government watchdog groups say that President Trump's nominees for U.S. Special Counsel and inspectors general at Labor, Health and Human Services, and Veterans Affairs are unqualified and lack independence, which will weaken government oversight and harm federal employees. (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

FEMA staff baffled after head said he was unaware of U.S. hurricane season, sources say: A DHS spokesperson said acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson’s comment was a joke, but it didn’t quell concern that the departures of several top FEMA officials, staff cuts, and reductions in hurricane preparations has left the agency ill-prepared. (Leah Douglas, Ted Hesson, and Nathan Layne, Reuters)

Unease at FBI intensifies as Patel ousts top officials: Senior executives are being pushed out, and FBI Director Kash Patel is forcing polygraph tests on employees to tamp down on news leaks and shifting the agency’s focus toward immigration. (Adam Goldman, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: He took Qatar’s money, now Kash Patel handling their FBI files? (Nick Cleveland-Stout, Responsible Statecraft)

DOGE reorganization of nuclear regulator prompts concerns about the agency’s continued focus on safety: President Trump wants the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to lay off workers, while the agency has fallen short of its recruitment goals and is struggling to replenish its aging workforce. (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

The Trump Organization has expanded globally since the 2024 election. See where: Since the November election, the Trump Organization and its partners have publicly announced 12 international projects including residential high-rises, hotels, and golf courses. The company released an ethics agreement in January barring it from doing business directly with foreign governments. Yet several of the deals involve foreign governments, especially in the Middle East. (Brenna T. Smith, Peter Grant, and Daniel Kiss, Wall Street Journal)

Elon Musk & DOGE

DOGE is busier than ever — and Trump says Elon Musk is “really not leaving”: Workers from at least six agencies say that DOGE-style work is escalating in their departments, such as reviewing and potentially canceling contracts, particularly those involving workforce management and IT. Both new and familiar DOGE faces have also been detailed to new agencies in recent days. (Makena Kelly, Leah Feiger, and Zoë Schiffer, Wired)

🔎 See Also: White House budget request includes $45 million in additional DOGE funding (Natalie Alms, Nextgov/FCW)

DOGE vowed to make government more efficient — but it’s doing the opposite: Federal employees must spend hours justifying even basic purchases. New procedures and requirements are delaying thousands of contracts and projects. Large-scale firings have cut support offices — especially IT shops — that assisted federal workers, and the reassignment of staff is causing significant lags in some agencies. (Hannah Natanson, Washington Post)

Weaponization of the Government

A Stephen Miller staffer and tough talk: Inside Trump’s latest attack on Harvard: The circumstances behind the DOJ’s investigation into alleged discrimination at the Harvard Law Review show how the Trump administration is wielding power to advance its political agenda. (Michael S. Schmidt and Michael C. Bender, New York Times)

Insurrection

January 6 rioter who was pardoned by Trump arrested for burglary: Zachary Alam, who received one of the longest prison sentences for his part in the insurrection, was arrested in Virginia last month for burglary and vandalism. (Richard Luscombe, The Guardian)

🔎 See Also: Justice Dept. Capitol siege section head Greg Rosen resigns, says Trump pardons sent “terrible message” (Scott MacFarlane, CBS News)

Defense and Veteran Affairs

Expect Trump’s military parade to cost more than the Army says: The Army says the June 14 parade will cost up to $45 million. This is likely an underestimate due to unaccounted expenses such as damage to local infrastructure, cleanup, and increased police presence. (Nick Turse, The Intercept)

Behemoth Golden Dome may face lackluster scrutiny in Trump’s Pentagon: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to cut more than half of the Pentagon’s test and evaluation office staff was driven in part by concerns over the office’s plans to provide oversight for the Golden Dome missile defense project. (Courtney Albon, Military Times)

Business and Finance

Discrimination cases unravel as Trump scraps core civil rights tenet: For decades, the federal government has used data analysis to ferret out race and sex discrimination, winning court cases and reaching settlements in housing, education, policing, and across American life. Now the Trump administration is working to unwind these cases. (Julian Mark and Laura Meckler, Washington Post)

FTC investigates ad groups and watchdogs, alleging boycott collusion: The FTC is investigating whether several prominent advertising and advocacy groups violated antitrust law by coordinating boycotts among advertisers that didn’t want their brands to appear alongside hateful online content. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson has vowed to crack down on what he says is censorship of conservatives on social media. (Kate Conger and Tiffany Hsu, New York Times)

Tech

Trump taps Palantir to compile data on Americans: The administration is quietly implementing the president’s plan for the federal government to share data across agencies, an effort raising concern that the government is compiling a master list of personal information on Americans that could give it untold surveillance power. In particular, it has turned to one company: Palantir, a data analysis firm with ties to DOGE. (Sheera Frenkel and Aaron Krolik, New York Times)

Meta to cut 90% human oversight with AI in feature risk checks, sparking safety debate: The move comes soon after Meta ended its fact-checking program and loosened rules on hate speech. Critics worry that Meta is putting users at risk. (Financial Express)

Infrastructure

Many coastal communities are flooding more than we thought, researchers find: Fast-rising seas have forced some coastal communities to endure flooding far more frequently than previously thought and much more often than federal tide gauges would suggest, according to new findings from researchers in North Carolina. (Brady Dennis, Washington Post)

Health Care

CDC updates COVID vaccine recommendations, but not how RFK Jr. wanted: The CDC update could create confusion about access to the vaccine and lead to fewer children getting vaccinated. (Beth Mole, Ars Technica)

RFK Jr.’s fluoride ban would ruin 25 million kids’ teeth, cost $9.8 billion: Researchers estimate a ban on the use of fluoride in public water will in 10 years lead to 54 million more children and teenagers with rotten teeth and an additional $19 billion in dental bills. (Beth Mole, Ars Technica)

Trump Administration ends program critical to search for an HIV vaccine: The administration terminated a $258 million program whose work was instrumental to the search for a vaccine. The program’s elimination is the latest in a series of cuts to HIV-related initiatives, and to prevention of the disease in particular. (Apoorva Mandavilli, New York Times)

Role Reversal: Millions of kids are caregivers for elders. Why their numbers might grow: At least 5.4 million children provide care to an adult in their home, a number likely to rise if Medicaid cuts hit professional home-based services. (Leah Fabel, KFF Health News)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Supreme Court allows Trump to suspend deportation protections for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela

→ “It can happen to anyone”: Nadler rebukes DHS after staffer detained in Manhattan office

→ Trump administration uses Colorado suspect’s status to push deportation agenda

→ Trump plans “remigration” office linked to racist far-right plan

→ Rubio leading negotiations with Bukele on returning migrants

→ Trump disappeared them to El Salvador. Now, they’re being erased by immigration courts

→ Trump administration plans to end Afghan relocation programs

→ Two refugee families. Two very different experiences under Trump

Other News:

→ Trump administration to open Alaska wilderness to drilling and mining

→ “Completely unworkable”: Sculpture experts say Trump’s $34 million statue garden has major problems

→ Trump could pardon Diddy, but 50 Cent hopes to dissuade him

Upcoming Events

📌 Safeguarding Procurement: Examining Fraud Risk Management in the Department of Defense. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; Subcommittee on Government Operations. Wednesday, June 4, 10:00 a.m., 2247 Rayburn House Office Building.

📌 Budget Hearing – Office of Management and Budget. House Committee on Appropriations. Wednesday, June 4, 2:00 p.m., 2359 Rayburn House Office Building.

Nominations & Appointments

Withdrawals

• Jared Isaacman - Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration