@almsnatalie
journalist who covers how the government's tech affects you🫵 NC native, DC resident. Tips = nalms@govexec.com and Signal at nalms.41 https://www.nextgov.com/voices/natalie-alms/18881/?oref=ng-post-author?oref=rf-post-author
We've been tracking nearly 200 lawsuits against the Trump administration over its attempts to leverage federal funding to impose the president's agenda.
The most startling pattern: The administration seems entirely undeterred when it loses in court.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Last year, a DOGE employee signed an agreement to share SSA data with a political advocacy group aimed at overturning election results in certain states, DOJ said in a Jan. court filing.
A screenshot of the story showing back and forth between Rep. Steven Horsford and Bisignano.
Franks Bisignano, CEO of the IRS and head of Social Security, disputed DOJ court records detailing how DOGE employees handled data at SSA during a hearing yesterday.
We identified 12 shootings by federal agents that led to the deaths or injuries of citizens & immigrants since Sept.
Nearly every time, the Trump admin blamed the injured and dead. Experts say this apparent lack of accountability demands that local authorities step up to investigate federal agents.
NEW: A federal appeals court has for now shielded billionaire Elon Musk from being questioned under oath about his role last year in shuttering the US Agency for International Development. On the 2-1 order:
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Accessing disability benefits at the Social Security Administration has gotten more difficult since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to new qualitative research.
www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...
NEW: Since Jan 2023, ICE + CBP together have spent at least $515 million on products from Palantir, Microsoft, Amazon, & Google.
But where is the money actually going, & what specifically is it powering? Here, I break down everything we know about both of these things:
www.wired.com/story/how-bi...
Eliminating gender identity and sexual orientation data makes it harder to enforce civil rights laws, allocate resources and understand if govt programs are working, experts say. Big-picture, it limits accountability and weakens the evidence base to spot and understand trends.
Trans people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to be the victims of violent crime, according to the Williams Institute.
An example of what this looks like --- the CDC removed an options for people to identify as trans in its National Violent Death Reporting System, a surveillance system that tracks violent deaths to inform prevention efforts.
Federal agencies have deleted gender identity and sexual orientation data elements from over 360 surveys, forms, research projects and other data collections since Trump took office last year.
www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...
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...
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"
Trump also said that eliminating fraud could balance the budget, but this also isn't true.
www.politifact.com/article/2026...
politicization of*
oops
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...
Trump also said that there's 19 billion in fraud in Minnesota, although that number isn't proven.
www.politifact.com/article/2026...
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.
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/...
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: 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...
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...
