Latest news with #governmentdownsizing
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
US supreme court clears way for Trump officials to resume mass government firings
The US supreme court has cleared the way for Donald Trump's administration to resume plans for mass firings of federal workers that critics warn could threaten critical government services. Extending a winning streak for the US president, the justices on Tuesday lifted a lower court order that had frozen sweeping federal layoffs known as 'reductions in force' while litigation in the case proceeds. The decision could result in hundreds of thousands of job losses at the departments of agriculture, commerce, health and human services, state, treasury, veterans affairs and other agencies. Democrats condemned the ruling. Antjuan Seawright, a party strategist, said: 'I'm disappointed but I'm not shocked or surprised. This rightwing activist court has proven ruling after ruling, time after time, that they are going to sing the songs and dance to the tune of Trumpism. A lot of this is just implementation of what we saw previewed in Project 2025.' Related: Trump basks in triumph as supreme court kicks away another guardrail Project 2025, a plan drawn up by the conservative Heritage Foundation thinktank, set out a blueprint for downsizing government. Trump has claimed that voters gave him a mandate for the effort and he tapped billionaire ally Elon Musk to lead the charge through the 'department of government efficiency', or Doge, though Musk has since departed. In February, Trump announced 'a critical transformation of the federal bureaucracy' in an executive order directing agencies to prepare for a government overhaul aimed at significantly reducing the workforce and gutting offices. In its brief unsigned order on Tuesday, the supreme court said Trump's administration was 'likely to succeed on its argument that the executive order' and a memorandum implementing his order were lawful. The court said it was not assessing the legality of any specific plans for layoffs at federal agencies. Ketanji Brown Jackson, the liberal justice, was the sole member of the nine-person court to publicly dissent from the decision, which overturns San Francisco-based district Judge Susan Illston's 22 May ruling. Jackson wrote that Illston's 'temporary, practical, harm-reducing preservation of the status quo was no match for this court's demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this president's legally dubious actions in an emergency posture'. She also described her colleagues as making the 'wrong decision at the wrong moment, especially given what little this Court knows about what is actually happening on the ground'. Illston had argued in her ruling that Trump had exceeded his authority in ordering the downsizing, siding with a group of unions, non-profits and local governments that challenged the administration. 'As history demonstrates, the president may broadly restructure federal agencies only when authorized by Congress,' she wrote. The judge blocked the agencies from carrying out mass layoffs and limited their ability to cut or overhaul federal programmes. Illston also ordered the reinstatement of workers who had lost their jobs, though she delayed implementing this portion of her ruling while the appeals process plays out. Illston's ruling was the broadest of its kind against the government overhaul pursued by Trump and Doge. Tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, have left their jobs via deferred resignation programmes or have been placed on leave. The administration had previously challenged Illston's order at the San Francisco-based ninth US circuit court of appeals but lost in a 2-1 ruling on 30 May. That prompted the justice department to make an emergency request to the supreme court, contending that controlling the personnel of federal agencies 'lies at the heartland' of the president's executive branch authority. The plaintiffs had urged the supreme court to deny the justice department's request. Allowing the Trump administration to move forward with its 'breakneck reorganization', they wrote, would mean that 'programs, offices and functions across the federal government will be abolished, agencies will be radically downsized from what Congress authorized, critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will lose their jobs'. The supreme court's rejection of that argument on Tuesday was welcomed by Trump allies. Pam Bondi, the attorney general, posted on the X social media platform: 'Today, the Supreme Court stopped lawless lower courts from restricting President Trump's authority over federal personnel – another Supreme Court victory thanks to @thejusticedept attorneys. Now, federal agencies can become more efficient than ever before. The state department wrote on X: 'Today's near unanimous decision from the Supreme Court further confirms that the law was on our side throughout this entire process. We will continue to move forward with our historic reorganization plan at the State Department, as announced earlier this year. This is yet another testament to President Trump's dedication to following through on an America First agenda.' Related: US supreme court limits federal judges' power to block Trump orders In recent months the supreme court has sided with Trump in some major cases that were acted upon on an emergency basis since he returned to office in January. It cleared the way for Trump's administration to resume deporting migrants to countries other than their own without offering them a chance to show the harms they could face. In two cases, it let the administration end temporary legal status previously granted on humanitarian grounds to hundreds of thousands of migrants. It also allowed Trump to implement his ban on transgender people in the US military, blocked a judge's order for the administration to rehire thousands of fired employees and twice sided with Doge. In addition, the court curbed the power of federal judges to impose nationwide rulings impeding presidential policies. On Tuesday the Democracy Forward coalition condemned the supreme court for intervening in what it called Trump's unlawful reorganisation of the federal government. It said in a statement: 'Today's decision has dealt a serious blow to our democracy and puts services that the American people rely on in grave jeopardy. 'This decision does not change the simple and clear fact that reorganizing government functions and laying off federal workers en masse haphazardly without any congressional approval is not allowed by our Constitution.'
