DOGE raises questions, confusion for local org. impacted by cuts  – NBC10 Philadelphia

The Department of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE, estimates that it has saved more than $100 billion in taxpayer money, but the agency has not been transparent as to how.

On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump created DOGE and named Elon Musk to lead it, but Musk has since stepped down.

The NBC10 Investigators has found that, under Musk’s leadership, the group reported eliminating tens of thousands of federal grants, contracts and leases as it was tasked with “maximizing governmental efficiency and productivity.”

One local nonprofit organization, the 21st Century Partnership for STEM Education, was funded through a $24 million government contract that was awarded in 2018.

The funds have been used for building schools and creating a STEM curriculum for Egyptian students, and it didn’t take long for DOGE to reach out to the nonprofit.

“We reinvented the curriculum from the ground up,” the organization’s president F. Joseph Merlino said. “What it is, is a very small amount of money going a very long way.”

But, the future of the organization and its work in Egypt remain uncertain under DOGE cuts.

“We get a lot of benefit as a country. From what we do overseas, in terms of the goodwill that it provides, in terms of innovation that we can test out,” Merlino explained.

First, six days after Pres. Trump’s inauguration, the organization said that they got a suspension notice.

Then, one month after that letter, Merlino said the organization got a termination letter.

A spokesperson with the U.S. State Department told NBC10 that the contract was cancelled because, “The program has been determined to not fit within the standards laid out by Secretary Rubio for U.S. foreign assistance.”

Merlino said that he believes it was impossible for the federal government to know that so early into Pres. Trump’s second term.

“We got a survey asking us to talk about ourselves and what we had done. And they were going to use that to evaluate us but we had already gotten the termination notice, so that’s why I knew it was b.s.,” Merlino said.

Early on, Elon Musk said that DOGE will make mistakes.

“I wish we knew a lot more than we do,” University of Pennsylvania law professor Cary Coglianese said. “The operation of something like DOGE is unprecedented. And so, if you ask a lawyer whether something is legal or not, he’s going to look for precedent. And so, in the absence of precedent, it’s hard to say.”

NBC10 Investigators asked the White House to explain the DOGE vetting process, and a spokesperson said that, “DOGE assesses awards for mission criticality, redundancy, underutilization, alignment with priorities and descoping potential to determine action.”

As for Merlino, the nonprofit’s work abroad is currently in limbo.

Days after NBC10’s interview with him, the organization’s contract was no longer listed as terminated on DOGE’s website and the contract said it was modified, but stating funding action only.

It’s unclear why or what “funding action only” means in this situation.

“It’s all shut down,” Merlino said.

Some of the decisions made by DOGE are being challenged in courts throughout the country.