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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Roughly 900 U.S. State Department officials signed an internal dissent memo critical of President Donald Trump's travel ban for refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, a source familiar with the document said on Tuesday. A senior State Department official confirmed that the memorandum in the department's "dissent channel" had been submitted to management. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Monday he was aware of the memo but warned career diplomats that they should either "get with the program or they can go."

Most voters support President Trump’s plan for major spending and staffing cuts in the federal government, but many still worry he won’t shrink the government enough. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 54% of Likely U.S. Voters favor a proposal that would cut spending up to 10% and cut staffing up to 20% in some federal government agencies. Twenty-seven percent (27%) oppose such cuts, while 19% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Federal workers in Maryland and across the nation are bracing for reductions in head counts, civil service protections and even salaries when President-elect Donald Trump and Congress turn their attention to government spending later this year. Trump, who ran on a promise to "drain the swamp," has identified hiring freezes at most federal agencies as a top priority for his early days in office. Republican lawmakers, many of whom have long advocated for reducing Washington's footprint, are looking to cut benefits and make it easier to fire poor performers. The threats and preliminary steps taken by Congress have created anxiety...

Several federal agencies are accelerating hiring in the final days of the Obama administration to ensure that as many new employees as possible are in place before President-elect Donald Trump imposes a promised hiring freeze. Leaders at these agencies are filling open positions with transfers and outside hires and are making internal promotions before Trump takes office Jan. 20, according to internal documents and interviews. The hiring could increase tensions between the Trump transition team and the Obama administration — a relationship that has grown worse in recent days due to disagreements over how the United States should handle its...

President Trump and the Republican Congress are going to do a lot and will likely act quickly and decisively to help the economy become strong, make the borders secure and the immigration laws effective, protect us from terrorists and rogue nations, and improve our education system. It is vitally important, however, to grasp at the outset that Washington cannot work. Federal solutions always fail. The best thing federal politicians can do is to get Washington out of the lives of ordinary Americans, their businesses, and their communities. This must happen fast, because Washington is crawling with folks who will work...

For believers in small government, there is a ray of hope on the horizon. We have a (nominally) Republican president-elect who loves to point out how he is not beholden to the usual special interests and Republican majorities in both the House and Senate. If federal spending is ever going to be reined in, now would appear to be the time. Federal spending for the 2016 fiscal year ran about $3.95 trillion, a record high. Without any spending cuts, federal spending is projected at $4.15 trillion for the current fiscal year which started on October 1 and runs through September...

In the final presidential debate, Hillary Clinton claimed that her proposals would “not add a penny to the debt.” But a nonpartisan budget watchdog group estimates that what she has detailed thus far would add $200 billion to the debt over 10 years. The same budget experts estimate Trump’s proposals would add significantly more — $5.3 trillion — to the debt over 10 years. Clinton, however, made the misleading claim that Trump’s tax cuts would “add $20 trillion to the debt.” That’s a two-decade figure — a point Clinton leaves out — and it doesn’t account for any spending cuts...

Want to work in a field that has more than quadrupled in size since 1960? Consider being a regulator for the federal government. Even during the last recession, the regulatory agencies were hiring. In 2015, the U.S. government employed more than 277,000 regulators. To put that number in perspective, it’s 50,000 more workers than General Motors Co. employs throughout the entire world. We’ve all heard of the regulatory agencies that constitute the “fourth branch” of government. It has cost our economy over $100 billion during the Obama administration.

The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice has provided oversight and recommendations for improvement of police services in a number of cities with consent decrees. This is one of the most effective ways to reduce discrimination in law enforcement and it needs to be beefed up and increased to cover as many of the 18,000-plus local law enforcement jurisdictions.” That was United Nations Rapporteur Maina Kai on July 27, a representative of the U.N. Human Rights Council, who on the tail-end of touring the U.S., endorsed a little-known and yet highly controversial practice by the Justice Department to...

Our federal government was not assumed by royalty or nobility, but was created by the sovereign states. The creature and the limited delegated authority entrusted to it at creation cannot be superior in power to their creator. The federal government may be larger in size, but not necessarily greater in authority. Understanding this foundational principle and enforcing proper governmental boundaries are essential to protecting the people from the tyranny of a large, centralized government. America’s application of this principle is unique in that local elected officials are not considered lesser in terms of authority, but greater. For example, county sheriffs...

