One Thing: After DOGE Cuts, The Government Is Hiring Again. Will Anyone Bite?

CNN 5 Things

CNN

Daily News, News

3.7 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last year, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency took a chainsaw to the federal government, slashing jobs and cutting programs in the name of eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse. While it did not reduce spending, current and former government officials tell CNN that some of the cuts are hampering government readiness amid the Iran war. Now, the government is looking to ramp up hiring again – but only with workers who align with the Trump administration’s priorities. We hear from a former federal worker about how last year’s cuts impacted her, and from an expert who says he's concerned about adding more political appointees to the mix. For more: ‘A shell of our former self’: How Trump and Musk’s spending cuts are hampering US government readiness amid the Iran war --- Guests: Melissa Patsalides & Max Stier, Partnership for Public Service President and CEO Host: David Rind Producer: Paola Ortiz Showrunner: Felicia Patinkin Editorial Support: Tami Luhby Photo: Allison Robbert/AFP/Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is one thing. I'm David Rind, and Doge left Washington long ago, but the cuts it made were deep.
0:07.5	You were at USAID for like 20 years, right?
0:10.0	22 years, yeah.
0:11.7	And now you want nothing to do with it.
0:13.8	I want nothing to do with it.
0:15.2	Stick around.
0:20.6	Today, I want to revisit an interview I did early in President Donald Trump's second term.
0:27.9	Our latest reporting is that fewer than 300 employees are expected to be retained at USAID
0:34.5	when this is all over, down from like 10,000, 10,000 down to 300.
0:40.3	What is your reaction to that?
0:42.7	It's laughable.
0:44.5	What could you do?
0:47.4	Very, very little.
0:51.6	I first spoke to Melissa Patsalides last February.
0:55.0	At the time, she was still sort of, kind of, working for the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID.
1:02.0	The latest is that I am still locked out, never got back into the system.
1:08.0	Melissa and hundreds of her colleagues lost access to their work servers and were placed on
1:12.4	administrative leave.
1:13.6	They were told not to show up to the office.
1:15.6	As we dug into USAID, it became apparent that what we have here is not an apple with a worm
1:22.1	in it, but we have actually just a bowl of worms.
1:25.6	Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency was just beginning to slash and burn through
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from CNN, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of CNN and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.