Latest news with #post-Musk
Boston Globe
09-07-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Federal workers fear Trump will fire them after court ruling: ‘We are toast'
The ruling may also usher in a new phase of more professionalized layoffs, as opposed to the rapid, error-filled slashing undertaken in the early months of the Trump administration by often very young members of the US DOGE Service, a cost-cutting team set up by billionaire Elon Musk. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling, though, paves the way for agencies themselves to carry out Trump's executive order requiring the government to plan and execute mass dismissals and restructurings. A key force behind that order was Russell Vought, the White House budget director and an architect of the Project 2025 conservative policy blueprint. Vought's power has grown as Musk's dimmed; Vought told Congress last month that he intends for DOGE in its post-Musk phase to become 'far more institutionalized' within the government, helping carry out his and the Trump administration's vision of reduced staff and spending. Advertisement It is unclear exactly how many federal employees Trump officials are hoping to expel. The court's decision unfreezes at least 40 dismissal actions underway at 17 agencies, according to a May court filing from the administration. Officials have reversed course on some of those planned firings since then, though, most recently dropping a proposal to cut 15 percent of Veterans Affairs staff. Advertisement And the ruling does not answer the underlying question of whether the mass firings are legal, which a lower court will still need to address. So while the dismissals can go forward, the lawsuit will, too. Its plaintiffs — a mix of labor unions, 11 nonprofit organizations, and six local governments in California, Texas, and Illinois, among other places — are vowing to continue the court battle. Nearly all of the agencies affected either didn't respond or declined to respond to questions. The court's decision will imperil federal services nationwide, said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the nation's largest federal union, which helped bring the suit. 'This isn't just some Washington, D.C., legal tussle — it's a life-altering decision for tens of thousands of American families,' Kelley said. Government employees across the nation and the globe went to bed Tuesday and woke Wednesday with one dominant thought: Will I be fired today? Tomorrow? This week? 'There's a sense of, 'It's finally coming,'' said a staffer at the Interior Department who, like more than two dozen other federal workers interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. In an odd way, the employee added, it was almost a relief: 'We don't want to play the waiting game, the limbo, anymore.'' Advertisement Many employees have been waiting to learn their fates since February, when Trump first ordered the firings in what he called a needed measure to eliminate 'waste, bloat, and insularity.' Mass dismissals soon began across government, but they were quickly paused by a flurry of lawsuits and court orders. Some workers who had been laid off were invited back to the office, while others were placed on paid leave, with an unclear end date. Late Tuesday, some learned they were still to be spared, for now, after the New York attorney general's office said the court's ruling would not affect a preliminary injunction in a separate lawsuit that halted mass terminations at some subagencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a center within the Food and Drug Administration, and Head Start. But elsewhere, uncertainty and fear ruled. One employee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development arrived at the office Wednesday to find colleagues walking around with their heads down, speaking in hushed voices — looking and acting like someone had died, the employee said. All expect to lose their jobs at any moment, the employee added. A researcher at the US Geological Survey spent most of the hours following the court's decision wondering how workers would be laid off at his agency: By seniority? By region or research center? By focus? Maybe 'all the ecological and climate scientists get canned,' the researcher said, adding that the near-unanimous nature of the Supreme Court's ruling surprised him. 'So many of us think this is going to allow the administration to just lay off swaths of highly capable scientists.' Advertisement Anxiety was especially acute at the State Department, where employees traded dismal messages in group chats expressing worry for their families and the security of the nation. Many predicted that America's foreign policy objectives will crumble, according to chat records obtained by The Post. A State official told The Post that she was informed that conference rooms are booked for Friday with the expectation that the rooms will be used for RIF announcements. At the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the target of especially sharp cuts, many workers began posting on LinkedIn seeking new employment almost immediately Tuesday night. One staffer there said she feels grateful that she may be in a slightly better position than some colleagues: She started applying for other jobs months ago, and a few options are about to materialize, she thinks, although every role would represent a pay cut. Still, she is mourning for her federal job, for her co-workers, for her agency. 'We are toast,' she said.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What's next for DOGE after Trump's alliance with Musk collapsed