After days of violence and heightened racial tensions in the U.S., the White House responded this week to an online petition asking the federal government to formally label the Black Lives Matter movement as a "terror group." "Terrorism is defined as 'the use of violence and intimidation in pursuit of political aims,'" read the "We The People" petition, created July 6 on the White House website. "This definition is the same definition used to declare ISIS and other groups, as terrorist organizations." Black Lives Matter, the petition said, "earned this title due to its actions in Ferguson, Baltimore, and even...

A recently-released report confirms what Common Core critics have suspected all along: Common Core State Standards do not adequately prepare students for college-level work. The ACT report finds many concerning shortcomings in the Common Core State Standards, which have been adopted by most states. Notably, the report reveals: While secondary teachers may be focusing on source-based writing [essays written about source-based documents], as emphasized in the Common Core, college instructors appear to value the ability to generate sound ideas more than some key features of source-based writing.

Mail arrives in my inbox all the time, telling me that by going to Mexico I have sold out, fled, abandoned the United States. I’m a coward and a traitor, just like Lord Haw Haw, and Kim Philby, and probably hate America more than Barack Obama does. It is is irrational. They think that just because I went to Mexico, I left the US. They don’t understand. I didn’t leave the United States. It left me. It was a bait-and-switch operation. I signed on to one country, and they slipped another in under me. I want my money back. In...

The federal government spends more than $1.7 billion a year to maintain 770,000 empty buildings while other agencies are leasing or buying new space, and Rep. Jeff Denham is fed up. This is something that hasn’t been handled in Republican or Democrat administrations because it’s too big of a bureaucracy,” Denham (R-Turlock) said in an interview in his office. “There’s no incentive for the agencies to sell.” He said if politicians are going to talk about cutting government waste, selling empty buildings is a good start. ... We have very little communication between agencies,” Denham said. “We’ve seen agencies that...

More proof that Trump would clean up Washington DC– In a recent poll – 25% of federal workers say they would consider leaving their jobs if Donald Trump becomes president. Gov Exec reported: Donald Trump leads the Republican field among federal employees, but many still say they would never work for him. One in four federal workers would consider leaving their jobs if Trump were elected president, according to a new survey conducted by the Government Business Council, Government Executive Media Group’s research arm. About 14 percent of respondents said they would definitely consider leaving federal service under President Trump,...

February 1, 2016Trump Effect - Federal Government Auto-Balances Deficit Before Even First Vote Counted by sundance Fantastic News !!! This is beyond stunning. 25% of Federal Government Employees agree to quit their jobs if Donald Trump wins the presidency. This action would thereby guarantee a balanced budget within the first fiscal year of his administration.(Via Executive Government) Donald Trump leads the Republican field among federal employees, but many still say they would never work for him.One in four federal workers would consider leaving their jobs if Trump were elected president, according to a new survey conducted by the Government Business...

Activists protesting federal land mismanagement and the imprisonment of Dwight and Steven Hammond recently occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters building in Oregon. Some facts, context and perspective may help people understand what's really going on here. At its core, this is about the often callous, iron-fisted hand of the federal government being slammed down on American citizens. Examples abound - from the IRS targeting 200 conservative groups, to the seizure of cars and bank accounts of innocent business owners, to heavily armed Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) agents bursting into Gibson Guitar facilities over phony exotic wood violations,...

Fannie Mae, the federally sanctioned mortgage giant, has just announced a new program that shows that they learned absolutely nothing from the last real estate meltdown. This new program, called "HomeReady" in a fit of hopeful and wishful thinking, reduces loan underwriting standards. It's designed to allow "underserved" individuals the opportunity to buy a home - focused primarily on low-income and minority borrowers. Other than the last group of under qualified borrower-friendly loans and regulations from the mid-2000s, it's the stupidest real estate loan idea that I've ever seen. The new loan "features" reduced credit score requirements and allows borrowed...

More than half of the nation's governors say they will not accept Syrian refugees in their states, but they may have little choice. States cannot pick and choose which refugees to take in, federal officials with the Health and Human Services Department's Office of Refugee Resettlement warned in a letter sent out last week. If they deny services to any group of refugees, states may risk losing resettlement funding altogether. "States that continue to use ORR funding must ensure that assistance and services are delivered without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex, or political opinion," ORR Director Robert Carey wrote....

Chairs hearing focusing on how the federal government undermines state and local law enforcement Sen. Cruz Opening Statement - How the Fed Govt Undermines State & Local Law Enforcement (video) WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) chaired a hearing of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts titled “The War on Police: How the Federal Government Undermines State and Local Law Enforcement.” This hearing, consisting of two panels, highlighted the challenges facing police officers and how the federal government can impact law enforcement nationwide.“The men and women of law enforcement risk their life...