Saturday, February 1, 2025
■ The Week in Review
"Elon Musk, who NO ONE VOTED FOR, wants to mess with our earned benefits," said one advocacy group. "Hell no."
By Julia Conley • Jan 31, 2025
President Donald Trump has claimed the spending cuts he proposes won't impact Medicare and Social Security, but new reporting on the sudden departure of the U.S. Treasury Department's highest-ranking career official after a dispute over the payment systems that distribute those benefits sparked concern that Trump's billionaire backer, Elon Musk, could have plans for the popular programs relied on by millions of Americans.
The Washington Post reported Friday that David Lebryk, who has served in numerous high-level roles at the Treasury Department since 1989 and was temporarily named acting treasury secretary by Trump before the confirmation this week of his nominee, Scott Bessent, would soon leave the department.
According to the newspaper, Lebryk has clashed with allies of Musk, whom Trump has named to lead his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), over access to payment systems that the agency uses to distribute more than $6 trillion annually to households and businesses.
Social Security and Medicare benefits, paychecks for federal employees, and payments to government contractors and grant recipients all flow through the payment systems run by the Bureau of Fiscal Service, among thousands of other functions.
Since Trump won the election in November, officials Musk has named as DOGE staffers have been asking for access to the payment systems, and the demands have been reiterated since the president took office last week, the Post reported.
Mark Mazur, who served in the department under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, said the push for access to the systems from an advisory committee aligned with a partisan agenda suggests "bad intentions" from Musk and his allies.
"This is a mechanical job—they pay Social Security benefits, they pay vendors, whatever," said Mazur. "It's not one where there's a role for nonmechanical things, at least from the career standpoint. Your whole job is to pay the bills as they're due. It's never been used in a way to execute a partisan agenda."
Since Trump's inauguration, the new administration has signaled its desire to disrupt government funding of long-established programs, most notably when the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo directing federal agencies to "pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance."
That memo, which was later rescinded, raised alarm about a freeze on the funding of programs like Head Start, Meals on Wheels, and Medicaid.
The executive order that created DOGE last week ordered agencies to ensure the advisory body has "full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems." DOGE's push for access to the Bureau of Fiscal Services payment systems suggests that it also wants control of those mechanisms.
Lindsay Owens, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative, said the dispute that led to Lebryk's imminent departure showed that "the Trump administration's claims that they won't touch Social Security and Medicare are obviously lies."
"Musk and his DOGE cronies are already demanding unprecedented access to the payment system that distributes these funds and are ousting any civil servant who gets in their way," said Owens. "It's barely been two weeks and Musk has already caused a level of chaos and inefficiency we've never before seen in government."
The idea that "good government technocrats could work with Musk and DOGE to improve technology and services" has been proven to be "all grift," added Owens in a post on Musk's social media platform, X.
While advocates and lawmakers have said DOGE could work to reduce military spending, which has risen by 50% since the beginning of the 21st century and hit $820 billion in 2023 despite the Pentagon failing seven consecutive audits, the Trump administration has appeared laser-focused in its first weeks on addressing spending that impacts millions of low-income and working Americans.
"Elon Musk, who NO ONE VOTED FOR, wants to mess with our earned benefits," said Social Security Works, an advocacy group that works to protect the benefit for retired Americans. "Hell no."
"The overwhelming support for impeachment shows that the American public is not willing to accept King Trump," said Alexandra Flores-Quilty, Free Speech for People campaign director.
By Eloise Goldsmith • Jan 30, 2025
The nonprofit Free Speech for People is leading a new nonpartisan campaign to drum up support for U.S. President Donald Trump's removal—"Impeach Trump Again"—and reported Thursday that the effort has already garnered over 100,000 petition signatures.
The campaign is calling on Congress to launch an impeachment investigation into Trump and says that the signature numbers signal "widespread support" for a probe.
"The overwhelming support for impeachment shows that the American public is not willing to accept King Trump," said Alexandra Flores-Quilty, Free Speech for People campaign director, in a Thursday statement. "We need bold leaders in Congress willing to stand up and hold Trump accountable for his abuses of power and initiate an impeachment inquiry."
The petition, which was launched on Inauguration Day, calls on Congress to initiate an impeachment investigation into Trump based on potential violations of the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clauses, his pardoning of insurrectionists who took part in the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol, and his "unlawful" and "corrupt" campaign practices.
Free Speech for People also launched a campaign to build public support for Trump's impeachment on the day of his inauguration back in 2017.
