U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday ordered deeper staff cuts at federal agencies, and Government Effectiveness Chief Elon Musk vowed to make further cuts at Trump's first Cabinet meeting. A new government memo directs agencies to submit plans by March 13 to "substantially reduce" the federal workforce, but does not specify how many people they hope to lay off.
The memo, signed by White House budget director Russell Vought and acting director of the Office of Personnel Management Charles Ezell, represents a major escalation in Trump and Musk's campaign to reduce the size of the U.S. government.
The layoffs so far have been concentrated on probationary employees, who have shorter tenures in their current positions and enjoy fewer job protections. The next round will target a much larger group of senior civil servants.
At this cabinet meeting, Trump said that US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin planned to lay off 65% of his more than 15,000 employees.
The day before, a U.S. Interior Department source revealed that agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs should prepare for layoffs of 10% to 40%.
Since Trump took office, about 100,000 of the nation's 2.3 million civilian federal workers have been laid off or bought out.
Trump invited Musk to a Cabinet meeting and asked him to talk about the work of the Department of Government Effectiveness, which oversees reforms, giving Musk an unusual signal of support for the cost-cutting campaign.
At this cabinet meeting, Musk wore a black "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) baseball cap and a T-shirt with the word "techsupport" printed on it, expressing his confidence in cutting the $6.7 trillion budget by $1 trillion this year.
Musk said that without significant spending cuts, "this country will actually go bankrupt."
Late Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order directing agencies to work with the Justice Department to review and terminate all "nonessential" contracts and directing the General Services Administration, which manages government real estate, to develop plans to dispose of any nonessential property.
So far, Trump and Musk have failed to slow the pace of spending. According to the analysis, in Trump's first month in office, government spending increased 13% from the same period last year, mainly due to higher interest payments on debt and rising health and retirement costs due to an aging population.
At this Cabinet meeting, Trump reiterated his pledge not to cut public health care and retirement benefits, which account for nearly half of the budget.
"We're not going to touch it," Trump said.
At the same time, Trump is pushing the U.S. Congress to extend the 2017 tax cuts, the signature legislative achievement of his first term, when they expire at the end of this year. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the 2017 tax cuts added $2.5 trillion to the U.S. debt, which currently stands at $36 trillion. It is estimated that extending the tax cuts could cost more than $5 trillion over the next 10 years.
Republicans are considering cutting health care and food aid for the poor to help pay for the tax cuts, though details have not yet been released.
Over the weekend, federal workers received an email asking them to list their accomplishments over the past week, surprising some cabinet secretaries. Musk said ignoring the request would result in firing.
Some agencies told employees to ignore the directive, sparking days of confusion and questions about whether Musk and Trump could follow through on the threat.
Musk said during Wednesday's Cabinet meeting that his email was an effort to find out whether government paychecks were getting to actual workers.
"We believe that a number of people employed by the government have died," he said, without providing evidence.
Trump said that about 1 million federal employees who did not respond to Musk's reporting requirements were at risk of losing their jobs. "The million people who haven't responded to Elon yet, they're hanging," Trump said. "I don't think we're excited about that."