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump says the work of the Department of Government Efficiency is "not finished at all" after his relationship Elon Musk blew up in spectacular fashion. Yet whether the government-slashing DOGE will pack the same punch now that the world's richest man not only left the White House, but turned on Trump in an epic public battle, is unclear. The future of DOGE was already in limbo after Musk's four-month run as the chainsaw-wielding DOGE leader ended, especially because several other top DOGE officials exited the Trump administration alongside Musk. But then came Musk's war of words last week with Trump that ended their political alliance. Here's what we know about DOGE's direction in a post-Musk White House: In the aftermath of their fallout, Trump signaled that he's ready to move on from the Musk fight but not DOGE itself. The president told reporters on June 6 he's "not thinking about Elon" and has no plans to ask him to return his honorary White House key. Trump added on June 9 that he's not getting rid of the red Tesla car he bought from Musk ‒ but "may move the Tesla around a little bit" ‒ and said he won't ditch Musk's Starlink internet service that was installed at the White House. More: Trump and Musk's bromance ends after personal attacks over criticism of tax bill Trump declined to take a shot at Musk when asked about the former White House adviser's alleged drug use and whether he believed Musk used drugs at the White House. "I really don't know. I don't think so. I hope not," Trump said. "We had a good relationship and I just wish him well ‒ very well actually." For his part, Musk appeared to take back some of his harshest attacks, deleting a post he made on X endorsing Trump's impeachment and another alleging Trump is mentioned in undisclosed classified files related to the financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump reiterated that in the wake of recent departures, the work of DOGE, which has executed widespread cuts throughout the federal government, isn't over. "We saved hundreds of billions of dollars ‒ it's terrific. And it's going further," Trump told reporters on Air Force One on June 6. More: Elon Musk's rise and fall: From Trump's chainsaw-wielding sidekick to a swift exit For four months, DOGE rapidly fanned throughout the federal government, seizing control of information technology infrastructure, axing federal government contracts, gutting the U.S. Agency for International Development and pushing out or firing tens of thousands of federal employees. DOGE is set to continue operations until the summer of 2026 under an executive order Trump signed in January. But without Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, at the helm, it's unclear if DOGE will operate with the same slash-and-burn aggressiveness. At its peak, the quasi-official agency employed more than 100 computer engineers, budget analysts and other staffers ‒ some working at the group's offices at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus and others inside various agencies and departments. More: Elon Musk escalates feud with Trump: 'Time to drop the really big bomb' Among the other top DOGE employees to follow were Steve Davis, Musk's top lieutenant who oversaw DOGE's day-to-day operations, publicist Katie Miller and DOGE's top attorney James Burnham. Miller, the wife of top White House aide Stephen Miller, has continued to work for Musk. Musk's exit as the DOGE leader came as his designation as a "special government employee" ‒ which allowed him to stay on the job for 130 calendar days a year ‒ ended. Others in DOGE's top brass were working under the same structure. Before Musk began to criticize Trump's tax and policy megabill publicly, he asked for his special government employee status to be extended beyond 130 days to allow him to continue to lead DOGE, but the White House declined, a source told USA TODAY. The White House has said no individual person will replace Musk, noting that several DOGE employees have "onboarded" as political appointees at the various agencies they've worked to overhaul. 'The mission of eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse is a part of the DNA of the federal government," Harrison Fields, White House deputy press secretary, said in a statement to USA TODAY, "and will continue under the direction of the President, his Cabinet, and agency heads to enhance government efficiency and prioritize responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars." Russ Vought, Trump's director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, has started to fill Musk's void as the top Trump official carrying out DOGE's stated mission of cutting government "waste, fraud and abuse." Vought, who also led OMB in Trump's first term, wrote the chapter on executive power in Project 2025, the controversial policy blueprint created by the conservative Heritage Foundation that Trump distanced himself from during the 2024 campaign. Vought uses a lot of the same language as Musk, writing in Project 2025 that the goal should be to "bend or break the bureaucracy to the presidential will." Vought, however, isn't calling himself the DOGE leader. Appearing June 4 before the House Appropriations Committee, Vought said the "Cabinet agencies that are in charge of the DOGE consultants that work for them are fundamentally in control of DOGE." Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wisconsin, wasn't pleased with Vought's answer. "Oh, that's an answer only a mother could love," he said. Leading up to the Trump-Musk breakup, the business mogul started leveling criticism over the trillions of dollars that Trump's massive tax and spending bill is projected to add to the deficit. In an appeal to Republican fiscal hawks, the White House and House Speaker Mike Johnson have said they want to codify the DOGE cuts, beginning this week when they hope to formally claw back $9.4 billion in spending. More: President Trump threatens Elon Musk's billions in government contracts as alliance craters The rescissions package, set for a House vote on June 12, will include $8.3 billion in cuts to foreign aid and $1.1 billion from public broadcasting funds, including for NPR and PBS. Republican leadership is bullish that they can get the package quickly passed. They have 45 days to approve it, and it only requires a majority vote in the Senate. But it may not be so simple: Several lawmakers have concerns with the rollback of a Bush-era program to support AIDS prevention and with the impact on rural communities that rely on public media for information. Vought has said future legislative packages to enact DOGE cuts could come later if the initial rescissions package passes. Musk left the White House after falling vastly short of his ambitious cost-savings goal for the federal government. Musk had set a goal for DOGE to cut $1 trillion from the federal government by the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. He had even talked about $2 trillion in cuts on the 2024 campaign trail when he stumped for Trump. More: 'Elon is going to get decimated:' How Trump's feud with the world's richest man might end But DOGE's savings total posted on its website currently stands at $180 billion, which doesn't amount to even 20% of $1 trillion. And this does not even factor in potential exaggerations or errors in DOGE's calculations, which have been a recurring theme in the group's declared savings. "I did not find the federal government to be rife with waste, fraud and abuse. I was expecting some more easy wins," Sahil Lavingia, a former DOGE engineer, said in an interview with National Public Radio. Lavingia added that he believed DOGE had produced many examples of government "waste" but disagreed that DOGE uncovered mountains of "fraud and abuse" as Musk claimed. "The government has been under sort of a magnifying glass for decades," Lavingia said. "And so I think, generally, I personally was pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the government was. This isn't to say that it can't be made more efficient." Before he left, Musk said DOGE's next focus will be on fixing the federal government's aging computer systems ‒ something far less controversial than taking a battering ram to the federal workforce. In the meantime, some federal agencies and departments are doing cleanup work to repatch holes left by the mass exodus of federal worker departures steered by DOGE. The National Science Foundation said it was reinstating several dozen employees following a May federal court ruling that found the mass cuts by DOGE were unlawfully forced by the Office of Personnel Management. The Washington Post reported that several agencies, including the IRS, Food and Drug Administration, and even USAID, are also scrambling to rehire many of the probationary employees fired under DOGE's direction and bring back longtime federal workers who accepted voluntary buyouts. Contributing: Riley Beggin Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What's next for DOGE after Trump-Musk alliance collapse
USA Today
09-06-2025
- Automotive
- USA Today
What's next for DOGE after Trump's alliance with Musk collapsed
What's next for DOGE after Trump's alliance with Musk collapsed Show Caption Hide Caption President Trump gives his thoughts on Elon Musk amid clash on bill President Donald Trump responded to Elon Musk's criticism of his "big, beautiful bill" with disappointment as Musk responded on X. WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump says the work of the Department of Government Efficiency is "not finished at all" after his relationship Elon Musk blew up in spectacular fashion. Yet whether the government-slashing DOGE will pack the same punch now that the world's richest man not only left the White House, but turned on Trump in an epic public battle, is unclear. The future of DOGE was already in limbo after Musk's four-month run as the chainsaw-wielding DOGE leader ended, especially because several other top DOGE officials exited the Trump administration alongside Musk. But then came Musk's war of words last week with Trump that ended their political alliance. Here's what we know about DOGE's direction in a post-Musk White House: Trump says DOGE will keep going minus Musk In the aftermath of their fallout, Trump signaled that he's ready to move on from the Musk fight but not DOGE itself. The president told reporters on June 6 he's "not thinking about Elon" and has no plans to ask him to return his honorary White House key. Trump added on June 9 that he's not getting rid of the red Tesla car he bought from Musk ‒ but "may move the Tesla around a little bit" ‒ and said he won't ditch Musk's Starlink internet service that was installed at the White House. More: Trump and Musk's bromance ends after personal attacks over criticism of tax bill Trump declined to take a shot at Musk when asked about the former White House adviser's alleged drug use and whether he believed Musk used drugs at the White House. "I really don't know. I don't think so. I hope not," Trump said. "We had a good relationship and I just wish him well ‒ very well actually." For his part, Musk appeared to take back some of his harshest attacks, deleting a post he made on X endorsing Trump's impeachment and another alleging Trump is mentioned in undisclosed classified files related to the financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump reiterated that in the wake of recent departures, the work of DOGE, which has executed widespread cuts throughout the federal government, isn't over. "We saved hundreds of billions of dollars ‒ it's terrific. And it's going further," Trump told reporters on Air Force One on June 6. More: Elon Musk's rise and fall: From Trump's chainsaw-wielding sidekick to a swift exit Others out at DOGE For four months, DOGE rapidly fanned throughout the federal government, seizing control of information technology infrastructure, axing federal government contracts, gutting the United States Agency for International Development and pushing out or firing tens of thousands of federal employees. DOGE is set to