Musk to attend Trump cabinet meeting as workers brace for more cuts

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump will include budget-cutting billionaire Elon Musk in his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, as Republicans in Congress search for ways to reduce the cost of an ambitious tax-cut plan.

Trump has frozen foreign aid and fired more than 20,000 federal workers so far in a radical government overhaul that aims to cut $1 trillion from the $6.7 trillion budget. At the same time, he is pressing Congress to pass tax cuts that would reduce government revenues by trillions of dollars over the coming decade, a move that independent experts say would worsen the nation’s heavy debt load.

After advancing that plan with a 217-215 vote in the House of Representatives late on Tuesday, Republicans now are considering deep cuts to health and food aid for the poor to balance those tax cuts.

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Musk’s efforts to slash spending has plunged the government into chaos, upending construction projects and freezing scientific research across the country.

It has also put him at odds with some senior members of Trump’s administration, who were caught by surprise by a Saturday email directive to the nation’s 2.3 million civilian federal workers to justify their jobs. Some agencies told employees to ignore Musk’s demand.

Musk has continued to press for workers to respond. Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the request was “somewhat voluntary, but it’s also if you don’t answer, I guess you get fired.”

Musk’s efforts have not slowed government spending so far. A Reuters analysis of Treasury data shows that the government spent $710 billion during his first month in office, up 13% from the same period last year.

That increase is largely driven by mounting interest costs related to the nation’s $36 trillion debt load, as well as rising health and retirement costs incurred by an aging population.

DOUBTING DOGE

Twenty-one workers resigned from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency in protest on Tuesday, saying they did not want to use their skills to dismantle public services or jeopardize Americans’ personal data.

Musk’s team has sought to access sensitive payment, health, tax and personnel records, raising privacy and security fears.

Federal judges have questioned the secrecy of DOGE’s activities.

Musk spent much of Tuesday railing against federal judges who have stepped in to block his team from accessing sensitive systems and data at the Treasury Department, Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management.

“The only way to restore rule of the people in America is to impeach judges,” Musk wrote on X. “No one is above the law, including judges.”

Impeaching a federal judge would require the support of two-thirds of the 100-member Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority.

Most of the workers fired by DOGE so far were in their jobs for less than a year, making them easier to lay off under civil service rules. But there were signs that DOGE was turning its attention to long-term career staff.

Internal Revenue Service executives have been told to brace for another round of job cuts beyond the nearly 12,000 employees already slated to be terminated, two people familiar with the matter said. The cuts so far amount to more than 10% of the service’s workforce.

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

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Scott Malone and Deepa Babington)

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