Trump signs executive order to slash federal agencies, critics push back

On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle eight federal agencies, a measure he believes will reduce government spending and leave Americans with more money in their hands.

According to a White House fact sheet, the president’s action eliminates non-statutory functions and reduces others that are considered “unnecessary” for these entities.

Trump’s order seeks to downsize “unnecessary” U.S. government entities

Mass firings across multiple federal agencies have defined the first months of President Trump’s second term as the administration attempts to strip the executive branch of many powerful assets unilaterally. 

Elon Musk’s “D.O.G.E,” along with agencies like the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), are choking off services to the public by incapacitating the agencies that are legally bound to deliver them.

Trump’s administration is still preparing to further reduce agency capacity through reductions in force, or RIFs. This time, they will target employees who do not work during a government shutdown. 

Furthermore, on February 11, President Trump issued Executive Order 14210, directing agencies to use “efficiency improvements and attrition” to shrink the federal workforce. According to the order, agency heads were told to “promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force (RIFs).”

According to the White House fact sheet, cutting these governmental entities will save taxpayers dollars, reduce unnecessary government spending, and streamline government priorities.

The White House even shared an X post quoting Elon Musk’s words: “It’s not optional for us to reduce the federal expenses. IT’S ESSENTIAL.”

However, opponents are turning to courts to impose restrictions on their cost-cutting plans.

U.S. judges order the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of fired workers

Following the rising concerns of the firing of federal workers, federal judges in California and Maryland on Thursday ordered the U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to reinstate thousands of probationary federal workers who lost their jobs as part of mass firings carried out at 19 agencies.

The court’s decision was the biggest setback for Trump and his top adviser, Elon Musk, in their attempt to significantly reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy. 

James Bredar, U.S. District Judge in Baltimore, concurred and opened a new tab with 20 Democratic-led states, finding that 18 of the agencies that had mass-fired probationary employees in recent weeks had broken rules about federal employee layoffs.

Bredar’s restraining order covered agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Trump administration has targeted these three organizations for cost-cutting and deregulatory measures.

Other agencies covered by the judge’s order include the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.

Moreover, the judge said the administration’s argument that it dismissed each employee for performance or other individualized reasons was untrue. Therefore, the job cuts would be considered a mass layoff, requiring the states, which are obligated to support their newly unemployed citizens, to give advance notice.

Bredar wrote, “The sheer number of employees that were terminated in a matter of days belies any argument that these terminations were due to the employees’ individual unsatisfactory performance or conduct.” 

During a hearing in San Francisco, the U.S. District Judge William Alsup had also ordered the reinstatement of probationary employees terminated at six agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense.

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