In the Press: Shutdown RIFs, Troop Pay, and DOGE

Some recent media appearances

Romina Boccia on Free the Economy

I was recently quoted in CNBC, The Hill, and the New York Times on reductions in force (RIFs), pay for military troops during the government shutdown, and the legacy of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). I also appeared on the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s podcast Free the Economy to talk about our book, Reimagining Social Security, and the path for reform.

CNBC quotes me on the Trump administration leveraging the government shutdown as an opportunity for RIFs:

“This administration believes firmly that federal government employees serve at the pleasure of the president,” said Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at libertarian think tank the Cato Institute. “And so they are targeting those employees and programs and projects that are not in alignment with the goals the administration is trying to achieve.”

In The Hill, I discussed the dubious legality of diverting unobligated funds to pay military troops:

Romina Boccia, the director of budget and entitlement policy at the libertarian Cato Institute, told The Hill on Monday that “technically speaking, Congress can rescind unobligated balances and repurpose them,” but “for the administration to repurpose funds unilaterally is likely illegal.”

“An unobligated balance does not give the administration the right to use the money as it wishes,” Boccia said. “If Congress wants to ensure that America’s troops will be paid during the ongoing government shutdown, Congress should pass a bill that authorizes funding to pay the troops.”

In the New York Times I tied the legacy of DOGE to the expansion of executive power:

That confusion has outlasted Mr. Musk’s focus on the federal budget. And with it, the president has expanded his power to act without cluing in either legislators or the public, said Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the libertarian Cato Institute.

“That’s the struggle we’re witnessing: ultimately not so much about reducing the size and scope of government in a sustainable manner,” she said, “and more about increasing executive power and finding out how much you can actually just do with the executive.”

A podcast conversation on Free the Economy (CEI) on the politics, math, and path forward for Social Security reform

Social Security’s finances are deep in the red, and every year of delay makes fixing the program’s financing gap that much harder. Social Security is already running a payroll tax deficit, which makes ideas like private retirement accounts especially tricky—young workers would have to pay twice, once to fund today’s retirees and again to save for their own future. There are no more payroll tax surpluses to invest. Effective reform means slowing the growth in benefit payments to avert crushing tax hikes on small businesses and younger workers. Other countries have pulled off tough entitlement reforms by relying on independent advisory commissions—something Congress should learn consider. On Free the Economy with the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Richard Morrison, I emphasized how an independent fiscal commission, modeled after the Cold War–era BRAC, could help lawmakers finally move past the policy stalemate and fix Social Security to protect opportunity for future generations. Listen here.