唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)总统选择领导下届政府的人正在谈论废除整个机构，并一次性解雇数万名联邦工作人员。
但是他和他们真的能做到吗?
专家认为，与他的第一个任期相比，特朗普在这一轮改革中可以在颠覆政府系统方面取得更大进展，部分原因是典型的制衡机制预计将有利于他。
明年，众议院和参议院有望落入共和党的控制之下。特朗普在上次任职期间还获得了226名联邦法官和三名最高法院法官的确认——当他被起诉时，他的想法在法院得到了同情。
考虑到这一点，我们来看看特朗普可能会如何试图“打破”联邦政府:
总统不能真的删除整个机构，但他可以借鉴尼克松的做法，试图让它们挨饿
被特朗普任命为新的政府外“政府效率部”共同领导的埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)表示，他希望在7万亿美元的年度联邦支出中削减2万亿美元。他的合作伙伴Vivek Ramaswamy告诉福克斯新闻频道，他们将通过“大规模削减”来实现这一目标，一些政府机构可能会“彻底删除”
这个想法乍一看似乎有些牵强，因为联邦机构是由联邦法律建立的。例如，教育部是由吉米·卡特总统签署的国会1979年通过的一项法案创立的。
国会将需要通过新的立法来取消或大幅改革教育部——即使是在共和党领导的国会中，这也是一场艰苦的战斗。
进入1974年的蓄水控制法案。在美国存在的大部分时间里，理论上，总统可以忽略国会拨款的支出。
理查德·尼克松总统使用了搁置或扣押联邦资金的策略，当他认为支出是浪费时，基本上不动美国财政部账户中的资金。
民主党人在1974年通过了一项法律，要求总统按照国会的意图花费联邦资金。
在一个活动视频特朗普去年发布消息称，他将挑战《扣押控制法》。也有可能他会认为该法律违宪并试图忽视它——招致可能需要数年才能解决的法律挑战。
特朗普在共和党初选期间的一段视频中说:“在我们的政府制度下，200年来，总统拥有通过所谓的扣押来阻止不必要支出的宪法权力，这是无可争议的。”。
他后来补充说:“当我回到白宫，我将尽我所能在法庭上挑战扣押控制法案，如果有必要，让国会推翻它。”
特朗普可以让联邦工作人员的生活如此悲惨，以至于他们辞职
预计特朗普本任期将再次尝试的想法包括让一些联邦工作人员的生活不舒服，或将他们的工作转移到偏远地区。
在他的第一届政府中，特朗普暂时摧毁了内政部土地管理局，将其华盛顿总部迁至科罗拉多州的Grand Junction。官员们当时表示，这一想法是为了让领导层更接近他们所管理的土地和资源。但是绝大多数员工都辞职了，办公室也一直找不到员工来替代他们。
另一个策略可能是让工人更难提出申诉，或者剥夺他们的法律保护。
2020年秋天，在特朗普第一届政府的最后几个月，他发布了一项行政命令，该命令将创造一个处理政策相关职责的新员工阶层，从根本上剥夺了他们保住工作的法律保护。
在特朗普的第一届政府中，日程F的想法来得太晚了，没有产生重大影响，但预计这次会提前推出。
从长远来看，这种策略对纳税人来说是有风险的。虽然联邦工作人员的诉讼和投诉可能需要数年才能解决，但联邦政府可能会拖欠能够证明自己被错误解雇的工作人员的工资。
美国政府雇员联合会(American Federation of Government Employees)的通讯主任安德鲁·哈德斯顿(Andrew Huddleston)说，“向这件事妥协将对今天和未来几十年产生影响，”美国政府雇员联合会是代表反对特朗普当选的联邦雇员的最大工会。
“将由子孙后代来付出代价，”他说。
特朗普将外包预算计划，实际上隐藏了决策是如何做出的以及是谁做出的
为了重塑政府，特朗普需要在政府高层安插忠诚的盟友，并找到减缓法律挑战的方法。
他的建议之一是将美国联邦调查局对被任命者的背景调查外包给私人调查员，这一策略将使他能够雇用与他关系密切的人，即使有安全标志。
特朗普还呼吁在参议院使用“休会任命”，这是历任总统的常见举措。然而，对特朗普来说，只要众议院休会10天或更长时间，他的盟友就可以在没有美国联邦调查局安全检查或财务披露的情况下强行通过提名。共和党挑选的多数党领袖参议员约翰·图恩(John Thune)表示，他没有排除这个想法，尽管这意味着将参议院的“建议和同意”宪法确认权让给总统。
特朗普迫使变革的另一个策略可能是秘密制定他最大的计划，让对手更难反对和发起法律挑战。
拉马斯瓦米说，新的“政府效率部”，或DOGE，将作为一种私人咨询小组在政府之外运作。这意味着它的员工不会被要求提交财务披露或报告利益冲突。
不清楚谁在为DOGE工作，也不清楚决策是如何做出的。虽然马斯克曾表示，他希望员工免费工作，但如果这意味着能够影响未来纳税人的钱是如何花费的，行业游说者可能会迫不及待地签约。
马斯克拥有火箭公司太空探索技术公司，他指责联邦法规减缓了他到达火星的追求，并监管着与联邦政府的数十亿美元的合同，包括军用卫星。Ramaswamy创建了生物技术公司Roivant Sciences，并仍然是一个利益相关者，该利益相关者也可以从经济上受益，这取决于未来联邦法规的制定。
在美国第一政策研究所(America First Policy Institute)上周举办的庆祝活动上，特朗普表示，马斯克和拉马斯瓦米是改组政府的完美搭档。
特朗普说:“我们将减少监管、浪费、欺诈和低效率，这两个人会发现很多这种情况。”
Can he do that? How Trump could try to break the federal government
President Donald Trump's picks to lead the next administration are talking about abolishing entire agencies and firing tens of thousands of federal workers at a time.
