Trump signs executive order to continue downsizing federal workforce in US
The president and Elon Musk are pushing federal workers to resign in return for financial incentives.
US President Donald Trump made a rare appearance with Elon Musk, his most powerful adviser, in the Oval Office on Tuesday before signing an executive order to continue downsizing the federal workforce.
The Associated Press reviewed a White House fact sheet on the order, which is intended to advance Mr Musk’s work slashing spending with his Department of Government Efficiency.
Mr Musk said there are some good people in the federal bureaucracy but they need to be accountable and called it an “unelected” fourth branch.
“The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get,” he said. “That’s what democracy is all about.”
It was Mr Musk’s first time taking questions from reporters since he joined the Trump administration as a special government employee with sprawling influence over federal agencies.
He is also the world’s richest person and the owner of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Despite concerns that he is amassing unaccountable power with little transparency, Mr Musk described himself as an open book. He joked that the scrutiny was like a “daily proctology exam”.
The White House fact sheet said that “agencies will undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force and determine which agency components (or agencies themselves) may be eliminated or combined because their functions aren’t required by law”.
It also said that agencies should “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart from federal service”. There are plans for exceptions when it comes to immigration, law enforcement and public safety.
Mr Trump and Mr Musk are pushing federal workers to resign in return for financial incentives, although their plan is currently on hold while a judge reviews its legality.
The deferred resignation programme, commonly described as a buyout, would allow employees to quit and still get paid until September 30. Administration officials said more than 65,000 workers have taken the offer.
Hundreds of people gathered for a rally on Tuesday across the street from the US Capitol in support of federal workers.