The emoluments clauses require that Trump "fully divest himself from any businesses receiving profits, gains, or advantages, beyond his official compensation, from the federal government or the individual states," according to the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Trump's business empire—which, as far as the public knows, he has not divested from—now includes not only real estate, but also a social media platform and a cryptocurrency token.
The campaign also lists other alleged impeachable offenses.
Trump was impeached twice by the House of Representatives during his first term, but in both cases he was acquitted by the Senate. Both chambers of Congress are now controlled by Trump's Republican Party.
"This is mental warfare. Don't quit. Hold the line," wrote one user on an online forum for federal employees and contractors, amid the Trump administration's repeated attacks on government workers.
By Eloise Goldsmith • Jan 30, 2025
Following a Tuesday memo sent from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management offering most of the federal workforce the option to resign or remain in their positions but without "full assurance regarding the certainty of [a worker's] position or agency," federal employees are taking to the social media platform Reddit to find solidarity and urge each other to stick it out.
"This non 'buyout' really seems to have backfired," wrote one user on subreddit for government workers and contractors, r/fednews.
"I'll be honest, before that email went out, I was looking for any way to get out of this fresh hell. But now I am fired up to make these goons as frustrated as possible, [President Donald Trump's return to in-person work directive] be damned. Hold the line!" the user wrote.
Common Dreams has included quotes from Reddit users who indicate they are federal employees, but did not independently verify their employment with the federal government.
Some media reports have called the OPM offer a "buyout," though the union the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and other observers have said it is merely an offer to resign, effective in September, with the ability to telework between now and September.
Federal employees have until February 6 to accept the offer, according to the email.
"The program is not buyout nor is it a Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment ('VISP') program. Instead, it purports to offer employees the ability to submit a deferred resignation and claims employees that do so will continue to receive pay, while still possibly working, until September 30, 2025," according to a fact sheet from AFGE.
AFGE and at least one other union representing federal employees have urged their members not to resign by responding to OPM's email.
Meanwhile, the OPM email has also sparked federal worker pride on Reddit.
A self-described "blue collar fed" wrote on Wednesday that the memo demonstrated that the current administration fundamentally misunderstands "the kind of person who works for the federal government."
"If we were able to be bought with empty promises and dubious buyouts, we'd be in the private sector, making 25% more money than we do here," the user wrote. "We swore an oath to the Constitution and the people of these United States of America. We're here because we know that not everyone can do the jobs we do, and we know that what we do is important."
A Thursday post from a user expressing low morale in the face of the Trump administration's moves targeting federal workers and worrying that they could be fired, was met with encouragement and calls to remain strong. "This is mental warfare. Don't quit. Hold the line," a user wrote in response.
Multiple nonfederal workers said they were heartened by the solidarity and fighting spirit exhibited on r/fednews.
President of the group Run for Something, Amanda Litman, posted on X that one of the threads had her "in [her] feelings."
Unions representing federal employees are also fighting back against Trump administration actions focused on civil servants. Three unions have filed two separate lawsuits challenging Trump's "Schedule F" executive order, a measure aimed at removing job protections for many career federal employees.
NICOLE SHANAHAN HAS MORE $$$ THAN BRAINS & IS SUPPORTING A LOSER IN RFK JR! RFK JR IS INCOMPETENT & UNQUALIFIED, MADE $$$ FROM HIS ANTI-VAX GROUP EVEN AS HE VACCINATED HIS CHILDREN & INSISTED PARTY-GOERS TO HIS HOUSE BE VACCINATED.
PROFITS FROM LAWSUITS THAT HE REFUSES TO STOP IF ELECTED....
RFK JR HAS A SORDID & REPULSIVE HISTORY.
"I know entitled rich people think they can buy Nevada's Senate seat—they can't," said one Democratic senator. "I work for Nevada, not billionaires like Nicole Shanahan."
By Brett Wilkins • Jan 30, 2025
Nicole Shanahan, the billionaire former running mate of erstwhile Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is threatening political retribution against any senator who does not vote to confirm Kennedy as Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's health and human services secretary.
This week, Shanahan vowed to "personally fund" primary challenges against senators who don't support Kennedy's nomination to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
"This is a bipartisan message, and it comes directly from me," Shanahan said in a video posted Monday on the social media platform X. "While Bobby may be willing to play nice, I won't."
Shanahan specifically admonished more than a dozen senators, including Democrats, Republicans, and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
"The two candidates I helped elect, Sen. Raphael Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff, please know I will be watching your votes very closely,” she said, singling out the two Georgia Democrats. "I will make it my personal mission that you lose your seats in the Senate if you vote against the future health of America's children."
