The Trump administration moved forward on Wednesday, planning to conduct more massive shots throughout the federal government hours after President Trump reiterated his support for Elon Musk and efforts to narrow the federal government.
Thousands of federal workers have been fired in recent weeks, mainly targeting those with probation conditions. The Office of Personnel Management, which manages the federal workforce, also said about 75,000 workers accepted offers for deferred resignations in exchange for seven months of wages and benefits.
Several recent polls have shown that Americans disagree with Musk’s efforts to lay off employees than approved efforts, while Republican House members faced raucous opposition at City Hall. During his first cabinet meeting, Mr. Trump made it clear that he fully supported Mr. Musk, asking, “Is anyone not satisfied with Elon?” He continued as the nervous laughter began to ripple around the room, “If you are, we will kick him out of here.”
Russell T. Vought, head of the White House Budget Office, and Charles Ezell, acting head of the Office of Personnel Management, issued a memorandum to government leaders asking government leaders to prepare plans for additional “massive reduction” plans in the federal workforce in March and April.
In some cases, to the greatest extent permitted by law, the federal bureaucracy is deprecated as “swelling” and “corruption”, requiring substantial reductions in institutions. One line in the memorandum says: “The focus should be on the elimination of functions that are not legally authorized to the greatest extent.”
The memorandum said plans for the next phase should be submitted by March 13. The “Phase II” plan for the cut should be submitted by April 14.
In addition to layoffs, the memorandum also suggests that “proposed relocation of agencies and offices” may occur, suggesting that certain institutions based on the national capital or nearby may “transfer to areas with less cost in the country”.
It is not clear which institutions can target relocations. President Trump suggested at a cabinet meeting earlier Wednesday that the Education Department had previously said the education sector that should be completely closed was an agency that could be relocated.
“You go around and see all these buildings, the Department of Education,” Trump said. “We want to move education back to the state where it belongs.”
The memorandum also outlines a few exceptions to the layoff program, saying post offices, military service members and positions related to national security, border security, immigration or public safety will be exempted.
The memo said the cuts would be left to agent leaders, while adding that they “should work with their Governor’s team leader.” Members of Mr. Musk’s team have been assigned to government agencies and have access to agency computer systems and record databases.
Later Wednesday, Mr. Trump signed an executive order that further authorized Doge or the Department of Government Efficiency to review and withhold payments from agencies. This order instructs each institution to compile a database of all payments (each payment has a written payment reason) and will be published publicly.
The order also appears to freeze all government credit cards (except disaster relief and “other critical services”) used by employees for the next 30 days. The order appears to acknowledge that the freeze could extend the administration’s restrictions, saying the order should be “to the maximum extent permitted by law”.
