The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has sought to save billions of dollars by cutting programs it says are not in line with the Trump administration's priorities.
The online investigative newsroom Capital & Main is launching its DOGE Impact Tracker this week. The nonprofit outlet is named after two streets in California's capital city of Sacramento.
For the past two months, it has focused on writing and aggregating stories that detail the human impact of the drastic cuts.
Capital & Main formally launches its campaign Wednesday, in an effort to reach out across the U.S. to get voices heard.
“We pick up stories about impacts being felt on a local level across the country, from Louisiana to Hawaiʻi to Tennessee and Vermont, all over the country, and just kind of compile them and document them,” senior reporter Marcus Baram told The Conversation.
He said that rather than focus only on government employees, the DOGE Impact Tracker also hopes to share human stories about the effects of cuts to programs for children, working-class families, farmers, veterans and more.
"Unfortunately, you don't see too much of this coverage. That's why we really wanted to do it all in one place," Baram said. "I thought it was really important to outline the real-world impact of a lot of these budget cuts and policy changes.”
The site will also invite the public to contribute stories about how they’ve been impacted.
This interview aired on The Conversation on April 29, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