But can he and they actually do all that?
Experts believe Trump can get much further on upending the government system this go-around compared to his first term -- in part because the typical checks and balances are expected to lean in his favor.
Next year, the House and Senate are on track to fall under Republican control. Trump also got 226 federal judges and three Supreme Court justices confirmed while he was in office last time -- giving his ideas a sympathetic ear in the courts when he gets sued.
With that in mind, here's a look at how Trump could try to "break" the federal government:
A president can't really delete entire agencies, but he could take a page from Nixon to try to starve them
Elon Musk, who Trump has picked to co-lead the new outside-of-government "Department of Government Efficiency," has said he wants to cut $2 trillion of the $7 trillion in annual federal spending. His partner, Vivek Ramaswamy, told Fox News that they would achieve this through "mass reductions" and that some governmental agencies may be "deleted outright."
The idea seems far-fetched at first because federal agencies are established by federal law. The Department of Education, for example, was created by a 1979 passed by Congress signed by President Jimmy Carter.
Congress would need to pass new legislation to erase or significantly reform the Education Department -- an uphill battle even with a Republican-led Congress.
Enter the 1974 Impoundment Control Act. For much of the country's existence, presidents could, in theory, ignore spending money appropriated by Congress.
President Richard Nixon used the tactic of sitting on -- or impounding -- federal money, essentially leaving funds untouched in U.S. Treasury accounts when he thought the spending was wasteful.
Democrats responded in 1974 by passing a law that requires a president to spend federal money the way Congress intended.
In acampaign videoposted last year, Trump said he would challenge the Impoundment Control Act. It's possible too that he could deem the law unconstitutional and try to ignore it -- inviting legal challenges that could take years to resolve.
"For 200 years under our system of government, it was undisputed that the president had the constitutional power to stop unnecessary spending through what is known as impoundment," Trump said in a video during the GOP primaries.
He later added: "When I returned to the White House, I will do everything I can to challenge the Impoundment Control Act in court, and, if necessary, get Congress to overturn it."
Trump can make federal workers' lives so miserable that they quit
Among the ideas Trump is expected to try again this term is to make the lives of some federal workers uncomfortable or to relocate their jobs to remote locations.
In his first administration, Trump temporarily decimated the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management by relocating its Washington headquarters to Grand Junction, Colorado. The idea, officials said at the time, was to put leadership closer to the lands and resources they manage. But the vast majority of the workers quit and the office never was able to find employees to replace them.
Another tactic could be to make it harder for workers to file grievances or strip them of legal protections.
In fall of 2020, during the final months of Trump's first administration, he issued an executive order that would have created a new class of employees handling policy-related duties, essentially stripping them from legal protections that kept them in their jobs.
The idea of Schedule F came too late in Trump's first administration to have a significant impact, but it's one expected to be pushed early on this time.
The tactic is risky to taxpayers in the long term. While lawsuits and complaints by federal workers could take years to resolve, the federal government could owe back pay to workers who can prove they were wrongfully terminated.
"Taking a hatchet to this stuff will have an impact today and for decades to come," said Andrew Huddleston, communications director of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal employees that opposed Trump's election.
"It will be the future generations that pay the price," he said.
Trump will outsource budget plans, effectively hiding how decisions are made and who is making them
In order to remake the government, Trump will need to install loyal allies across senior levels of the government and find ways to slow down legal challenges.
Among his proposals is to outsource FBI background checks for appointees to private investigators, a tactic that would enable him to hire people close to him even if there are security flags.
Trump also has called for the use of "recess appointments" in the Senate, a common move by past presidents. For Trump though, it could enable his allies to ram through nominations without FBI security checks or financial disclosures so long as the chamber is adjourned for 10 days or longer. Sen. John Thune, the GOP's pick as majority leader, said he hasn't ruled out the idea, even though it would mean ceding the Senate's "advise and consent" constitutional confirmation power to the president.
Another Trump tactic for forcing change could be developing his biggest plans in secret, making it harder for opponents to object and mount legal challenges.
Ramaswamy said the new 'Department of Government Efficiency', or DOGE, will operate outside of government as a kind of private advisory group. That means its staff won't be required to submit financial disclosures or report conflicts of interest.
It won't be clear who is doing work for DOGE or how decisions are made. And while Musk has said he wants staff to work for free, it's likely industry lobbyists would eagerly sign up if it means being able to influence how future taxpayer money is spent.
Musk, who owns the rocket company SpaceX, has blamed federal regulations slowing his quest to reach Mars and oversees billions in contracts with the federal government, including military satellites. Ramaswamy founded the biotech firm Roivant Sciences and remains a stakeholder who also could benefit financially depending upon how future federal regulations are written.
At last week's gala hosted by the America First Policy Institute, Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy make the perfect pair to shake up the government.
"We're going to reduce regulation, waste, fraud, and inefficiency, and these two guys are going to find a lot of it," Trump said.