continue operations until the summer of 2026 under an executive order Trump signed in January. But without Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, at the helm, it's unclear if DOGE will operate with the same slash-and-burn aggressiveness. At its peak, the quasi-official agency employed more than 100 computer engineers, budget analysts and other staffers ‒ some working at the group's offices at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus and others inside various agencies and departments. More: Elon Musk escalates feud with Trump: 'Time to drop the really big bomb' Among the other top DOGE employees to follow were Steve Davis, Musk's top lieutenant who oversaw DOGE's day-to-day operations, publicist Katie Miller and DOGE's top attorney James Burnham. Miller, the wife of top White House aide Stephen Miller, has continued to work for Musk. Musk's exit as the DOGE leader came as his designation as a "special government employee" ‒ which allowed him to stay on the job for 130 calendar days a year ‒ ended. Others in DOGE's top brass were working under the same structure. Before Musk began to criticize Trump's tax and policy megabill publicly, he asked for his special government employee status to be extended beyond 130 days to allow him to continue to lead DOGE, but the White House declined, a source told USA TODAY. Russ Vought takes on slashing role post-Musk The White House has said no individual person will replace Musk, noting that several DOGE employees have "onboarded" as political appointees at the various agencies they've worked to overhaul. 'The mission of eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse is a part of the DNA of the federal government," Harrison Fields, White House deputy press secretary, said in a statement to USA TODAY, "and will continue under the direction of the President, his cabinet, and agency heads to enhance government efficiency and prioritize responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars." Russ Vought, Trump's director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, has started to fill Musk's void as the top Trump official carrying out DOGE's stated mission of cutting government "waste, fraud and abuse." Vought, who also led OMB in Trump's first term, wrote the chapter on executive power in Project 2025, the controversial policy blueprint created by the conservative Heritage Foundation that Trump tried to distance himself from during the 2024 campaign. Vought uses a lot of the same language as Musk, writing in Project 2025 that the goal should be to "bend or break the bureaucracy to the presidential will." Vought, however, isn't calling himself the DOGE leader. Appearing June 4 before the House Appropriations Committee, Vought said the "cabinet agencies that are in charge of the DOGE consultants that work for them are fundamentally in control of DOGE." Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wisconsin, wasn't pleased with Vought's convoluted answer. "Oh, that's an answer only a mother could love," he said. White House, GOP leaders look to codify DOGE cuts Leading up to the Trump-Musk breakup, the business mogul started leveling criticism over the trillions of dollars that Trump's massive tax and spending bill is projected to add to the deficit. In an appeal to Republican fiscal hawks, the White House and House Speaker Mike Johnson have said they want to codify the DOGE cuts, beginning this week when they hope to formally claw back $9.4 billion in spending. More: President Trump threatens Elon Musk's billions in government contracts as alliance craters The rescissions package, set for a House vote on June 12, will include $8.3 billion in cuts to foreign aid and $1.1 billion from public broadcasting funds, including for NPR and PBS. Republican leadership is bullish that they can get the package quickly passed. They have 45 days to approve it, and it only requires a majority vote in the Senate. But it may not be so simple: Several lawmakers have concerns with the rollback of a Bush-era program to support AIDS prevention and with the impact on rural communities that rely on public media for information. Vought has said future legislative packages to enact DOGE cuts could come later if the initial rescissions package passes. Musk left White House with DOGE goals unmet Musk left the White House after falling vastly short of his ambitious cost-savings goal for the federal government. Musk had set a goal for DOGE to cut $1 trillion from the federal government by the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. He had even talked about $2 trillion in cuts on the 2024 campaign trail when he stumped for Trump. More: 'Elon is going to get decimated:' How Trump's feud with the world's richest man might end But DOGE's savings total posted on its website currently stands at $180 billion, which does amount to even 20% of $1 trillion. And this does not even factor in potential exaggerations or errors in DOGE's calculations, which have been a recurring theme in the group's declared savings. "I did not find the federal government to be rife with waste, fraud and abuse. I was expecting some more easy wins," Sahil Lavingia, a former DOGE engineer, said in an interview with National Public Radio. Lavingia added that he believed DOGE had produced many examples of government "waste" but disagreed that DOGE uncovered mountains of "fraud and abuse" like Musk claimed. "The government has been under sort of a magnifying glass for decades," Lavingia said. "And so I think, generally, I personally was pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the government was. This isn't to say that it can't be made more efficient." DOGE rehiring some terminated workers Before he left, Musk said DOGE's next focus will be on fixing the federal government's aging computer systems ‒ something far less controversial than taking a battering ram to the federal workforce. In the meantime, some federal agencies and departments are doing cleanup work to repatch holes left by the mass exodus of federal worker departures steered by DOGE. The National Science Foundation said it was reinstating several dozen employees following a May federal court ruling that found the mass cuts by DOGE were unlawfully forced by the Office of Personnel Management. The Washington Post reported that several agencies, including the IRS, Food and Drug Administration, and even USAID, are also scrambling to rehire many of the probationary employees fired under DOGE's direction and bring back longtime federal workers who accepted voluntary buyouts. Contributing: Riley Beggin of USA TODAY Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Budget documents reveal plan to grow DOGE
