President Trump has initiated dramatic federal layoffs as part of an aggressive downsizing effort. At a tense cabinet meeting, Elon Musk took center stage, outlining bold proposals to slash government spending, a move that has sparked fierce debate and uncertainty among federal workers and lawmakers.
On Wednesday, a star-studded first cabinet meeting featured downsizing czar Elon Musk, who discussed his lofty budget-cutting goals, and the president’s administration ordered government agencies to lay off additional staff on a big scale, Reuters reports.
The federal workforce is already struggling due to the waves of layoffs and program cuts imposed by Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. A recent memo has required departments to submit plans for a “substantial decrease” in staffing by March 13. The exact amount of additional layoffs was not disclosed.
This memorandum is a huge step forward in Trump and Musk’s effort to reduce the size of the federal government.
Workers on probation have been the primary targets of layoffs so far since they are less secure in their current positions and have less tenure overall. The much larger group of seasoned government employees would be the focus of the subsequent round.
President Trump announced at the cabinet meeting that EPA administrator Lee Zeldin intends to lay off as many as 65 percent of his more than 15,000 workers.
Bureaus like the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have been instructed to be ready for staff cutbacks of up to 40%, according to a source from the Interior Department who spoke with Reuters on Tuesday.
Out of the 2.3 million civilian federal workers in the country, some 100,000 have been let go or received buyout offers.
A few members of Trump’s cabinet had resisted his recent requirement that all staff defend their job or face termination, so the president extended an unprecedented invitation to the billionaire to brag about his work to them.
The U.S. Senate did not approve Musk for cabinet status, and despite Trump’s claims to the contrary and Musk’s involvement with DOGE, the White House has asserted in court documents that he is not responsible for the department.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who was seen by cabinet secretaries in a black “Make America Great Again” baseball cap and a T-shirt reading “tech support,” was certain that he can slash the $6.7 trillion budget by $1 trillion this year. Significant disruption of government programs is expected to result from such an extraordinarily ambitious goal.
To show his support for Musk’s initiative, Trump gave Musk the floor at the beginning of the meeting and then asked the assembled officials, “Is anyone unhappy with Elon?” to a mix of applause and laughter.
In a later executive order on Wednesday, Trump ordered the General Services Administration, which is responsible for managing government real estate, to devise a strategy for the disposal of any unused property and directed agencies to collaborate with DOGE in reviewing and terminating all “unnecessary” contracts.
Trump and Musk have not been successful in reducing expenditure rates so far. Rising interest payments on the debt and health and retirement expenditures caused by an aging population accounted for the majority of the 13% increase in government spending during Trump’s first month in office compared to the same period last year, according to a Reuters analysis.
Popular health and retirement benefits use over half of the budget; Trump reaffirmed his commitment to avoid eliminating these programs.
“We’re not going to touch it,” Trump stated.
Trump is also trying to get Congress to prolong the tax cuts he implemented in 2017 before they expire. The independent Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has calculated that the tax cuts of 2017 increased the national debt by $2.5 trillion, bringing it to $36 trillion. They also predict that, over a decade, it might cost more than $5 trillion to continue the cuts.
To fund the tax cuts, Republicans are considering slashing healthcare spending and food assistance programs, although details are still sketchy.
Federal employees were caught unawares over the weekend by an email demanding that they detail their week’s achievements; ignoring this requirement, according to Musk, would lead to termination. The request caught some cabinet secretaries off guard.
There was days of uncertainty over whether Musk and Trump could actually carry out the threat after certain agencies instructed workers to disregard the order.
The wealthiest man in the world, Elon Musk, said to the cabinet that he wanted to know if government payments were actually going to real people.
He said, without presenting proof, that his group believes some government employees are deceased.
The possibility of job loss was raised by Trump once again in reference to the approximately one million employees who did not reply to Musk’s email.
Construction projects and scientific research have been hampered, and foreign aid has been blocked, as a result of the extraordinary government makeover led by Trump and Musk.
The Trump administration announced the cancellation of roughly 10,000 grants and contracts in a court filing on Wednesday. The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development were involved.
A source informed us that the General Services Administration (GSA), often known as the government’s landlord, intends to terminate 1,100 office leases by the year’s end.
According to the source, the terminations will primarily affect so-called soft-term leases, which are now easier to terminate and do not incur cancellation fees. There are thousands of “firm-term” leases that the GSA oversees, which cannot be terminated without cause, and around 2,800 soft-term leases overall.
Luis Gochoco is a seasoned managing editor and writer with over a decade of experience covering politics, technology, gaming, and entertainment news. With a keen eye for breaking stories and in-depth analysis, he has established himself as a trusted voice in digital journalism. Luis is one of the key forces behind the success of GameNGuide, contributing to 12 million views through engaging and high-traffic content. He also played a pivotal role in generating 8 million views on International Business Times, shaping the platform’s technology and gaming coverage.
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