In his first year back in office, President Trump has made unparalleled changes to the federal government, shrinking its footprint both in the services it provides and the size of its work force.
The extent of the effect on the public so far is unclear. Some of the White House’s moves are stalled by a mountain of litigation — more than 200 lawsuits have been filed challenging the firings of federal workers and the freezing of grants and elimination of programs, a vast majority of which are still pending. And agencies have not fully detailed the number of staff members and services that have been cut, making it difficult to discern the full scope of the difference between today’s federal government and the one from a year ago.
Mr. Trump pledged in February to make the government “smaller, more efficient, more effective and a lot less expensive.”