At least one senator responded to Shanahan's threat. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) said on social media Wednesday: "Big Pharma spent millions against me and I didn't back down. Koch spent millions against me, I didn't back down. I know entitled rich people think they can buy Nevada's Senate seat—they can't. I work for Nevada, not billionaires like Nicole Shanahan."
Shanahan—who reportedly gained most of her wealth from her previous marriage to Google co-founder Sergey Brin—poured millions of dollars of her own money into Kennedy's longshot presidential campaign before the conspiracy theorist chose her as his running mate. She was also among the early voices urging Kennedy to drop his independent White House bid and throw his support behind Trump, as he ultimately did.
Before that, Shanahan donated to prominent Democratic politicians including the party's presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, in 2016 and former President Joe Biden in 2020. Kennedy, the son of former Democratic Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (Mass.) and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy—both of whom were assassinated in the 1960s—was also a longtime Democrat prior to his switch last year.
A wide range of public health experts oppose Kennedy's nomination. Last month, a group of 75 Nobel laureates urged senators to reject his appointment, citing his deadly history of amplifying discredited conspiracy theories and his "lack of credentials or relevant experience in medicine, science, public health, or administration."
"This week, President Trump and Republicans in Congress demonstrated that they would happily cut things like Meals on Wheels, housing assistance, and food for mothers and young children in order to deliver for the rich."
By Jake Johnson • Jan 30, 2025
The chairman of the House GOP's policy committee confirmed Wednesday that President Donald Trump's chaotic and destructive effort to slash federal spending—including key anti-poverty programs—is tied to the new administration's attempt to enact another round of tax cuts that would disproportionately benefit the rich and large corporations.
"If you're going to cut taxes and send money back home, then you also need to stop the spigot in Washington, D.C.," Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) told Politico. "You can't do both."
The comments from Hern, who previously chaired a Republican panel that called for sweeping cuts to Social Security benefits, were seen as further evidence of the end-goal of the Trump administration's aggressive and unlawful attempts to axe funding already approved by Congress.
Kobie Christian, a spokesperson for the advocacy coalition Unrig Our Economy thanked Hern for "giving away the game—that the real reason Republicans seem so adamant about cutting impactful and popular programs that families depend on is to pay for even more massive tax breaks for billionaires and corporations."
"This week," Christian added, "President Trump and Republicans in Congress demonstrated that they would happily cut things like Meals on Wheels, housing assistance, and food for mothers and young children in order to deliver for the rich."
"They are looking to cut programs and cut services so that they can fund the tax breaks for the billionaires."
Since early January, House Republicans have been considering a menu of options that floats over $2 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, a program that provides healthcare to tens of millions of low-income Americans—including millions of children.
Meanwhile, as ProPublica noted Thursday, the document proposes eliminating the federal estate tax for the ultrawealthy "at an estimated cost of $370 billion in revenue for the government over a decade."
"The tax, which charges a percentage of the value of a person's fortune after they die, kicks in only for estates worth more than around $14 million," the outlet noted. "Another proposal aims to slash the top tax rate paid by corporations by almost a third."
After the Trump White House said Wednesday that its far-reaching assault on federal funding would continue even after the withdrawal of an Office of Management and Budget memo that sparked nationwide mayhem, Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) warned that "this is the blueprint for the Trump administration and for the Republican majority."
"They are looking to cut programs and cut services so that they can fund the tax breaks for the billionaires," said Escobar. "Even if there was some kind of victory today with the withdrawal of the memo, this battle is ongoing. And their effort to effectively defund the federal government in order to provide those tax cuts is going to be an ongoing fight."
"This dangerous agenda that Zeldin will oversee will roll back vital pollution limits that protect us, abandon clean energy investments, and lock the country into reliance on dirty, expensive fossil fuels," said one campaigner.
By Jessica Corbett • Jan 29, 2025
Climate and public health advocates were outraged on Wednesday after a trio of U.S. Senate Democrats voted with Republicans to confirm President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin.
Critics have warned that Zeldin—like other Cabinet nominees—will serve billionaire polluters, not the American people and the planet, since Trump named him in November. They renewed those warnings after Democratic Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), and Mark Kelly (Ariz.) voted with Republicans to confirm him as EPA administrator.
After Zeldin's confirmation, the youth-led Sunrise Movement called him "a disaster for our planet and a win for Big Oil."
Climate Action Campaign director Margie Alt said in a statement that "Lee Zeldin's confirmation as EPA administrator is a catastrophic blow to the health of Americans, the climate, and the economy. Under Zeldin's leadership, the Environmental Protection Agency will no longer protect the American people and our communities—it will protect polluters."
