bits and pieces here and there in other threads, this topic deserves its own thread gift link from WaPo will work for everyone https://wapo.st/4aYTLFR Musk team kicks off federal layoffs as White House eyes big cuts The Trump administration’s plan for shrinking the civilian workforce is coming into increasingly clear view. Updated February 12, 2025 at 7:16 p.m. EST By Emily Davies, Jeff Stein, Hannah Natanson, Lisa Rein and Tony Romm Billionaire Elon Musk’s team has initiated sweeping layoffs of federal employees, as the Trump administration races to shrink the government’s civilian workforce. An official with the Office of Personnel Management, which is now run by Musk allies, emailed staff Wednesday morning stating that widespread layoffs — known as “reductions in force” — have begun and are already overwhelming the small agency that functions as a human resources department for the government, according to a copy of the message obtained by The Washington Post. OPM has also begun to assert more control over all federal hiring, according to four employees of the agency and additional internal communications also obtained by The Post. Late Wednesday, a federal judge also lifted a pause on a deferred resignation program that would pay workers through September if they quit now, and the administration said it would not accept new applications. The developments reflect the accelerating pace of the effort by Trump and Musk to defang the federal workforce, a campaign they view as necessary to enact their conservative agenda and slash spending. On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order telling agency heads to “promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force,” and formally giving Musk’s team power over agency hiring in its drive to shed civil servants. Meanwhile, White House officials are eyeing cuts to agency budgets of between 30 and 40 percent, on average, across the government — centered on significant staff reductions, according to two other people briefed on internal conversations, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to recount private deliberations. That target would vary greatly, and it’s expected to exempt agencies favored by President Donald Trump, such as the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Department. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on that figure. The people cautioned those plans are not yet finalized and could change. If Musk and Trump succeed, they could bring about one of the most substantial transformations of the nation’s civilian workforce in decades, leaving Trump with even more power while also dramatically scaling back what regulations agencies attempt to enact and enforce. But legal roadblocks have emerged that could thwart many of their ambitions. Critics are warning of unintended consequences for vital services, and budget experts point out gutting the civil service won’t do much to lower the federal deficit, which is primarily driven by spending on large programs such as Medicare, Social Security and the military. Career staff and U.S. DOGE Service aides have clashed over efforts to freeze new hires. A backlog of unfilled positions is building even in critical agencies — such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, where badly needed doctors and nurses have been blocked from final approval to start work even though they are supposed to be exempt from a hiring freeze Trump ordered. “The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get,” Musk said in the Oval Office on Tuesday. “They’re going to get what they voted for.” Termination emails ‘sent in error’ The administration’s drive to move quickly has already spawned confusion across much of Washington — and yielded apparent mistakes as political appointees and civil servants alike struggle to understand what is coming. Employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for instance, received an email Tuesday saying they were being terminated while on their probationary period. But the email, signed by HR representative Adam Martinez, included unfinished placeholders, addressing the memo to “[EmployeeFirstName] [EmployeeLastName]” and noting, “I am removing you from your position of [JobTitle],” according to a copy obtained by The Post. Similarly, probationary employees at the Small Business Administration received emails Friday and Monday notifying them of their termination — before receiving a second email Monday revoking the dismissal, according to copies obtained by The Post. The Monday email said the notification was “sent in error — and as such, is not currently in effect.” “If you are in receipt of the initial notice,” the email read, “your employment has not been terminated as was erroneously indicated in the initial notice.” On Tuesday, the employees received a third email: Once again, they were let go. Internal confusion also has emerged over DOGE’s efforts to stop new hires. Trump mandated a 90-day hiring freeze across the government on his first day back in office, but many operations are supposed to be exempt, including large swaths of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Homeland Security and other national security agencies. Yet even exempted hiring appears to have been ensnared by the changes. At DOGE’s bidding, developers at OPM last week installed a road bump in an online hiring system that requires each new hire to be personally approved by a political appointee in the office of the agency’s acting director, Charles Ezell, who works from a regional office in Macon, Georgia, three OPM employees said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks. Because of the change, the USAStaffing module for new hires across the government has been locked down for at least a week, multiple OPM employees said. At Veterans Affairs, which unlike many federal agencies provides direct services to constituents, large swaths of the health-care workforce in hospitals and clinics around the country are supposed to be exempt from the hiring freeze. Yet physicians, nurses and other medical professionals who have accepted job offers in recent weeks are still awaiting final approval and cannot start their jobs, according to two agency personnel officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because, like others in the they were not authorized to talk publicly. “It already can take a long time to get through credentialing, background checks and other stuff for clinical staff, so having added delays with no idea how long they will last is going to cause harm to veterans,” one employee said. All over the country, candidates selected for nursing and physician openings have been unable to proceed with any of the final steps to begin work for more than a week, the people said. “VA is working with OPM to ensure hiring expected roles during the freeze is as efficient as possible and in line with the president’s priorities,” a VA spokesperson said. An OPM spokeswoman said the agency is processing exempted hiring now. more
