Government workers affected by President Donald Trump's return to power will face additional changes on Monday, as many are required to submit a summary of their work to Elon Musk, who has been tasked with overseeing reductions to the federal budget
Musk's request for civil-service workers to submit a summary of their work by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time (0459 GMT) has led to varying responses across different federal agencies.
Agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Communications Commission have told employees to comply. But many others, including the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Education, Commerce and Energy have ordered workers not to respond.
The Department of Health and Human Services told its workers to cooperate, then later told them to hold off while it figured out how to "best meet the intent" of Musk's unusual directive.
Workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also received Musk's email, even though they have been already ordered to cease working.
Musk warned federal workers to comply, writing in a Monday morning post on his social media network X: "Those who do not take this email seriously will soon be furthering their career elsewhere."
He also said in a separate post that federal staff who still did not return to work in their offices following Trump's order last month would be placed on administrative leave starting this week.
The world's richest person, Musk has led a downsizing effort that has resulted in the layoff of more than 20,000 workers and buyout offers to another 75,000 across various sectors of the 2.3-million strong civil service.
In some cases, the government has scrambled to re-hire workers who perform critical functions like nuclear weapons oversight and bird flu response. The downsizing also prompted a wave of lawsuits, including by labor groups.
Trump's administration said late Sunday it would fire 1,600 workers at the U.S. Agency for International Development and put nearly all remaining personnel on leave. Trump has already halted almost all of the agency's funding and operations, impacting global humanitarian relief efforts.
The mass firings have created financial uncertainty for many workers, who now face questions about their income security.
Charles Farinella, a fired IRS agent in New York, said he was trying to figure out whether he should cancel an upcoming dentist appointment because he has not been told whether he still has coverage through his job.
"I don't know what I'm going to do at this point in time. I might have to look to sell my house, because I don't have a severance or anything," he said. "I feel pretty much devastated."
Musk's job-slashing effort has rippled into the wider U.S. economy as well, forcing companies that do business with the government to lay off their own workers and defer payments to vendors. One company that works with USAID, Chemonics, said in a court filing last week that it had furloughed 750 employees, 63% of its workforce.
Musk has publicly expressed his approach to budget cuts, even using a chainsaw as part of his appearance at a conservative political conference last week.
The chief of Tesla and social media platform X has said he aims to cut $1 trillion from the government's $6.7 trillion budget. Trump has promised to exempt popular health and retirement benefits, which puts nearly half of the budget effectively off limits, but Musk said he would examine those programs for fraudulent payments.
"We are increasingly optimistic that, as the immense waste & fraud are eliminated from Social Security & Medical that there is potential to increase actual dollars received by citizens & better healthcare!" he wrote on X on Sunday.
The Government Accountability Office, a watchdog agency, estimates the total of fraud and improper payments could be as high as $521 billion annually, equal to 8% of spending last year.
Opposition Democrats argue that the budget-cutting initiative infringes on Congress's authority over government spending, but have faced challenges in halting the effort.
Republicans in Congress have cheered the effort as they prepare sweeping legislation of their own to enact trillions of dollars in tax cuts. But some Republicans have faced boos from voters back home who have said Musk is overstepping his authority.