Pointing to the new administrator's record and public statements, Alt said that "this dangerous agenda that Zeldin will oversee will roll back vital pollution limits that protect us, abandon clean energy investments, and lock the country into reliance on dirty, expensive fossil fuels that cost families at the gas pump."
"Americans didn't vote for dirtier air, more asthma attacks, or rising healthcare costs, yet that is exactly what Zeldin's EPA will deliver. Vulnerable communities, especially children, and seniors will bear the brunt of these policies, while a few fossil fuel executives rake in profits," she continued. "Zeldin's confirmation is a tragic failure for all Americans."
Marc Yaggi, CEO of Waterkeeper Alliance, declared that "this is a make-or-break moment for clean water, and the American people deserve leadership that puts their needs above the influence of corporate polluters."
While praising Zeldin's past rejection of offshore oil drilling and support for "sensible policies" on "forever chemicals," Yaggi said that "his history of voting against critical infrastructure and environmental funding and opposing clean water and air protections raises serious concerns about his commitment to effectively leading the Environmental Protection Agency."
Moms Clean Air Force suggested a rebrand for the EPA under Zeldin and Trump: Extreme Pollution Agency.
Since returning to the White House just 10 days ago, Trump has already taken various executive actions to attack the planet.
"The EPA's stated mission is to protect human health and the environment," Sierra Club legislative director Melinda Pierce said. "In the wake of Donald Trump's dangerous executive orders and illegal push to freeze all federal funding, the new EPA administrator will face a decision of whether to carry out the necessary duties of the role, or fold to Trump's deadly fossil fuel-backed agenda and broken promises."
"The American people want to breathe clean air and drink clean water," she stressed. "They want a healthy environment for their families today and the future generations of tomorrow. And they want to know that their government is doing everything in its power to protect them from the destructive impacts of the climate crisis that we sadly witness more and more of each day. That is now Lee Zeldin's charge, and we will do everything in our power to hold him accountable to the American people."
"The Laken Riley Act capitalizes on a horrible tragedy in order to advance President Trump's anti-immigrant agenda by scapegoating people seeking safety," said one campaigner.
By Brett Wilkins • Jan 29, 2025
Human rights defenders decried U.S. President Donald Trump's signing of legislation Wednesday that critics warn will strip due process rights from millions of people while harming some of the most vulnerable members of society, including migrant children, victims of sexual violence, and survivors of domestic abuse.
Trump signed the Laken Riley Act—named after a young woman murdered last year by a Venezuelan man who, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), entered the United States illegally—calling it a "landmark law" that "will save countless innocent American lives."
"The Laken Riley Act is based upon false, xenophobic narratives that dehumanize and criminalize an entire group of people due to the actions of one person."
However, Amy Fischer, director of the ACLU's Refugee and Migrant Rights Program, said in a statement Wednesday that "the Laken Riley Act capitalizes on a horrible tragedy in order to advance President Trump's anti-immigrant agenda by scapegoating people seeking safety and stripping away their right to due process."
"This legislation mandates the arrest and detention of our undocumented neighbors for being convicted or charged of any theft, shoplifting, burglary, or larceny offense," Fischer noted. "Mandatory detention solely for being accused of theft strips people of their right to due process and constitutes arbitrary detention under international human rights law."
"The Laken Riley Act is based upon false, xenophobic narratives that dehumanize and criminalize an entire group of people due to the actions of one person," Fischer added. "It will separate families and make our communities less safe. It is simply unconscionable for Congress to create a new mechanism that gives people the power to falsely accuse immigrants of theft knowing their detention is mandatory."
As the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the Bay Area, which called the law "shameful and unconstitutional," noted Wednesday: "This bill does not require a conviction—simply being accused of a crime is enough to force individuals into mandatory detention without review by any judge. In doing so, the law strips due process protections and allows for discrimination against vulnerable immigrant communities."
The group continued:
The federal government already has the power to detain and deport individuals who commit criminal acts. But in our legal system, judges act as a constitutionally required check on police actions. This new law removes that check. It is a direct attack on the constitutional rights of immigrants and communities of color, and it erodes the civil liberties of American society at large. It will incentivize racial profiling and divert law enforcement resources away from real threats, making our communities less safe.
"Lawyers' Committee and our partners vow to challenge this unconstitutional law in court," Bianca Sierra Wolff, the group's executive director, said in a statement. "We will not stand by while the rights of immigrants and communities of color are trampled for political gain."