conclusion ‘The president can move forward’ Despite the confusion, the intensifying blitz has clarified some key elements of DOGE’s strategy for thinning the ranks of the federal workforce — and installing a civil service more acquiescent to the administration’s demands. The campaign started last month when Musk’s team emailed most federal workers offering to pay them through September if they quit. A federal judge briefly halted that program while he weighed a legal challenge, but he lifted the pause Wednesday. Musk’s team has begun cutting staff by dismissing workers in their probationary periods, which, depending on the agency, can last one or two years. These workers typically have little protection from being fired without cause, and they amount to about 7 percent of the government’s civilian workforce of more than 2 million. About 10 percent of the FBI’s workforce is in its probationary period, for instance, as is 6.5 percent of the Internal Revenue Service. Some agencies have submitted to OPM lists of probationary employees that exceed 45 percent of their entire workforces, said one person familiar with the issue, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet made public. Probationary workers at the Technology Transformation Services arm of the General Services Administration were also laid off Wednesday afternoon, according to multiple people familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel. The unit is a software-focused arm of the GSA headed by a Tesla alumnus, Thomas Shedd, who has described it as one of “two pillars of technical talent.” Many workers had been reinterviewed about keeping their jobs in recent days. Workers were told they had a final chance to accept the deferred resignation offer, according to one person familiar with the discussion. Those who didn’t accept would lose their positions. Probationary employees at the Education Department also began receiving termination notices Wednesday evening, workers there told The Post on the condition of anonymity. Broader layoffs across the government are also widely expected. These efforts are not entirely unprecedented. The Clinton administration reduced the size of the workforce by 377,000 civil servants in its “Reinventing Government” strategy, resulting at the time in the smallest federal workforce in 40 years. The cuts partly came through layoffs, though; attrition also played a big role. Under the law, when deciding whom to lay off, agencies must take into account veteran status, seniority and three years of performance appraisals. In many cases, they must also find comparable roles for those whose jobs are eliminated. But the Trump administration may be able to get around this by eliminating whole offices — for example, those carrying out diversity, equity and inclusion policies. In that case, agencies could say entire operations are abolished and conclude that comparable jobs do not exist. “For the efficiency of the agency, to better serve the ability of the agency to meet the needs of the American people, we need a smaller workforce, a more efficient workforce,” Russell Vought, the budget director, told Fox News on Tuesday. “The president can move forward unilaterally using the laws that are on the books to have reductions in force.” A fight in the courts At least some of the administration’s plan for layoffs could be subject to legal challenge. Congress writes laws telling the executive branch what to spend, and the Constitution specifically vests power of the purse with the legislative branch. A 1974 budget law limits how much the president can decide what spending not to carry out. If the administration justifies layoffs by unilaterally shutting down agency functions Trump doesn’t like, courts could block that move as a violation of that law, some experts said. “A judge would probably put an injunction on that — the argument would be that by not having staff, you’re effectively impounding new funds,” said Rob Fairweather, who served across numerous administrations in the White House budget office. “There are procedures for how you go about impounding funds, and one reason they don’t happen is because they can get blocked.” Even cutting 1 in every 4 government workers would only reduce federal spending by about 1 percent. But if it makes it easier for the Trump administration to implement other changes without resistance, the layoffs could provide the basis for much bigger unilateral spending cuts, said Jessica Riedl, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a right-leaning think tank. “It would also free the White House to more easily eliminate government agencies and programs without being sabotaged by federal employees, federal employee unions, or lawsuits,” Riedl said. “To the extent many Republicans see federal employees as opposition in their own right, getting rid of them could make it easier to then cut programs and provide bigger savings.” In the end, an administration that is focused on laying off workers can probably make it happen. Ron Sanders, who served as director of civilian personnel at the Defense Department, said it is possible that automating numerous government functions, such as budgeting and human resources, provides the basis for layoffs. But even if not, simply reducing agency headcount gives the administration enough of a legal justification for dismissing staff. “The law is the law, and my reading of the executive order is, it sticks to the law,” Sanders said. Faiz Siddiqui, Carol D. Leonnig and Drew Harwell contributed to this report.
