Deadline looms for U.S. federal worker resignations under Musk plan
by Daniel AVIS / Sebastian Smith
More than two million U.S. federal workers were hours away from a deadline Thursday to quit with eight months' pay or risk being fired on the spot in a plan by billionaire Elon Musk to gut the civil service.
Musk, the world's richest person and a top donor to President Donald Trump, is in charge of a free-ranging Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that aims to radically downsize federal agencies.
The most dramatic element so far has been a push to encourage employees to leave by midnight Thursday. According to US media, a small proportion of staffers -- up to 40,000 -- had so far accepted the deal.
The initiative has caused consternation among government workers, who face daily verbal attacks by Trump administration officials.
Unions and Democrats have challenged the legality of threats to fire civil servants.
A federal judge in Massachusetts was to hold a hearing Thursday on a lawsuit by labor unions requesting an injunction against Musk's midnight deadline. The unions backing the suit represent some 800,000 civil servants.
But the campaign has already severely disrupted the huge departments and agencies that for decades have run everything from education to national intelligence.
USAID, the government's huge agency for distributing aid around the world, has been crippled, with foreign-based staff ordered home and the organization's programs lambasted as wasteful by the White House and right-wing media.
Trump has also repeatedly said he wants to shut down the Department of Education, while Musk aides have stoked controversy by accessing a tightly guarded Treasury Department payment system.
The inducements to resign have even been extended to the CIA.
According to a report in The New York Times, the agency sent a list of the most junior -- and easiest to fire -- officers to the White House.
The Times reported that the list gave only their first names and initials of their surnames, but was sent in an unclassified email, sparking concerns that their identities could easily be discovered by foreign adversaries.
In another sign of the scale of cuts intended by Musk's team, an official with the agency that manages government property said the real estate portfolio, barring Department of Defense buildings, should be cut by "at least 50 percent."
- Buyout questions -
Workers considering the buyout offer face considerable uncertainty, including over whether Trump has the legal right to make the offer and whether the conditions will be honored.
The plan was first announced in an email sent across most of the vast government and titled "Fork in the road" -- the same as one Musk sent to all employees at Twitter when he bought the social media platform in 2022 and renamed it X.
Musk says the paid departures are a chance to "take the vacation you always wanted, or just watch movies and chill, while receiving your full government pay and benefits."
But unions warn that without Congress signing off on the use of federally budgeted money, the agreements may be worthless.
"Federal employees shouldn't be misled by slick talk from unelected billionaires and their lackeys," Everett Kelley, president of the large American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said in a swipe at Musk.
"Despite claims made to the contrary, this deferred resignation scheme is unfunded, unlawful and comes with no guarantees. We won't stand by and let our members become the victims of this con."
The Massachusetts lawsuit also casts doubt on assertions that workers would be free to look for other jobs during their deferment periods, citing ethics regulations.
An employee in the US Office of Personnel Management, where Musk has put his own staff in key positions, said the plan was to encourage resignations through "panic."
"It's not like we're pursuing some orderly measure to reduce the size of government," the employee told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We're trying to instill a panic so that people just walk out the door and leave government in a crippled state, which is partly their objective."
© Agence France-Presse
‘Ludicrous action’: California Democrat calls out Trump for ‘P.R. stunt’
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) on Thursday called out President Donald Trump for draining reservoirs in California for the purported purpose of fighting deadly fires in the southern part of the state.
As CNN and other news outlets reported recently, the water released by Trump was never going to reach Southern California. In fact, Heather Cooley, director of research for California water policy organization the Pacific Institute, told CNN that the release of the water was "providing zero benefit and putting California farmers at risk of water supply constraints in the coming months."
Lieu recounted the damage done by Trump's actions while speaking in the House of Representatives.
"When you solve for the wrong problem, not only do you not get the solution, you can cause harm," said Lieu. "So Donald Trump has it in his mind that there's a spigot in Northern California, and he's going to open a valve and dump water into Southern California."
Lieu then went on to explain how this action by Trump damaged his state.
ALSO READ: 'We need to talk': MSNBC panel flags 'unusual message sent' with Bondi swearing in
"Here at the facts: Southern California's reservoirs were at near-record levels when this fire happened," he continued. "Did it matter? Because Trump then ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to release over two billion gallons of water that almost flooded farmland if not for the local water districts that pushed back. Guess what: This water was saved for the farmers for summer when they needed this water. So Trump wasted all this water that isn’t even reaching Southern California -- it's going to evaporate -- for a PR stunt!"
Lieu then added that this "was a harmful, ludicrous action."
Kansas congressional delegation holds moment of silence for victims of air disaster
TOPEKA — Members of the Kansas congressional delegation gathered on the U.S. House floor for a moment of silence in honor of people killed when a military helicopter collided with a civilian commercial aircraft from Wichita on approach to Reagan Washington National Airport.
U.S. Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kansas, said the idea was to come together with members of Congress impacted by the Jan. 29 accident that killed 64 passengers and crew on Flight 5342 and three U.S. Army personnel aboard the Black Hawk helicopter.
“As we mourn the loss of these 67 individuals, there are truly no words to adequately describe the heartbreak we feel,” Estes said. “We grieve with the families and friends they left behind and pray for those in our districts who are still in shock at the loss of their loved ones.”
“They were young skaters, a rural Kansas couple, a college student, a group of friends returning from an annual hunting trip and so many others who were taking a routine flight from the (Wichita) air capital to our nation’s capital,” he said.
Estes said there was a commitment to find answers for the midair crash and how other similar disasters could be avoided.
U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, said the silence of dozens of people on the House floor recognized lives lost and devastation felt by families.
“In this time of grief, we stand united with the victims’ families, offering our support and compassion,” Davids said. “While no words can undo the pain they are feeling, we are committed to ensuring their loved ones are never forgotten and will work tirelessly to help prevent such a tragedy from happening again.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, urged the Federal Aviation Administration to continue restrictions on non-essential helicopter operations near Reagan Washington airport.
They asked that limitations on helicopter flights remain until conclusion of the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report and after the FAA briefed the Senate’s commerce subcommittee on aviation, space and innovation.
“Until investigators complete this work, restricting helicopter operations, while allowing for essential medical support, active law enforcement, active air defense and presidential transport traffic will help keep the area safe and improve public trust in commercial air travel,” Moran said in a letter to the FAA.
Moran, who chairs the Senate subcommittee, said the panel would examine expert findings to determine whether policy changes were necessary to increase safety and improve public trust.