Writing for Common Dreams Wednesday, National Center for Youth Law senior director Neha Desai and NCYL attorney Melissa Adamson lamented the Laken Riley Act's passage and urged Congress, both chambers of which passed the law with bipartisan support, to "do the right thing" by introducing "new legislation to protect children from this draconian law."
"Policymakers on both sides of the political aisle seem all too eager to support legislation that ignores that immigrant children are human beings, worthy of the same care and protections that their own children enjoy," Desai and Adamson contended. "It is deeply disheartening to see lawmakers shift with the political winds rather than hold true to fundamental values. Congress must not acquiesce to a country in which the rejection of children's rights is the norm."
Shares in private prison companies have skyrocketed since Trump won last November's election, partly in anticipation of a boom in business due to the Laken Riley Act and the broader campaign of mass deportations now underway.
On Wednesday, Trump also said he would instruct the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security to prepare a detention facility—some critics called it a "concentration camp"—capable of holding 30,000 migrants at the notorious offshore Guantánamo Bay prison run by the U.S. military in Cuba.
"The problem is that Kennedy isn't 'anti-establishment' in any way that would actually help working-class people at the expense of wealthy plutocrats."
By Julia Conley • Jan 29, 2025
Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee to direct federal health policy, faced the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday having made a name for himself as a public figure bent on "making America healthy again"—pushing anti-scientific warnings against seed oils, falsely claiming as recently as 2023 that "autism comes from vaccines," and pledging to protect Americans from harmful toxins.
But Kennedy's confirmation hearing to be the secretary of health and human services presented the latest evidence that the environmental lawyer and former presidential candidate has little if any concern about how the health of the country is impacted by one significant factor: the fact that Americans rely on a for-profit industry—empowered to deny coverage for lifesaving treatment on a whim—in order to obtain healthcare.
In his opening statement to the committee, Kennedy signaled a lack of interest in discussions about the finances involved in the U.S. healthcare system—one in which the top five health insurers have reported more than $371 billion in profits since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, while increasingly denying medical claims and charging families an average of $26,000 per year in premiums.
"I don't want to make this too much about money," said Kennedy, adding that "the nation has been locked in a divisive healthcare debate about who pays."
He dismissed debates about whether healthcare costs at the point of service should be paid by the government, corporations, providers, or families as "like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic" and turned his attention to "chemical additives in our food supply" and "chronic disease."
Ahead of the hearing, political commentator Ben Burgis wrote at MSNBC that while Kennedy has sold himself to the public as an anti-establishment figure, unafraid of standing up to Big Pharma by spreading conspiracy theories about vaccines, "the problem is that Kennedy isn't 'anti-establishment' in any way that would actually help working-class people at the expense of wealthy plutocrats."
He has all but dismissed concerns about health insurers like UnitedHealthcare, which made $23 billion in profits last year and now reportedly denies 1 in 3 medical claims, including for cancer treatments in some cases.
"The profit motive is human nature," Kennedy said in an interview with the online news show Breaking Points in 2023.
The nominee said at the hearing that he has "often disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions," but in an exchange with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) about Medicare and Medicare Advantage, the privatized system into which right-wing policymakers aim to push more seniors, even as it denies patients necessary care, Kennedy made clear again that he doesn't aim to question the status quo regarding the for-profit system.
Americans "would prefer to be on private insurance," said Kennedy. "Most Americans, if they could afford to be, will be on private insurance."
The comment drew incredulous laughter from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a longtime proponent of Medicare for All, according to reports.
Kennedy didn't cite any sources for his claim. A Gallup poll last month found that 62% of U.S. adults—the highest percentage in a decade—believe the government should guarantee that all Americans have health coverage. The survey was released days after the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, an event that sparked a nationwide discussion over the for-profit healthcare industry's claim-denial practices and exorbitant out-of-pocket costs for patients, which have proven deadly for some and have pushed millions of Americans into medical debt.
Later, Sanders pointed to the $70 billion the insurance industry raked in last year as 85 million Americans remained uninsured or underinsured and asked whether Kennedy agrees that the U.S. "should join every other major country on Earth and guarantee healthcare as a human right."
Kennedy replied that healthcare should not be treated as a human right as free speech is, because "in healthcare, if you smoke cigarettes for 20 years and you get cancer, you are now taking from the pool."
Annabelle Gurwitch, an author and activist, said Kennedy's response pointed to a worldview that is "dangerous to our health."
"So now we are going to determine care based on a metric that measures perceived responsibility: We'll need to police eating habits, drinking habits, and perhaps genetics and doling out care based on that," said Gurwitch, urging senators to "vote no on Kennedy."