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
State Department begins mass layoffs after Trump was given green light to purge 'bloated' government
The State Department has advised staffers it will begin issuing thousands of layoff notices from today as part of the Donald Trump's war against the 'Deep State'. The sweeping reorganization comes Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed the 'bloated' bureaucracy was 'radical political ideology' that undermines core American values. The layoffs come only days after the Supreme Court cleared the way for Trump 's executive order allowing mass layoffs across the federal government to proceed, despite ongoing legal challenges. The ruling, which Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson denounced as releasing the president's 'wrecking ball, ' sent shockwaves through Washington and set the stage for what may become the largest government downsizing in modern US history. Now, with legal barriers falling away, Trump's agenda to 'deconstruct the administrative state' and reduce the size of the federal government is accelerating, starting with the State Department where nearly 1,800 positions are being slashed. But critics say the scale of cuts floated at the State Department will 'leave the US with limited tools to engage as a leader on the world stage during this critical juncture', making it hard for many offices to carry out their missions. The State Department will begin layoffs as early as Friday as it seeks to cut the size of its US workforce by about 15 percent. Michael Rigas, the department's deputy secretary for management and resources, said in a statement that select staffers would be informed if they were being laid off and described it as being part of the department's biggest reorganization in decades. 'Soon, the Department will be communicating to individuals affected by the reduction in force. First and foremost, we want to thank them for their dedication and service to the United States,' he said. 'Once notifications have taken place, the Department will enter the final stage of its reorganization and focus its attention on delivering results-driven diplomacy,' he added. Rubio said officials took 'a very deliberate step to reorganize the State Department to be more efficient and more focused.' 'It's not a consequence of trying to get rid of people. But if you close the bureau, you don't need those positions,' he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he's attending the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum. 'Understand that some of these are positions that are being eliminated, not people.' He said some of the cuts will be unfilled positions or those that are about to be vacant because an employee took an early retirement. The impact is expected to be felt most heavily in Washington, where hundreds of seasoned diplomats and civil service staff are now bracing for pink slips. The American Foreign Service Association estimates that around 700 Foreign Service officers based in the US will be cut, along with a larger number of civil service employees - making this one of the largest workforce reductions in the department's modern history. In late May, the State Department notified Congress of an updated reorganization plan, proposing cuts to programs beyond what had been revealed earlier by Rubio as well as an 18 percent reduction of staff in the U.S., even higher than the 15 percent initially floated in April. Rigas' statement said the department is aiming to 'focus resources on policy priorities and eliminate redundant functions, empowering our people while increasing accountability.' The State Department is planning to eliminate some divisions tasked with oversight of America's two-decade involvement in Afghanistan, including an office focused on resettling Afghan nationals who worked alongside the US military. It also intends to eliminate programs related to refugees and immigration, as well as human rights and democracy promotion. Although overseas staffing remains intact for now, the cuts follow Trump's earlier elimination of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) - a major pillar of America's global aid apparatus that employed over 10,000 people worldwide. Diplomats warn the gutting of both agencies in a single year could cripple US influence abroad, especially as conflicts intensify in the Middle East and Ukraine, and China expands its global footprint. The American Foreign Service Association, the union that represents diplomats, urged the State Department last month to hold off on job cuts. Notices for a reduction in force, which would not only lay off employees but eliminate positions altogether, 'should be a last resort,' association President Tom Yazdgerdi said. 'Disrupting the Foreign Service like this puts national interests at risk - and Americans everywhere will bear the consequences.' While the administration is framing the cuts as streamlining, critics say the real effect is a hollowing out of US diplomacy with human rights, refugee resettlement, and war crimes offices facing extinction under the restructuring.
