Natalie Alms

These former government tech leaders are prepping day-one plans for a future administration Mikey Dickerson, the first head of the U.S. Digital Service, is a senior advisor for the effort, called the Tech Viaduct.

Meet the group of government technologists, practitioners and public servants --- including Mikey Dickerson, the first head of the U.S. Digital Service --- prepping day-one plans for a future administration to reshape the government so that it works better

www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...

White House ‘war on fraud’ to begin with freezing Medicaid payments to Minnesota Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called the move “retribution.”

Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the federal government is withholding $259.5 million in Medicaid funding from Minnesota.

www.nextgov.com/policy/2026/...

As well as other actions here— www.hhs.gov/press-room/t...

Vance announces that the federal government is stopping "certain amounts" of medicaid payments to Minnesota "temporarily"

Live fact-checking Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address President Donald Trump will deliver his 2026 State of the Union address at 9 p.m. EST Feb. 24. PolitiFact will fact-check the speech live and check how much progress Trump has made towards fulfilling ...

Trump also said that eliminating fraud could balance the budget, but this also isn't true.

www.politifact.com/article/2026...

politicization of*

oops

Trump launches fresh attacks from familiar playbook with tirade on Somali immigrants President Trump made racist comments about Somali immigrants and Somalia multiple times this week. It's a common tactic used by the president to get attention from those who share his nativist views.

The majority of defendents in Minnesota are Somali.

Trump has many many racist comments about Somali immigrants and Somalia.

www.npr.org/2025/12/04/n...

Live fact-checking Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address President Donald Trump will deliver his 2026 State of the Union address at 9 p.m. EST Feb. 24. PolitiFact will fact-check the speech live and check how much progress Trump has made towards fulfilling ...

Trump also said that there's 19 billion in fraud in Minnesota, although that number isn't proven.

www.politifact.com/article/2026...

As Trump administration cries ‘fraud,’ experts worry it does more harm than good “It’s dismaying,” one longtime anti-fraud expert told Nextgov/FCW of how the administration is using fraud as rationale but firing the watchdogs that are tasked with finding it.

Trump says that Vance will lead a "war on fraud," pointing to the Somali community and a list of blue states.

Trump fired nearly 20 IGs- whose job it is to fight fraud- last year. Experts say his politicization off fraud makes actual fixes more difficult.

www.nextgov.com/policy/2026/...

Figure showing the change in the number of SNAP participants between November 2023 and November 2025.

Preliminary USDA data show about 700,000 fewer low-income people received SNAP benefits in November vs. October, another huge one-month drop. This likely reflects disruption from the shutdown & the Republican megabill (H.R. 1)'s unprecedented SNAP cuts starting to take effect.

Critics sound alarm over HHS plans to restructure evaluation office A coalition of nonprofits, research institutions, child welfare advocates and more note that plans to push research out of the Administration for Children and Families and into the purview of politica...

NEW: A planned reorganization of an HHS research arm would put much of the work under the authority of political appointees, rather than the office's civil servant head.

The move risks undermining the credibility of the research, critics say.

www.nextgov.com/policy/2026/...

Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump An NPR investigation finds the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump.

An NPR investigation finds the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump. n.pr/4qTItsU

The team has, at several points, posted links to or direct name drops of businesses only to later drop them. This includes name dropping Grok on the government's MAHA website.

Speaking of Elon, you'll notice several former DOGE-ers on this team, including Big Balls

The National Design Studio also appears to be operating using Gmail, which raises the questions of how they're handling records retention. The White House, where they're situated, typically doesn't use Gmail.

So far, several of their website launches have had accessibility issues.

New White House design team aims for ‘delightful’ websites — changing design ethos in the process Trump’s chief design officer says that his work shouldn’t be controversial, but his team’s track record has raised questions about who their websites are for, who they leave out and whether the White ...

NEW: A relatively under the radar White House office wants to use AI to overhaul the government's online presence.

But the track record of the team thus far has raised questions about who their websites are for, who they leave out and how much sleek design can do.

www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...

Lawmaker pitches blueprint for post-DOGE privacy overhaul Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., wants to redo the government's main privacy law to ensure people’s information is “handled responsibly” when in government hands.

Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., wants to overhaul the federal government's half-century-old privacy law as concerns about the Department of Government Efficiency’s use of data linger.

www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...

I reported on Josh's weird ascent to foreign policy back in January: www.nextgov.com/people/2026/...

The budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency that upended the federal government at the start of President Donald Trump's second term has stalled out on Capitol Hill, a reality that's left conservative lawmakers fuming. https://cnn.it/4rPIfUA

Interior Dept directs IT shop to ‘scrub’ non-English content from its websites | Federal News Network A new disclaimer on Interior Department websites states “English is the official language and authoritative version of all federal information.”…

From @jheckman.bsky.social: The Interior Department is directing all its bureaus and offices to delete non-English content from their websites by the end of the day Tuesday, according to an internal notice from its IT shop.

federalnewsnetwork.com/technology-m...

A large Pride flag has been removed from a flagpole at the Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan, weeks after the Department of the Interior issued federal guidance on displaying “non-agency” flags in the National Park System. nyti.ms/4aqu6G4

Trump’s nutrition website directs users to Elon Musk’s Grok The inclusion of Elon Musk’s chatbot in the government website follows backlash over the chatbot creating millions of sexualized images of women and children.

A federal government MAHA website, advertised during the superbowl, is directing users to Grok to "get real answers about real food"? (Via @almsnatalie.bsky.social)
www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...

NEW: The government's nutrition website directs users to Grok.

After I asked about it, the site lost the name drop shown below, but users are still sent to Grok. This follows uproar over Grok's creation of millions of sexualized deepfakes of women and children.

www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...

1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.

Hundreds of kids are still detained.

We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵

Social Security is directing employees who normally process benefits to answer phones instead After shedding thousands of employees, SSA is reassigning workers amid fears the moves will cause backlogs to grow.

The Social Security Administration is shifting more employees to its phone line, a move that employees say risks adding to backlogs

www.nextgov.com/people/2026/...

Agencies lost around 20,000 tech workers last year — and now the Trump admin is hiring All six departments and agencies that lost the most IT talent currently have open job listings for such roles.

NEW: The Trump administration is looking to hire technology employees... after it lost nearly 20,000 employees last year.

www.nextgov.com/people/2026/...

Steve Bannon says ICE will ‘surround the polls’ as Trump doubles down on taking over elections Trump doubled down on his comments to nationalize voting Tuesday during an Oval Office press conference. “If you think about it, a state is an agent for the federal government in elections,” Trump sai...

🚨BREAKING: Steve Bannon said Tuesday that the federal government is planning to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to patrol polling stations during this year’s midterm elections. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Once again, the total amount of fraud alleged so far in Minnesota's social services programs is $218 million, according to a @startribune.com analysis of court records.

www.startribune.com/trump-claims...