Elon Musk is out, but the Trump administration still wants to beef up funding and staffing for its DOGE operation, according to budget documents released last week. Tucked inside the lengthy budget appendix the White House released Friday are details about the administration's post-Musk vision for DOGE. In the early days of the Trump administration, the DOGE team has made waves throughout the federal government with its push to slash the workforce, eliminate agency contracts and terminate leases. As Musk announced his formal departure from DOGE last week, President Donald Trump and top administration officials stressed that the government-cutting operation wasn't going anywhere. And the administration's budget request for fiscal 2026 offers new details about how Trump and his team plan to bolster DOGE in the coming year. The White House budget request is just that — a request to Congress for funding. But the numbers indicate the administration's priorities for boosting or cutting staff in the government. Broadly, the administration is eyeing steep cuts to nondefense discretionary spending — a reduction of about 23 percent below the currently enacted level. The White House has asked for cuts to energy and environmental agencies. But at the same time, the White House wants DOGE to grow, the documents show. The total staff working for the U.S. DOGE Service — a White House technology shop that was rebranded when Trump took office — employed an estimated 89 staffers in fiscal 2025, the document shows. That includes staff listed as direct full-time employees as well as 'reimbursable' full-time employees. That number would grow from 89 to 150 in fiscal 2026 under the White House's budget request. Those 'reimbursable' employees are typically assigned to another agency that pays back the costs of their employment. Trump's January executive order creating the U.S. DOGE Service directed each agency head to establish its own DOGE team with at least four staffers. The administration has been tight-lipped about the roster of DOGE staffers, apart from public appearances by Musk and some senior DOGE aides. Musk and other DOGE staffers joined Fox News in March for an interview about their work behind the scenes. A New York Times investigation has identified more than 70 people aligned with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, some of whom have ties to Musk's companies and some of whom appear to have worked for DOGE at several government agencies. In an Oval Office press conference with Musk on Friday, Trump said that many of the DOGE people 'are staying behind.' Musk said that the DOGE team and its influence 'will only grow stronger.' The Tesla CEO compared DOGE to a 'sort of Buddhism. It's like a way of life.' DOGE would also get more money under Trump's budget plan. The operation spent an estimated $20 million in fiscal 2025, including $1 million for a 'software modernization initiative' and another $19 million through 'reimbursable program activity.' The budget request envisions DOGE boosting its spending in fiscal 2026 to $45 million, including $10 million for software modernization and another $35 million through reimbursable program activity. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the administration's bid to boost DOGE's staff and funding. It's unclear whether the number encapsulates the full DOGE team in the government, which has hired temporary special government employees to serve brief stints at agencies. Musk estimated in March that DOGE had grown to about 100 employees with plans to grow to about 200. Trump's critics — including the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee — panned the plan to grow DOGE while shrinking other federal programs. 'The request includes $10 million for the U.S. DOGE Service, supporting 30 full-time employees to continue Elon Musk's slash and burn campaign to decimate government well after his departure as a Special Government Employee,' Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the appropriations panel, said in a news release. Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog nonprofit Public Citizen, said the administration's bid to 'enhance the budget of this anti-efficiency effort, while cutting funding for parks, health care, education and more, is appalling." The budget document describes DOGE's mission as being technology focused, although the operation in the early days of the Trump administration and under Trump's leadership have shown the DOGE effort to be broad and aimed at enacting deep cuts to spending and personnel. 'U.S. DOGE Service (USDS) transforms Federal technology and software, driving unprecedented efficiency and productivity,' the document says. 'By advising Federal agencies on the tools to deliver high-impact outcomes, USDS streamlines government operations and tangibly improves the lives of the American people.' Gilbert, by contrast, described DOGE as 'the leading edge of this administration's corruption and lawlessness, illegally attacking agencies, threatening the data privacy of all Americans, and removing critical employees and programs that provide services we all depend on.'