"I've been an OPM employee for nearly a decade and a federal employee for almost 20 years," reads a since-deleted Reddit post. "I've never witnessed anything even remotely close to what's happening right now."
By Jake Johnson • Jan 29, 2025
The unglamorous but key federal office that sent out a mass "deferred resignation" offer to federal employees on Tuesday has reportedly been taken over by people with ties to Elon Musk, the world's richest man and a close confidant of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Citing unnamed sources, Wired reported Tuesday that "the highest ranks of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)—essentially the human resources function for the entire federal government—are now controlled by people with connections to Musk and to the tech industry." Musk reportedly visited OPM headquarters late last week.
Wired, which described the individuals as "Musk lackeys," declined to name some of the newly installed OPM officials because of their ages. One of the officials "was set to start college last fall," and another "is a 21-year-old whose online résumé touts his work for Palantir, the government contractor and analytics firm co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel."
Among the officials the outlet names are Riccardo Biasini, a former Tesla engineer who is now a senior adviser to the OPM director, and Amanda Scales, who previously worked at xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company. Scales is now chief of staff at OPM, which is currently led by Acting Director Charles Ezell.
A since-deleted Reddit post purportedly authored by an OPM employee describes Ezell as "the friendliest 'yes man' you'll ever meet."
"I've been an OPM employee for nearly a decade and a federal employee for almost 20 years. I've never witnessed anything even remotely close to what's happening right now. In short, there's a hostile takeover of the federal civil service," the post stated. "It's clear they pushed aside all the high-level nonpolitical civil servants who refused to do Donald Trump's bidding, until they found Chuck [Ezell]."
"The 'Fork in the Road' email had the same title as one that Elon Musk sent to Twitter when he took over there, informing workers to be 'extremely hardcore' or take the resignation offer."
The heavy presence of Musk allies and associates at OPM further entrenches the influence of the mega-billionaire inside the Trump administration, which has moved swiftly—and unlawfully—to purge the federal workforce and exert control over funding approved by Congress.
The American Prospect's David Dayen noted Wednesday that the email OPM sent to federal employees earlier this week offering full pay and benefits through September for all workers who opt to resign was "an Elon Musk operation, through and through."
"In fact, the 'Fork in the Road' email had the same title as one that Elon Musk sent to Twitter when he took over there, informing workers to be 'extremely hardcore' or take the resignation offer," Dayen wrote. "The Twitter emails even included the same ask of workers to reply with their decision."
"This is alternately questionably legal, potentially a bait and switch, dubiously effective as a budget-reducer, maybe even a budget-buster, and definitively harrowing for two million workers being subjected to a misery-inducing campaign for the sport of the world's richest man," Dayen added.
"Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration's goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to."
By Jessica Corbett • Jan 28, 2025
A union that represents over 800,000 employees of the federal and District of Columbia governments on Tuesday responded with alarm to U.S. President Donald Trump's effort to pressure some workers to leave their jobs.
"The number of civil servants hasn't meaningfully changed since 1970, but there are more Americans than ever who rely on government services," said American Federation of Government Employees national president Everett Kelley in a statement. "Purging the federal government of dedicated career federal employees will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government."
"This offer should not be viewed as voluntary," Kelley added, referring to a memo emailed to federal employees on Tuesday. "Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration's goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to."
Another labor group for federal workers, the National Treasury Employees Union, filed suit last week over one of those orders, which reinstated, with some amendments, the "Schedule F" measure that Trump implemented near the end of his first term.
In response to the administration's actions regarding the federal workforce, some critics have pointed to the Heritage Foundation-led Project 2025, from which the Republican president unsuccessfully tried to distance himself while on the campaign trail. As Common Dreams reported earlier Tuesday, a U.S. tech researcher revealed that the authors of policies published by Trump's Office of Personnel Management (OPM) have ties to the far-right organization and its infamous initiative.
Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said in a Tuesday night statement that "Donald Trump is trying every trick he and his Project 2025 cronies can think of to circumvent established civil service protections so they can purge the civil service of experts and replace them with political loyalists."
"The victims here, as is always the case with Donald Trump, are the American people who will see government services and benefits allocated not by nonpartisan civil servants, but by partisan hacks," added Connolly, ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Connolly and Kelley's and comments on Tuesday came after a senior Trump official told Axios that "the government-wide email being sent today is to make sure that all federal workers are on board with the new administration's plan to have federal employees in office and adhering to higher standards. We're five years past Covid and just 6% of federal employees work full-time in office. That is unacceptable."
