WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is expected on Friday to move ahead with a second wave of mass firings and budget cuts across the US federal government after agencies were told to submit large-scale downsizing plans.
The new round of layoffs comes amid President Donald Trump’s push to radically remake the federal bureaucracy, a task he has largely left to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
So far, DOGE has overseen potential cuts of more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian workforce, the freezing of foreign aid, and the canceling of thousands of programs and contracts.
Federal agencies faced a Thursday deadline to submit reorganisation blueprints for what Trump last month termed “large-scale reductions in force.”
The prospect for further job losses comes with financial markets already rattled about the economic risks posed by Trump’s global trade war. Stocks tumbled again on Thursday over concerns that Trump’s policies could lead to a recession. With the tech billionaire Musk at his side, Trump signed an executive order on February 11 directing all agencies to “promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force,” using a legal term commonly referred to as RIF to denote mass layoffs.
A subsequent memo from US Office of Personnel Management said plans should include “a significant reduction” of full-time staff, cuts to real estate, a smaller budget, and the elimination of functions not mandated by law.
The Department of Veterans Affairs was aiming to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the US Department of Education said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its 4,000-strong staff.
The Social Security Administration, the agency that provides benefits to tens of millions of older Americans, plans to cut 7,000 workers.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which provides weather forecasts, planned to lay off more than 1,000 workers. –Agencies
