Stockstill: Can Orange County Get Out of DOGE?

With Inauguration Day approaching, let’s contemplate however promised (threatened?) cuts to the national fund and workforce mightiness interaction Orange County.

Leading the complaint are Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, co-heads of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an enactment with nary ineligible authorization but plentifulness of bully pulpit, arsenic the brace person unleashed since soon aft Election Day. Promises to slash and pain full national agencies, programs and employees made headlines.

Calculating the precise magnitude of national backing successful Orange County isn’t imaginable successful this article. We bash cognize Social Security, Medicare and national backing for healthcare to debased income oregon poorness level individuals takes up good implicit fractional the full national budget, and has been declared disconnected limits by President-Elect Donald Trump.

But we tin supply an overview of immoderate of the large national facilities, one-time and ongoing grants and expenditures beyond those noted supra arsenic examples of however an assertive DOGE targeting of the region mightiness person an impact.

We statesman with the monolithic Cleveland National Forest which stretches from Anaheim to the San Diego County enactment (and good beyond). The OC conception includes Santiago Peak, wherever dozens of captious communications installations are located. There is small camping, but hiking and upland biking trails abound. Reducing Forest Service employees and/or backing could interaction attraction and operations.

The region is location to 2 large subject bases: Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, and Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos. Giant Marine basal Camp Pendleton abuts the confederate region boundary. All the bases are micro-economies connected their ain but besides interaction the region economy. Reductions to the subject fund are rare, but arsenic that fund is truthful large, cuts are possible.

Also, the Department of the Navy has ongoing work to cleanable up bequest toxic wastes astatine Irvine Great Park and recently spent much than $123 million to woody with the occurrence that destroyed 1 of the historical blimp hangars astatine Tustin Legacy. Additional funds volition apt beryllium needed to implicit the cleanup astatine the remains of the burnt hangar.

As we are a coastal county, the US Coast Guard patrols section waters, providing rescue and migration enforcement, among different duties. The Coast Guard cutter Narwal is based successful Newport Harbor.

Like large municipality counties, ours attracts national backing for infrastructure. A caller illustration is the $304 cardinal allocated to the Orange County Transportation Agency (OCTA) to enactment up the cliffs adjacent to the Amtrak enactment successful San Clemente. And San Clemente is owed to person backing from the US Army Corps of Engineers to replenish sand on its beaches. John Wayne Airport received $20 cardinal this twelvemonth to “enhance rider experience” arsenic good arsenic for vigor efficiency. And finally, portion it is located successful San Diego County, the closed San Onofre atomic generating presumption is successful enactment to person $26 cardinal for atomic discarded cleanup and removal.

These are conscionable immoderate of the champion known examples of nonstop national aid. In reality, national backing for h2o and sewer improvements, instrumentality enforcement and dozens of different services adhd up to tens of millions of dollars for Orange County annually.

Three agencies often targeted by fund hawks are the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Last twelvemonth Orange County received $130,000 from the NEA, including $40,000 for the OC Philharmonic Society, $25,000 for the Pacific Symphony and $10,000 for the Frieda Cinema successful Santa Ana. NEH grants of $400,000 went to UC Irvine, $132,000 to Cal State Fullerton. PBS is often threatened with nonaccomplishment of funding, but successful the past has ever escaped. PBS SoCal is our section station.

Planned Parenthood is different enactment often targeted for reductions oregon implicit non-funding by assorted members of Congress. In Orange County successful 2023 it served much than 250,000 individuals for services–most for household planning, the remainder for aesculapian needs.

UC Irvine received more than $300 cardinal successful national backing successful 2024, astir of it for aesculapian probe from the Dept. of Health and Human Services. Cal State Fullerton received astir $19 cardinal successful national funds for probe successful 2024. These funds are abstracted from fiscal assistance provided to students astatine some UCI and CSUF, funds administered by the Dept. of Education, often mentioned arsenic a premier people for implicit elimination by DOGE and President-Elect Trump. (Trump says wealth from DOE volition beryllium sent to states to administer).

In each of California, astir 5 cardinal radical are connected nutrient stamps, receiving an yearly full of $16 cardinal successful value. Assuming Orange County is astir 10 percent of the authorities population, we tin estimation that 500,000 radical present person yearly benefits of astir $1.6 billion. Food stamps are regularly mentioned arsenic a people for reduction.

Private assemblage entities payment straight and indirectly from national grants and policies. Many if not astir of the electrical vehicles seen astir the OC apt received a $7,500 taxation credit, often mentioned arsenic connected the database for elimination by the incoming administration. And Rivian, the shaper of electrical trucks, is awaiting a $6.6 cardinal loan to reopen a manufacturing works successful Georgia. Rivian office is successful Irvine, employing much than 2,000 people.

Whatever DOGE comes up with won’t instrumentality effect unless Congress takes action. And arsenic the saying goes, each authorities is local, meaning that erstwhile it comes clip to act, astir members of Congress cautiously measure archetypal what argumentation changes volition mean to their constituents.

Finally, the DOGE boys person challenged the basal competency of the full national workforce. As a erstwhile bureaucrat myself (State of California, peculiar districts successful OC), I cognize that erstwhile immoderate nationalist worker is threatened, the archetypal and astir effectual effect is to physique a partition of law, procedures, regulations, and timelines. A person of excavation erstwhile noted the backstage assemblage loves speed, the nationalist assemblage loves process. And arsenic 1 perceiver opined, Elon Musk volition get to Mars faster than helium is apt to execute meaningful changes to the national fund oregon workforce.

Michael Stockstill is retired. He is the writer of a publication connected the past of the Irvine Ranch. He lives successful Irvine.

Opinions expressed successful assemblage sentiment pieces beryllium to the authors and not Voice of OC.

Voice of OC is funny successful proceeding antithetic perspectives and voices. If you privation to measurement successful connected this contented oregon others please email opinions@voiceofoc.org.

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