While Axios broke the news of the "acceleration in President Trump's already unprecedented purge of the federal workforce," other media outlets also swiftly published related reports. Government Executive called out the debunked 6% figure, noting that "more than half of federal workers cannot telework because their duties are portable, and employees who telework spent around 60% of their work hours in person, per 2024 Office of Management and Budget data."
Many initial reports framed the message to federal workers as a "buyout" program, but after OPM posted the full memo on its website, experts including Alan Mygatt-Tauber, an adjust professor at Seattle University School of Law, emphasized that it "is absolutely NOT an early resignation offer with eight months severance pay."
Slate journalist Mark Joseph Stern similarly stressed that "this is NOT a buyout! Those who take the offer simply get permission to telework through September, at which point they lose their jobs. Media coverage of the details has been pretty misleading."
The OPM memo emailed to workers explains that the "reformed federal workforce" will be built around four pillars: a return to the office, performance culture, a more streamlined and flexible workforce, and enhanced standards of conduct.
The memo states:
If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people to the best of your abilities and look forward to working together as part of an improved federal workforce. At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions.
If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program. This program begins effective January 28 and is available to all federal employees until February 6. If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason).
The offer "applies to all full-time federal employees, except for military personnel, the Postal Service, and those working in immigration enforcement or national security," Axios detailed. The White House expects 5-10% of workers will take the deal.
As NBC News noted Tuesday:
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is now in charge of Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency, famously sent a similar email to employees shortly after he took over Twitter, which he renamed X, asking them to opt in to keep working at the company.
White House officials wouldn't say whether he was involved in the current effort. But the subject line of the email that will be sent to federal workers is: "A fork in the road."
Musk now has a post pinned on X of an art piece he commissioned called "A Fork in the Road."
Although "department" is in the name of the Musk-led entity, it is actually a presidential advisory commission—and although the billionaire initially suggested that it would lead the effort to cut $2 trillion in annual spending, he has since tempered expectations.
The commission and Musk, the world's richest person, have faced intense scrutiny from watchdog groups and progressive lawmakers, though some have also offered advice on how to pursue significant cuts without harming the lives of working people, including: ending privatized Medicare, reducing prescription drug prices, and slashing the Pentagon's massive budget.
This post was updated after the Office of Personnel Management memo was officially released to clarify the buyout language and add comment from Congressman Gerry Connolly.
Multiple lawmakers and advocacy groups argue that the White House's freeze on federal grant and loan funding is unlawful, and two legal challenges are already in progress.
By Jessica Corbett • Jan 28, 2025
Amid a flurry of sharp remarks from U.S. lawmakers in response to President Donald Trump's order to halt federal grant and loan funding across a wide swath of government programs and agencies, Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday demanded action from her colleagues on Capitol Hill.
"While President Trump illegally pauses federal funding from Congress, the Senate must not be business as usual," Warren (D-Mass.) argued on social media before the freeze was supposed to take effect. "We do not consent to this lawless power grab."
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Sean Duffy, Trump's pick for secretary of transportation, and is set to consider various other controversial nominees—including Doug Burgum for interior secretary and Chris Wright for energy secretary—this week.
After the freeze was announced in a memo by Matthew Vaeth, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, Democrats called for halting the Senate Budget Committee's consideration of Russell Vought, Trump's choice to lead OMB, but according to a spokesperson for the GOP-led panel, it "will proceed with Mr. Vought's nomination as scheduled."
The freeze was set to begin at 5:00 pm ET Tuesday, but nonprofit and business groups took legal action, which led Washington, D.C.-based U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan to direct the Trump administration not to block funding until a February 3 hearing.
Democratic state attorneys general are also working on a case. That lawsuit, The New York Times noted, "opens up another front in what will be a long legal fight led by Democrat-led states and progressive activists to stop President Trump's aggressive second-term agenda in the federal courts."
Some activists and lawmakers—including Warren—also want members of Congress to more forcefully fight back against illegal moves by the Trump administration, even though the president's party has narrow majorities in both chambers.
The president and executive branch "can only erode the checks and balances and grab power from another branch with House and Senate Republicans' consent," Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) said on social media. "I encourage my Republican colleagues to grow a spine and affirm that we're a co-equal branch of government and not just a dictator's advisory committee."
"And no... I'm not actually holding my breath here for these folks," the progressive lawmaker added.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, said in a statement: "Bottom line: This unconstitutional memo must be rescinded. The American people—Democrats, Republicans, and Independents—must come together to defeat this move towards authoritarianism. If President Trump wants to change our nation's laws he has the right to ask Congress to change them. He does not have the right to violate the United States Constitution. He is not a king."
