When President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, launched in early 2025, it promised to reshape federal operations through aggressive cost-cutting and workforce reduction. But beyond the controversial headlines about incentivized resignations and contract cuts, a quieter movement is emerging to actually improve how government works.
The Recoding America Fund, led by Jennifer Pahlka, is raising 120 million dollars over six years to tackle the real infrastructure problems that plague government agencies. Rather than simply cutting budgets, this initiative focuses on modernizing IT operations, attracting better talent, and implementing product-driven operating models that encourage rapid iteration instead of one-off projects.
What's striking is that Pahlka sees opportunity in the current moment. She's described DOGE as moving what she calls the Overton window for change at unprecedented speed and scale. The fund isn't criticizing efficiency efforts, but rather asking a different question: while government is being disrupted, why not rebuild it better?
The approach is deliberately bipartisan. The fund's advisory council includes AI advisers from both Trump and Biden administrations, recognizing that neither party has a monopoly on good governance. Robert Gordon, who's leading state-level initiatives, points out that Democrats and Republicans largely agree on what they want from government: fast DMV experiences, efficient permitting processes, and well-maintained infrastructure. The disagreement typically centers on policy goals, not operational systems.
Early work focuses on state governments, where there's reportedly more consensus than at the federal level. The fund plans direct support for governor's offices alongside grant-making to build a broader ecosystem of organizations capable of supporting government modernization.
However, skeptics like Maryland's former chief information officer Michael Leahy note that government agencies tend to hide operational failures rather than acknowledge them honestly. He's reserved judgment until seeing concrete results.
The question facing listeners now is whether targeted investment in government infrastructure can actually compete with the raw disruption currently underway. Can building better systems move faster than cutting them? The next six years will tell whether DOGE thinking can evolve from simply cutting government to genuinely improving it.
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