US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered federal agencies to undertake more large-scale lay-offs of workers, while the president let downsizing czar Elon Musk take a star role at his first cabinet meeting and discuss his ambitious budget-cutting targets.
A new memo instructed agencies to submit plans by March 13 for a “significant reduction” in staffing to a federal workforce already reeling from waves of lay-offs and program cuts by Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. It did not specify the number of new lay-offs.
The memo represents a major escalation in Trump and Musk’s campaign to slash the size of the US government.
Thus far, the lay-offs have focused on probationary workers. The next round will target the vastly bigger pool of veteran civil servants.
At the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump said Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, planned to cut up to 65 per cent of his more than 15,000 employees.
Some 100,000 of the nation’s 2.3 million civilian federal workers have been fired or taken buyouts.
Trump offered Musk an extraordinary sign of support by inviting the billionaire to tout his work to the presidential cabinet, some of whom had pushed back on his recent demand that all of their employees justify their work or face termination.
Musk is not a cabinet-level official – and faced no approval by the US Senate – and the White House has claimed in court papers that he is not in charge of DOGE, even though Trump has said he was and Musk aides staff DOGE.
As cabinet secretaries looked on, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO – wearing a black “Make America Great Again” baseball cap and a T-shirt reading “tech support” – expressed confidence he could cut the $US6.7 trillion ($A10.7 trillion) budget by $US1 trillion in 2025 – an extremely ambitious target would likely significantly disrup government programs.
Trump made it clear he backed Musk’s effort, giving him the floor at the top of the meeting and later asking the gathered officials, “Is anyone unhappy with Elon?” to scattered laughs.
Thus far, Trump and Musk have failed to slow the rate of spending.
According to a Reuters analysis, the government spent 13 per cent more during Trump’s first month in office than during the same time in 2024, largely due to higher interest payments on the debt and rising health and retirement costs incurred by an ageing population.
Trump reiterated his promise not to cut popular health and retirement benefits, which account for nearly half of the budget.
“We’re not going to touch it,” said Trump.
Trump is simultaneously pushing Congress to extend his 2017 tax cuts, set to expire at year’s end.
Republicans are weighing cuts to health care and food aid for the poor to help pay for the tax cuts, though specifics have not yet emerged.
Some cabinet secretaries were taken by surprise at the weekend when federal workers received an email requiring them to list their accomplishments for the week, a demand Musk said would result in termination if ignored.
Some agencies told employees to ignore the directive, prompting days of confusion over whether Musk and Trump could make good on the threat.
Musk, the world’s richest person, told the cabinet his email was an attempt to find out whether government pay cheques were going to actual workers.
Trump and Musk’s unprecedented government overhaul has also frozen foreign aid and disrupted construction projects and scientific research.
In a court filing on Wednesday, the Trump administration said the State Department and the US Agency for International Development had cancelled nearly 10,000 grants and contracts.
