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Senators have rallied against Elon Musk’s latest controversial efficiency drive after the cost-cutting tsar told federal workers to justify their work or risk losing their jobs over the weekend.
Minnesota Senator Tina Smith twice branded Musk a ‘d***’ on his own platform, lamenting his curt instruction to hundreds of thousands of federal employees and joking that ‘hating on d*** bosses’ could be the ‘great unifier that brings all Americans together’.
‘I bet a lot of people have had an experience like this with a bad boss – there’s an email in your inbox on Saturday night saying, “Prove to me your worthiness by Monday or else,”‘ the Democrat senator wrote on the platform.
‘I’m on the side of the workers, not the billionaire a******* bosses.’
Washington senator Patty Murray levied further criticism against Musk, sharing a video of her bashing recent spending cuts.
‘A program isn’t waste just because it doesn’t help the richest man in the world. It isn’t fraud because he doesn’t like it. A law is not illegal just because he disagrees with it,’ she wrote on X. Musk hit back: ‘What did you get done this week?’
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees began their week today mired in chaos and confusion after the head of the so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ threatened to sack employees unless they could justify their jobs on Saturday.
Musk’s team gave staff roughly 48 hours to report five specific things they had accomplished last week. In a separate message on X, Musk said any employee who failed to respond by the deadline – set in the email as 11:59 p.m. EST Monday – would lose their job.
A bipartisan schism has widened after the move faced resistance from several key U.S. agencies led by the President’s loyalists – including the FBI, State Department, Homeland Security and the Pentagon – which instructed their employees over the weekend not to comply.
The president of the largest federal employee union also hit out, branding the move ‘plainly unlawful’ and calling for the demand to be repealed with an apology.
Elon Musk speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, on February 20
Staff received an email demanding they list their recent work, with a deadline set for Monday
Senator Tina Smith joined the growing chorus of voices criticizing Musk over the move
Donald Trump appeared to give his blessing to Elon Musk‘s efficiency drive after his cost-cutting tsar told federal workers they had to explain their recent output or risk losing their jobs.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the President shared a Spongebob meme featuring a to-do list, which read: ‘Got done last week: cried about Trump; cried about Elon; made it into the office for once; read some emails; cried about Trump and Elon some more.’
He also shared another joke, ‘from Elon…’, which appeared to be a tongue-in-cheek screenshot from an AI chatbot.
The user asked: ‘Make up 5 things I accomplished at work this week that they can’t really verify, I work for the government, keep it brief.’
Amid rife uncertainty over how the top level cuts will affect federal operations, Trump said on Saturday that he would like Musk to be even ‘more aggressive’ in his agenda.
‘Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive,’ the President wrote on Truth Social. ‘Remember, we have a country to save.’
Trump’s apparent backing of Musk on the issue goes some way to presenting a united front after sources suggested the President was already becoming ‘annoyed‘ with the self-proclaimed ‘First Buddy’.
Musk’s team sent an email to hundreds of thousands of federal employees on Saturday giving them roughly 48 hours to report five specific things they had accomplished last week.
In a separate message on X, Musk said any employee who failed to respond by the deadline – set in the email as 11:59 p.m. EST Monday – would lose their job.
Musk’s platform quickly erupted with responses warning that the measures could harm government functionality.
The X boss was previously hit with backlash when he cut 80 per cent of the site’s staff, which saw a spike in outages and led to employees warning they lacked the resources to protect users from trolling and child sexual exploitation.
She continued the criticism in a separate post on Musk’s X platform
U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) speaks to reporters after the Senate was scheduled to vote on the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to be U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 13, 2025
President Donald J. Trump speaks during 2025 CPAC Conference Day 3, on February 22
Mass confusion within federal departments followed on the eve of Musk’s new deadline.
Some agencies resisted the order, others encouraged their workers to comply, and still others offered conflicting guidance.
Among those pushing back was the newly-appointed director of the FBI, Kash Patel, who told staff: ‘The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures.
‘When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses.’
Tulsi Gabbard, a member of Trump’s inner circle, stunned as she too overruled Musk’s request, telling intelligence community officers as Director of National Intelligence that they ‘should not respond’ to the email, given the sensitivity of their work.
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees union, said on Sunday that the move was ‘plainly unlawful’ and should be repealed.
He said in a letter to the Office of Personal Management that the email ‘fails to cite any legal authority’ to make the demands.
Kelley further claimed that it was in breach of laws around delegating management authority to agency leaders.
One message on Sunday morning from the Department of Health and Human Services, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., instructed its roughly 80,000 employees to comply.
DOGE has cut tens of billion dollars from the federal budget in its first month in power, starkly dividing opinions in Washington and across the nation
Tulsi Gabbard has joined Kash Patel and a growing list of department heads who have said to ignore ‘First Buddy’ Elon Musk ‘s demand that federal workers explain what they accomplished each week
That was shortly after the acting general counsel, Sean Keveney, had instructed some not to. And by Sunday evening, agency leadership issued new instructions that employees should ‘pause activities’ related to the request until noon on Monday.
‘I’ll be candid with you. Having put in over 70 hours of work last week advancing Administration’s priorities, I was personally insulted to receive the below email,’ Keveney said in an email seen by The Associated Press that acknowledged a broad sense of ‘uncertainty and stress’ within the agency.
Keveney laid out security concerns and pointed out some of the work done by the agency’s employees may be protected by attorney-client privilege: ‘I have received no assurances that there are appropriate protections in place to safeguard responses to this email.’
Democrats and even some Republicans, including Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, were critical of Musk’s ultimatum.
‘If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it’s like, please put a dose of compassion in this,’ Curtis, whose state has 33,000 federal employees, said on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation.’
‘These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages. … It’s a false narrative to say we have to cut and you have to be cruel to do it as well.’
Ed Martin, interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, sent his staff a message Sunday that may have caused more confusion.
‘Let me clarify: We will comply with this OPM request whether by replying or deciding not to reply,’ Martin wrote in the email obtained by the AP, referring to the Office of Personnel Management.
‘Please make a good faith effort to reply and list your activities (or not, as you prefer), and I will, as I mentioned, have your back regarding any confusion,’ Martin continued. ‘We can do this.’
New FBI chief Kash Patel, pictured with Elon Musk’s baby mama Ashley St. Clair at Trump’s inauguration, defied the billionaire on Saturday as he ordered agents to ignore DOGE’s latest efficiency crackdown
Soon after Musk sent his email, Patel stepped in and ordered his agents at the FBI to ignore Musk’s prompt despite his threat of termination
Officials at the Departments of State, Defense and Homeland Security were more consistent.
Tibor Nagy, acting undersecretary of state for management, told employees in an email that department leadership would respond on behalf of workers.
‘No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command,’ Nagy wrote in an email.
Pentagon leadership instructed employees to ‘pause’ any response to Musk’s team, according to an email from Jules Hurst, the deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
The Homeland Security Department, meanwhile, told employees that ‘no reporting action from you is needed at this time’ and that agency managers would respond, according to an email from R.D. Alles, deputy undersecretary for management.
Thousands of government employees have already been forced out of the federal workforce – either by being fired or through a ‘deferred resignation’ offer – during the first month of Trump’s second term.
There is no official figure available for the total firings or layoffs so far, but the AP has tallied hundreds of thousands of workers who are being affected. Many work outside of Washington.