Cut the government size TO THE BONE. Federal employees in Washington DC are an unelected, unaccountable, and unproductive 4th branch of government that the Founding Fathers never wanted. Restore DEMOCRACY and end bloated BUREAUCRACY.
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2025/02/in-short-change-needs-to-happen-through.html "In short, change needs to happen through the established channels of litigation in, and obedience to, the courts." by noreply@blogger.com (Ann Althouse) February 13, 2025 That's a vision of judicial supremacy seen in the NYT Editorial Board's "Trump Dares the Courts to Stop Him" (which I think was originally titled, using yesterday's phrase du jour, "Trump's Constitutional Crisis"). Did I rip that sentence out of context? Yes, but I gave you a gift link, so you can put it back. The role of the judiciary is not to determine the meaning of every provision of law that is opined upon by someone in another branch of government, but only to say what the law is when that is needed to resolve a real dispute between adverse parties and only if the court has jurisdiction. The President is independently obliged to follow the law and must figure out what it is as he goes along. The courts don't answer questions of law as they happen to arise as the President does his work. This is basic separation of powers. I note that the judge in the "Fork in the Road" case just found that the plaintiffs lacked standing and dissolved the temporary restraining order. He gave no advice on its legality, because he lacked the power to do so. As the NYT tells us — in "Trump’s Federal Resignation Program Moves Ahead After Court Win/With a judge’s assent, the Trump administration moved to take next steps in the program and close it to new entrants" — Trump has now closed the offer. His view of its legality is, at this point, the final answer. Did he withdraw the offer because he feared there would be another case, brought by someone with standing? Or does he now view the offer as sweeter than it needed to be? Posted by Ann Althouse at 8:07 AM
Trump administration directs agency heads to fire most probationary staff Terminations should happen within two days, according to four people familiar with internal conversations. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-m...istration-fires-probationary-federal-workers/ excerpt: The Trump administration has directed agency heads to fire most trial period and probationary staff within two days, taking aim at many of the roughly 200,000 people hired by the federal government within the last two years, according to four people familiar with internal conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly. It was not immediately clear precisely how many employees would be affected. One person familiar with the matter said some employees, such as those working on public safety and law enforcement issues, would be exempted, and agency heads could carve out others based on particular needs. But agencies appeared to move quickly on Thursday to carry out the directive, according to interviews with dozens of federal employees and records obtained by The Washington Post. Thousands of workers were laid off in messages delivered through prerecorded videos and on group calls. Some were ordered to leave the building within 30 minutes. Others were told they would be formally fired by email, which never arrived. The latest data shows there were more than 220,000 federal employees within their one-year probationary period as of last March, according to Fedscope. These workers typically have little protection from being fired without cause. more at the link
a bit more detail here: OPM advises agencies to fire probationary employees after ‘deferred resignation’ deadline OPM stopped accepting new offers for its deferred resignation offer, as of 7:20 p.m. on Wednesday night. https://federalnewsnetwork.com/work...mployees-after-deferred-resignation-deadline/ excerpt: The Office of Personnel Management is advising all federal agencies to fire their probationary employees after it stopped accepting new offers for its “deferred resignation” program last night. Agencies, however, have final authority over the removal of their probationary employees. A source familiar with OPM’s decision-making process told Federal News Network that OPM met with agencies and provided them with guidance to lay off probationary employees, with “case by case exceptions.” The source described OPM’s communication to agencies as “soft guidance,” and that “agencies independently can decide how to move forward.” An OPM spokesperson told Federal News Network that “the probationary period is a continuation of the job application process, not an entitlement for permanent employment.” more at the link