Since the November elections that led to Republicans controlling the White House and Congress, Sanders has joined voters and grassroots organizers in urging the Democratic Party to learn from its devastating losses and actually deliver for working people. Those same voices have urged Democrats to actually serve as an opposition party while Trump is in office.
Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, a group that came out of Sanders' 2016 run, said in a Tuesday statement that "Trump's unilateral freeze on federal aid is an assault on working families, public programs, and the pillars of our already fragile social contract. This is a hair-on-fire moment, and Democrats must act accordingly."
"Halting funding for life-or-death programs like Medicaid, school meals, housing, childcare, and other public services is a calculated effort to dismantle government services and public goods," he added. "With Trump prioritizing the billionaire class over the needs of everyday Americans, Democrats must be relentless in standing up for the people. This is policy violence, plain and simple."
Ahead of 5:00 pm, as the Medicaid payment portals across all 50 states went down, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dodged questions about which programs would be impacted during a press briefing. She later said on social media that "the White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage. We have confirmed no payments have been affected—they are still being processed and sent. We expect the portal will be back online shortly."
After the briefing, ABC News reported on another memo from OMB:
An OMB memo obtained by ABC News senior political correspondent Rachel Scott also sought to shed light on the freeze's implications.
According to the memo, "In addition to Social Security and Medicare, already explicitly excluded in the guidance, mandatory programs like Medicaid and [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] will continue without pause."
"Funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start, rental assistance, and other similar programs will not be paused," the document read. "If agencies are concerned that these programs may implicate the president's executive orders, they should consult OMB to begin to unwind these objectionable policies without a pause in the payments."
"Still, the pause could have sweeping implications," ABC pointed out, "as the federal government funds thousands of programs, including housing subsidies and educational grants."
"This is an immediate crisis for kids, for public safety, for our seniors, for our healthcare system," said Sen. Chris Murphy. "And why? Because Donald Trump is trying to seize power."
By Julia Conley • Jan 28, 2025
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dodged the question numerous times during the Trump administration's first press briefing on Tuesday: Will Medicaid be one of the federal programs impacted by the Office of Management and Budget's recently announced funding freeze on grants and loans?
Leavitt told reporters numerous times that "funds that go to individuals" will not be affected by the OMB's order and said she would get a full list of the impacted programs to the press after the briefing, refusing to answer when one journalist pointed out that many impacted programs "pass on benefits to people."
When one reporter asked if she was "guaranteeing here that no individual now on Medicaid would see a cutoff because of the policy," Leavitt said she would "check back on that."
But before the briefing was over, numerous Democratic lawmakers were sharing reports that Medicaid portals in all 50 states were in fact down.
"Just confirmed that the Trump administration shut down the Medicaid portal for Florida," said U.S. Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.). "There are over 3.8 MILLION Floridians on Medicaid."
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) confirmed that "Medicaid payment system has been turned off" in his state, with doctors and hospitals unable to be compensated for care provided to low-income people, children, and people with disabilities who receive healthcare through the program, while Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said the same about New Mexico.
On the Payment Management Services website at the Department of Health and Human Services, a message read: "PAYMENT DELAYS: Due to executive orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments, PMS is taking additional measures to process payments. Reviews of applicable programs and payments will result in delays and/or rejections of payments."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said his staff had confirmed that Medicaid portals in "all 50 states" were affected by the order, which the OMB said was driven by the Trump administration's desire to ensure federal resources are not used to "advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and Green New Deal social engineering policies."
Noting that 41% of all births in the U.S. are covered by Medicaid, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) emphasized that the entire Republican Party is "backing this illegal sabotage"—freezing funds that provide nearly 80 million people with healthcare coverage as well as those that keep Head Start early childhood education programs, clinical cancer research trials, food assistance for senior citizens, and homeless shelters running.
"Overnight, Republicans are destroying healthcare for millions of Americans—and it isn't just [President Donald] Trump," said Ocasio-Cortez. "They are ALL in on it. Every one."
In a video posted to social media, Murphy accused Trump of a "brazen, transparent effort to seize power"—marked by his pardon of more than 1,000 people who stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to overturn his 2020 election loss and his firing of at least a dozen inspectors general, as well his "government funding shutdown."
"This is an immediate crisis for kids, for public safety, for our seniors, for our healthcare system," said Murphy. "And why? Because Donald Trump is trying to seize power."
Ocasio-Cortez agreed, saying Trump's order has thrown the country into "a constitutional crisis."
"Trump is holding all the nation's hospitals and vital services hostage to seize power from Congress and hand it over to billionaires," said the congresswoman. "It's a massive, illegal power grab that the House and Senate have a sworn duty to stop."
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