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Health
- Bloomberg
Trump's Cuts Are Making Federal Data Disappear
Doctors are struggling to treat patients with complex sexually transmitted infections as certain types of health data are being purged from public websites. Insurers have lost access to a frequently consulted database of climate and weather disasters. School districts are left to work with a scaled-down version of the nation's report card, which is critical for setting benchmarks for student achievement and allocating resources. These datasets are collateral damage in President Donald Trump's effort to downsize the US government. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency says it's canceled almost 12,000 contracts totaling about $44 billion in savings, plus billions more in terminated grants. Then there are the hundreds of thousands of government workers who've departed through voluntary resignations, firings and other exits, leaving several agencies gutted and gaping holes in others. Among them are linchpins of the sprawling federal statistical system, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau, as well as a host of lesser-known offices that research science and engineering, transportation, health and more.
E&E News
27-06-2025
- Business
- E&E News
EPA boss gets earful from staffers during Chicago stop
EPA employees uncertain about their careers under the Trump administration grilled Administrator Lee Zeldin during his visit to the agency's Chicago office Thursday morning. Zeldin — who has embraced the administration's government downsizing effort and said he wants to cut the agency's budget by more than half — arrived Thursday for an all-hands meeting with employees in the Chicago office. Staffers knew about it a day ahead of time and dozens of EPA employees packed into the event, including some wearing employee union T-shirts, said Nicole Cantello, president of the union local that represents EPA workers in the Chicago office. Advertisement After Zeldin gave a speech to the audience, EPA employees surrounded him and asked 'tons of questions,' Cantello said.
New York Times
16-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Block Ruling on Mass Layoffs
The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to block a judge's ruling that had temporarily paused plans for mass layoffs and program closures at federal agencies. Last week, Judge Susan Illston of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California called for a two-week pause on the administration's actions, which she said were illegal without congressional authorization. Her order barred two dozen federal agencies from moving ahead with the largest phase of President Trump's efforts to downsize the government. In the emergency application filed on Friday, D. John Sauer, the solicitor general, argued that the lower court's 'far-reaching order' would prevent 'almost the entire executive branch from formulating and implementing plans to reduce the size of the federal work force.' That decision was 'based on the extraordinary view' that the president lacked the authority to direct executive agencies on how to conduct large-scale downsizing plans, Mr. Sauer said. Judge Illston's ruling would prevent the Department of Housing and Urban Development from carrying out layoffs it had planned for Sunday. The request to the justices was the 15th emergency application that the administration filed to the Supreme Court since Mr. Trump returned to office in January. The applications have included asking the justices to lift a nationwide pause on Mr. Trump's order ending birthright citizenship, to freeze more than $1 billion in foreign aid and to permit the deportation of Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador without due process. In February, Mr. Trump signed an executive order directing officials to draft plans for 'large-scale' cuts to the federal work force. Several labor unions, advocacy groups and local governments sued, seeking to block the order. Judge Illston held an emergency hearing in the case last Friday and issued her ruling just hours later. In the 42-page ruling, Judge Illston determined that the government's attempt to lay off workers and shut down offices and programs created an urgent threat to scores of critical services. She also noted that the process required consultation with Congress on any plan to abolish or transfer part of a federal agency. On Monday, the Trump administration filed an emergency request to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, asking it to pause Judge Illston's order pending appeal. But the administration told the Supreme Court that such a ruling would not come quickly enough. Of the many lawsuits filed in response to Mr. Trump's efforts to reshape the federal government, the mass layoffs case is poised to have the broadest effect. Many agencies have not yet announced downsizing plans, but employees throughout the government have been anxiously awaiting announcements. Eileen Sullivan contributed reporting.
