Trump orders more layoffs, Musk touts cuts at cabinet meeting

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday ordered federal agencies to undertake more large-scale layoffs of federal workers, as downsizing czar Elon Musk vowed at Trump’s first cabinet meeting to pursue deeper spending cuts.

A new administration memo instructed agencies to submit plans by March 13 for a “significant reduction” in staffing to a federal workforce already reeling from Musk’s waves of layoffs and program cuts. It did not specify numbers of desired layoffs.

The memo, signed by White House budget director Russell Vought and Office of Personnel Management acting head Charles Ezell, represents a major escalation in Trump and Musk’s campaign to slash the size of the U.S. government.

Thus far, the layoffs have focused on probationary workers, who have less tenure in their current roles and enjoy fewer job protections. The next round would target the vastly bigger pool of veteran civil servants.

At the cabinet meeting, Trump said Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, plans to cut up to 65% of his more than 15,000 employees.

On Tuesday, an Interior Department source told Reuters bureaus such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs should prepare for workforce reductions ranging from 10% to 40%.

Some 100,000 of the nation’s 2.3 million civilian federal workers have been fired or taken buyouts since Trump took office.

Trump gave Musk an extraordinary sign of support for the cost-cutting campaign by inviting the billionaire to the cabinet meeting and asked him to speak about the work of his Department of Government Efficiency, which is overseeing the overhaul.

As cabinet secretaries looked on, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO – wearing a black “Make America Great Again” baseball cap and a t-shirt that read “tech support” – expressed confidence that he can cut the $6.7 trillion budget by $1 trillion this year. That extremely ambitious target would likely entail significant disruption of government programs.

Without such deep spending cuts, Musk said, “the country will go de facto bankrupt.”

Later on Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order directing agencies to work with DOGE to review and terminate all “unnecessary” contracts and instructing the General Services Administration, which manages the government’s real estate, to create a plan for disposing of any unneeded property.

Thus far, Trump and Musk have failed to slow the rate of spending. According to a Reuters analysis, the government spent 13% more during Trump’s first month in office than during the same time last year, largely due to higher interest payments on the debt and rising health and retirement costs incurred by an aging population.