Politico
03-06-2025
- Business
- Politico
Budget documents reveal plan to grow DOGE
Elon Musk is out, but the Trump administration still wants to beef up funding and staffing for its DOGE operation, according to budget documents released last week. Tucked inside the lengthy budget appendix the White House released Friday are details about the administration's post-Musk vision for DOGE. In the early days of the Trump administration, the DOGE team has made waves throughout the federal government with its push to slash the workforce, eliminate agency contracts and terminate leases. As Musk announced his formal departure from DOGE last week, President Donald Trump and top administration officials stressed that the government-cutting operation wasn't going anywhere. And the administration's budget request for fiscal 2026 offers new details about how Trump and his team plan to bolster DOGE in the coming year. The White House budget request is just that — a request to Congress for funding. But the numbers indicate the administration's priorities for boosting or cutting staff in the government. Broadly, the administration is eyeing steep cuts to nondefense discretionary spending — a reduction of about 23 percent below the currently enacted level. The White House has asked for cuts to energy and environmental agencies. But at the same time, the White House wants DOGE to grow, the documents show. The total staff working for the U.S. DOGE Service — a White House technology shop that was rebranded when Trump took office — employed an estimated 89 staffers in fiscal 2025, the document shows. That includes staff listed as direct full-time employees as well as 'reimbursable' full-time employees. That number would grow from 89 to 150 in fiscal 2026 under the White House's budget request. Those 'reimbursable' employees are typically assigned to another agency that pays back the costs of their employment. Trump's January executive order creating the U.S. DOGE Service directed each agency head to establish its own DOGE team with at least four staffers. The administration has been tight-lipped about the roster of DOGE staffers, apart from public appearances by Musk and some senior DOGE aides. Musk and other DOGE staffers joined Fox News in March for an interview about their work behind the scenes. A New York Times investigation has identified more than 70 people aligned with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, some of whom have ties to Musk's companies and some of whom appear to have worked for DOGE at several government agencies. In an Oval Office press conference with Musk on Friday, Trump said that many of the DOGE people 'are staying behind.' Musk said that the DOGE team and its influence 'will only grow stronger.' The Tesla CEO compared DOGE to a 'sort of Buddhism. It's like a way of life.' DOGE would also get more money under Trump's budget plan. The operation spent an estimated $20 million in fiscal 2025, including $1 million for a 'software modernization initiative' and another $19 million through 'reimbursable program activity.' The budget request envisions DOGE boosting its spending in fiscal 2026 to $45 million, including $10 million for software modernization and another $35 million through reimbursable program activity. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the administration's bid to boost DOGE's staff and funding. It's unclear whether the number encapsulates the full DOGE team in the government, which has hired temporary special government employees to serve brief stints at agencies. Musk estimated in March that DOGE had grown to about 100 employees with plans to grow to about 200. Trump's critics — including the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee — panned the plan to grow DOGE while shrinking other federal programs. 'The request includes $10 million for the U.S. DOGE Service, supporting 30 full-time employees to continue Elon Musk's slash and burn campaign to decimate government well after his departure as a Special Government Employee,' Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the appropriations panel, said in a news release. Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog nonprofit Public Citizen, said the administration's bid to 'enhance the budget of this anti-efficiency effort, while cutting funding for parks, health care, education and more, is appalling.' The budget document describes DOGE's mission as being technology focused, although the operation in the early days of the Trump administration and under Trump's leadership have shown the DOGE effort to be broad and aimed at enacting deep cuts to spending and personnel. 'U.S. DOGE Service (USDS) transforms Federal technology and software, driving unprecedented efficiency and productivity,' the document says. 'By advising Federal agencies on the tools to deliver high-impact outcomes, USDS streamlines government operations and tangibly improves the lives of the American people.' Gilbert, by contrast, described DOGE as 'the leading edge of this administration's corruption and lawlessness, illegally attacking agencies, threatening the data privacy of all Americans, and removing critical employees and programs that provide services we all depend on.'