For further reference, thats roughly 15% of the working population with around 80% of that number being state government. What the data says about federal workers Lots more in this link
1/10 of the US Forest Service was fired today with more expected later. On Valentine's Day, the ax falls for the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the National Weather Service among others. All this comes after two decades of staff reductions. Given that many of the above have fire qualifications, even if they were not in fire-specific jobs, our ability to staff fires this year will decrease and our risk exposure will go up. We have bad outcomes every year, but I suspect this year will be unnecessarily worse. The folks getting fired in this round are probationary, which just means new--new to either federal employment or new to a supervisory position. So, we're wiping out all new hires, a disproportionate amount of whom are vets and disabled vets, and jettisoning a generation of middle managers who are typically in the field getting things done. This will wreck communities, specifically small ones with federal field offices in states like Nevada and Alaska, where you often go to start your fed career or hit that first rung on the management ladder. Take some of the few reasonably paid non-ag jobs out of rural towns and it hurts. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-m..._campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert Also, as of this morning, the country had a FEMA-funded group that assessed damage and made recommendations after nuclear accidents. They responded internationally, since not enough incidents happen here in the US to maintain readiness. Tonight, your U.S. government no longer has those skills. (No news stories that I can find, but from a good source I trust.)
Fed employment has been relatively steady for 60 years. Of course, shifting priorities and influences like technology have changed the nature of many of those jobs, but again, relatively steady. However, if you look at the nation's population, we've gone from 179 million in 1960 to 340 million today. Feds are more or less the same number while the country's population is now twice as large.
Laying people off is often a merciful act and a gift for the laid off employee. No longer are they stuck in a dead end job -- they then become free to pursue a job that is a better fit for their long term goals. Also, hard to argue that the Forest Service has done a good job -- they failed during recent wildfires. Accountability has come for them.
Fair -- but I strongly suspect they, like all other government agencies -- had bloat, and could use a trim. Starting the layoffs with employees on probation is a good approach... but the concept of rewarding excellence and punishing failure (accountability) is something that has been missing from government for quite some time. Musk/DOGE are planning to put this type of incentive alignment in place. GOOD DAY
Before becoming President, wasn’t he most famous for saying “you’re fired” on TV? I genuinely think he gets a thrill out of putting people out of work.
Dodge's firing is reckless and chaotic. It's just nuke thought. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/...id-off-at-us-nuclear-weapons-agency-118643360 Feb 14, 2025 11:55 AM Mass layoffs now paused at US nuclear weapons agency The Department of Energy has paused the firings of hundreds of employees who work for a key agency maintaining the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, multiple sources tell ABC News. Managers with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) are frantically calling employees back and telling them that -- as of right now -- they're not fired, despite some receiving termination emails and phone calls on Thursday. Their badges are getting turned back on and access to federal systems is being restored, at least temporarily. Hundreds of probationary employees were terminated Thursday night in the mass Trump administration layoffs. The move prompted concerns of a national security risk because the agency is responsible for maintaining U.S. nuclear weapons, transporting them, and nuclear counterterrorism, among other missions. NNSA held an all-staff meeting Friday morning, announcing the DOE had agreed to pause the layoffs, due to the agency's national security mission. NNSA staff tell ABC News they are in a holding pattern. They're still bracing for firings, but possibly not as widespread.
I know you're a caricature on here and nothing I write will earn any kind of consideration from you, so I'll just say you don't know what you're talking about and leave it at that.
Firing the nuclear staffs who oversee the country's nuclear weapon stockpile is such a smart plan. /s
Does our nations environmental ethics workforce deserve its own thread for layoffs or should I use this one?
