The News
US President Donald Trump offered to pay millions of government employees if they resign by next week, as the administration works to dramatically cut government spending.
The memo — which came from the Office of Personnel Management but shared its title with an similar email sent by Elon Musk to staff at Twitter after he took over the company in 2022 — offered employees about eight months’ pay if they left their jobs by Feb. 6. Those who choose to remain will have to return to the office, and face “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct,” and could be fired in the future, according to the memo.
Trump’s team hopes as many as 10% of employees accept the offer — which wasn’t extended to members of the military, immigration officials, and some national security workers — equating to around 200,000 workers, NBC News wrote. Musk’s America PAC previously calculated that such a cut could save $100 billion.
SIGNALS
Trump’s challenges to federal bureaucracy deepen
Donald Trump’s flurry of announcements around federal spending amount to a “full frontal assault” on government bureaucracy and a desire to remove anyone who doesn’t support his agenda, The New York Times wrote. Democrats criticized the move as legally dubious and even fraudulent: “Do not be fooled by this guy,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Vir., said. Government unions also quickly condemned the offer, with the head of the American Federation of Government Employees describing it as a “purging” that would have “vast, unintended consequences” for Americans, setting up potential legal challenges to the order.
Trump’s austerity plans could send ’shockwaves; through US economy
Just days into his second term, Donald Trump is already appearing “more serious” about fiscal austerity than before. Beyond cutting heads, Trump needs to make deep spending cuts to popular initiatives like Medicaid to hit a budget deficit goal of 3% of GDP and offset his tax plans, Axios wrote. The hit to those programs, and the sheer lack of people to administer them, could “send shockwaves through the economy and trigger widespread disruptions throughout society as a whole,” The Associated Press wrote, with the long-term consequences for vital public services entirely unknown.