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Musk, Trump gut government agencies

Trump: DOE, Pentagon next in cross-hairs

By: Josy Garrison
and Erin Mansfield
USA Today

WASHINGTON - Elon Musk has mounted a blitzkrieg though the federal government three weeks into President Donald Trump's second term, taking over federal infrastructure and feverishly gutting departments in a battle to produce the small government Republicans have long demanded.
..... It's an arrangement like no other in U.S. history: Trump has empowered Musk too take down the federal bureaucracy from within the White House alongside a group of 20-somethings lieutenants that make up his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
..... The billionaire tech entrepreneur has installed loyalists into agencies and reveled in the chaos he;s created, using the social media company he owns, X, to update the nation on his latest targets as the DOGE team moves systematically from one deportment to another.
..... His efforts have cerated showdowns in court that could ultimately deiced whether Trump has the executive authority to dismantle the federal government in the way musk envisions.

Bout plan for federal employees

..... Trump, guided by Musk and DOGE, has offered buyouts to all 2.3 million federal employees in a push to drastically cut the federal workforce.
..... The Trump administration offered all federal workers eight months of pay in exchange for their immediate terminations. Those who stay in their jobs have been told they must return to in-person work, embrace new "performance standards" and be "reliable., loyal and trustworthy: in their work, among other new "reforms" across the government."
..... But federal employees' unions have challenged the legality of the program in court. A federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday [02/10/2025] extended a pause on the buyouts until a ruling is made on the legality of the program. It was unclear when the judge will rule.
..... Democrats have warned federal workers that Trump can't be trusted to deliver on the eight months of pay, noting that the federal government isn't funded beyond March 14. [2025]
..... The Trump administration has signaled layoffs or furloughs could be in step for federal workers who don't accept the deal. The Office of Personnel Management, which Trump's team has taken over, has asked department heads to provide list so of their lowest performing employees.

Accessing US Treasury data

..... Under a Day 1 executive order, Trump turned an obscure federal agency, the United States Digital Service, into DOGE and instructed department heads to give the new agency "full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems."
..... The Treasury Department gave Musk's team access to the federal system that pays the nations bills, a move that has prompted widespread concern about his access to personal information and the potential to deny payment to people and entities who expect them.
..... A lawsuit form three labor groups says DOGE was unable to get access to the system until Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was sworn in, placed a civil servant who had opposed the access on leave and provided access to Musk and his team.
..... Bessent wrote in a public letter February 4 [2025] that the revise of payments system is being overseen by Tim Kurause, a tech executive and Musk ally who was affiliated with DOGE. Bessent wrote that Kruase in now a Treasury employee.

Closing down USAID

..... As his first department to target, Musk shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development, the federal agency that oversees foreign aid,. However, a federal judge last Friday [20/07/2025] halted elements of the shutdown, putting the effort in jeopardy.
..... Nearly all of the approximately 10,000 USAID employees worldwide last week [02/05/2025] were placed on administrative leave after the Trump administration announced the closure of USAID's Washington headquarters. Trump has named Secretary of State Marco Rubio the agency's new acting director as USAID merges with the State Department.
..... The take-down of USAID - which has ceased U.S. humanitarian aid in other nations - could become a template for the Trump administration to try to take down other agencies and departments.

CFB stops work

..... Mirroring efforts to shut down USAID, Musk and the Trump administration are now taking aim at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - an agency long criticize by Republicans.
..... Over the weekend [02/08-09/2025] Trump's Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought order staff at the agency to stop all work "effective immediately."
..... Vought, the CFPB's acting director, also ordered employees not to start or continue investigations, to stop existing investigations, to not approve or issue proposed rules or guidance and not issue any public communications.
.... Rohit Chophra, former DFPB director in the Biden administration, was fired by Trump this month [02/2025] after a tenure in which many in the financial industry accused him of regulatory overreach. under his watch, the CFPB capped overdraft fees charged by banks, worked to stop businesses from hiding "junk fees" from consumers and led the removal of medical debt from credit reports.

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