With Musk at his side, Trump orders US agencies to plan for ‘large-scale’ staff cuts

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump ordered US agencies on Feb 11 to work closely with top adviser Elon Musk’s effort to shrink the federal workforce by identifying government employees who can be laid off and functions that can be eliminated entirely.

With his four-year-old son by his side or on his shoulders, Mr Musk stood next to Mr Trump in the Oval Office at the White House before the order was signed, taking questions from reporters and making it clear that he was leading efforts to cut what he saw as government waste at Mr Trump’s behest.

Wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap, the world’s richest man defended his role as an unelected official who has been granted unprecedented authority by the President to dismantle parts of the US government.

“You can’t have an autonomous federal bureaucracy. You have to have one that’s responsive to the people,” Mr Musk said.

He called the bureaucracy an “unconstitutional” fourth branch of government that in a lot of ways had “more power than any elected representative”.

Mr Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla and owner of X, pushed back at criticism that he and his Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) team have operated largely in secrecy.

Doge has provided no information on whom it employs, where it is operating, or what actions it is taking inside government agencies.

It posts few actual results from its work, providing only dollar figures for purported cuts in specific agencies and little specific detail.

“I fully expect to be scrutinised and get, you know, a daily proctology exam, basically,” Mr Musk said. “It’s not like I think I can get away with something.”

He pushed back when asked about criticism from his detractors, including many Democrats, that he essentially has launched a non-transparent hostile takeover of government operations.

“You couldn’t ask for a stronger mandate from... the public,” he said, citing Mr Trump’s election. “The people voted for major government reform. There should be no doubt about that.”

Mr Musk said he speaks to Mr Trump – who sat at the Resolute Desk while Mr Musk answered questions – nearly every day.

The Feb 11 executive order was the latest effort by Mr Trump and Mr Musk to shrink and align the US government with Mr Trump’s policy priorities.

There have already been large-scale buyout offers, attempts to strip civil-service protections from federal workers, and the effective shuttering of some federal agencies.

The order sets forth rules requiring government agencies to hire no more than one employee for every four workers who leave, and compels agencies to work with Mr Musk’s team to identify large-scale reductions in force and determine which agency components may be eliminated outright.

The order exempts from cuts those employees whose work is critical to national security, public safety, law enforcement and immigration enforcement.

Many government workers belong to labour unions, which means any large-scale layoffs or reductions in force must be conducted in accord with their collective bargaining agreements.

Non-union employees of the civil service also enjoy job protections under federal law.

The push towards mass layoffs comes after the Trump administration attempted to

cajole federal workers into accepting buyout offers

. That effort has been blocked by a federal judge.

Buyout blowback

Mr Musk and Mr Trump said they expected to find US$1 trillion (S$1.35 trillion) in savings through his efforts to identify fraud and waste in the government, a figure that would represent almost 15 per cent of total federal spending.

Mr Trump resisted the suggestion by Democrats and other critics that Mr Musk’s role presents a conflict of interest.

As CEO of rocket maker SpaceX, Mr Musk oversees the company’s contracts with the Pentagon and intelligence community that are worth billions of dollars.

“If we thought that, we would not let him do that segment or look in that area, if we thought there was a lack of transparency or a conflict of interest,” Mr Trump said.

Beyond blocking Mr Trump’s buyout plan, the courts have also paused his efforts to put US Agency for International Development workers on leave and to give Mr Musk access to sensitive payment systems at the US Treasury.

There are about 2.3 million US civilian employees, excluding those from the US Postal Service.

Security-related agencies account for the bulk of the federal workforce, but hundreds of thousands of people work across the country in jobs overseeing veterans’ healthcare, inspecting agriculture and paying the government’s bills, among other jobs.

Earlier, Mr Musk made a post on his social media platform X that harshly criticised law firms that have filed suit on behalf of federal employees.

“Which law firms are pushing these anti-democratic cases to impede the will of the people?” he wrote.

He has also aimed his ire at judges who have issued rulings that paused Mr Trump’s executive actions.

“Democracy in America is being destroyed by judicial coup,” Mr Musk wrote in a separate post on Feb 11.

Mr Trump voiced a similar complaint during his meeting with Mr Musk in the Oval Office.

“We want to weed out the corruption. And it seems hard to believe that a judge could say, we don’t want you to do that,” he said. “So maybe we have to look at the judges, because that’s very serious. I think it’s a very serious violation.”

Mr Trump said he would follow court orders.

“I always abide by the courts, and then I’ll have to appeal it,” he said. “Then what... he’s done is he’s slowed down the momentum, and it gives crooked people more time to cover up the books.” REUTERS