The White House expects a ‘mass reduction’ in the federal workforce
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Federal agencies were required to submit downsizing plans by Thursday night as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s plan to carry out mass firings across government — but it’s unclear what comes next.
Elon Musk’s DOGE will work with the Office of Personnel Management — the government’s human resources department — to review each agency’s plans before carrying out the firings, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. But legal scholars say there are countless legal questions surrounding these large-scale firings that remain unanswered.
“Not only are there millions of legal questions cascading out, but the million legal questions change with each different move of the political strategy,” Don Kettl, former dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, told The Washington Post.
Thursday’s deadline coincided with decisions from two federal judges ruling that President Donald Trump’s administration must reinstate thousands of probationary workers who were fired as part of DOGE’s work.
Federal agencies were required to submit plans for mass firings to the Office of Personnel Management and Elon Musk’s DOGE by Thursday nightopen image in gallery
Federal agencies were required to submit plans for mass firings to the Office of Personnel Management and Elon Musk’s DOGE by Thursday night (REUTERS)
As questions mount, Rice University political science professor Mark Jones tells Reuters the Trump administration is in a rush to carry out these firings before the president’s honeymoon period ends.
"The Trump administration knows that it has a limited time horizon," Jones told the outlet. "The risk is they cut too much, or they don't cut strategically, and it has negative blowbacks in terms of the ability of the federal government to function."
Employment lawyer Kevin Owen argues that Trump wants to make agencies dysfunctional so he can dismantle them further down the road.
“They’re breaking government agencies so that down the road they can point to it and say, ‘That’s not working; we can get rid of it.’ That’s what’s going on here,” Owen told the Post.
A demonstrator holds a sign as they protest Musk’s DOGEopen image in gallery
A demonstrator holds a sign as they protest Musk’s DOGE (AP)
Federal employment attorney Debra D’Agostino voiced a similar concern.
“I don’t think they really think through how much we rely on the federal government,” she told the Post. “Our food is safe to eat, our water is safe to drink, we can get on public transportation. There’s many things a government does that we don’t notice on a day-to-day basis, but we’re surely going to notice if they stop happening.”
What is clear, though, is that the White House expects this move to result in a “mass reduction” of the federal workforce.
This reduction will “streamline our broken bureaucracy, save taxpayers millions of dollars and make the government more efficient for all,” Leavitt said.
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.