Indiscriminate DOGE Cuts Harm the States, Humanities, History and Culture

        DOGE is not what it purports to be. The indiscriminate, arbitrary cuts across dozens of federal agencies reflect neither its advertisement of efficiency nor its promise to root out waste and fraud. The use of a chainsaw to reduce government spending --for the sake of cutting government spending-- does not produce meritorious results of the sort that the employment of reason, discernment and measurement of programs based on their value and service to the nation would achieve, if officials were true to their stated goal of reducing unwise and wasteful spending. The results of the intemperate approach rather, has been the infliction of the sort of carnage wrought by a wanton Florida hurricane that leaves a wide swath of pain, suffering and destruction that requires years of rebuilding and restoration. The exacting toll of the DOGE chainsaw on the life of America and the lives of Americans may be incalculable unlike, say, a business plan for spending reduction which implements a cost-benefit analysis that includes in its calculus the origins, purpose, utility and impact of a program and what its retention or elimination might mean for the organization.

After three months of blind cuts to governmental programs, without evidence of waste and fraud, we find ourselves observing a funeral parade that includes libraries, museums, the arts and humanities, scientific research and medical assistance, and a diminished capacity for fighting disease and wildfires. That’s not all. The elimination of USAID has hurt American farmers and the most vulnerable abroad. The elimination of inspectors general in numerous departments has removed those who hold governmental officials accountable. DOGE has cut VA benefits and staff and impaired our national security and national defense. The Trump-Musk cuts at the Center for Disease Control included the elimination of the team in charge of researching IVF treatments, despite President Trump’s promise to expand access to access to those fertility treatments which, he has stated, would brand him as the “fertilization president.” 

The DOGE decision to gut the National Endowment for the Humanities entails tragic consequences for Humanities North Dakota, a state treasure for its leadership in civic and cultural education. Humanities North Dakota, like other state councils across the nation, relies on NEH funding and may need to close its doors, according to press reports. The NEH grant of $900,000 to the non-profit North Dakota organization for the 2025 fiscal year was axed immediately. Humanities North Dakota offers throughout the state, a series of online classes, book talks, lectures and a learned and stimulating summer conference on civics education with a focus on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for high school and middle school social science teachers. Staff members have been planning an educational celebration in 2026 of the Declaration of Independence on the occasion of its 250th anniversary. Will this foundational event in the nation’s history pass in North Dakota without celebration because of devastating spending cuts? In this deeply divisive time, civics education is indispensable to building bridges and forging understanding, tolerance and compromise—the essential ingredients for maintaining our democracy and civil society. Little thought went into the decision to decimate funding for the NEH, which has grave implications for the future of civics education in North Dakota.

  DOGE is not a governmental department, and violates various provisions of the Constitution. Under the Constitution, Congress alone possesses the authority to create an office. Manifestly, Congress did not pass a law creating DOGE, yet it proceeds with the authorization and approval of President Trump, despite the president’s aggrandizement of congressional power. The role and authority attributed to Musk would, by any measure, elevate him to the status of a “principal” officer which, under the Appointments Clause in Article II of the Constitution requires Senate approval, a function of its Advice and Consent authority. Musk has not been nominated to an office, and thus his sweeping power represents yet another instance of executive aggrandizement. Finally, the actions of DOGE violate the appropriations power, vested exclusively in Congress. DOGE’s decision to rescind funds authorized by Congress, including those funds directed to the NEH, and then sent onto Humanities North Dakota, represents a rank usurpation of congressional spending power. For readers concerned about the future of Humanities North Dakota and the preservation of the Constitution, here are three flagrant violations that may ignite your passions.  

David Adler is president of The Alturas Institute, created to advance American Democracy through promotion of the Constitution, civic education, equal protection and gender equality. He has lectured nationally and internationally on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. His scholarly writings have been quoted by the US Supreme Court, lower federal courts and by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.