It had been six days since Joy Marver was locked out of her office at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, five days since she checked herself into a hospital for emergency psychiatric care, and two days since she sent a letter to her supervisors: “Please, I’m so confused. Can you help me understand?” Now, … Read more
Federal worker unions have sought over the past two months to lead the resistance to President Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency, filing lawsuits, organizing protests and signing up new members by the thousands. This week, Mr. Trump struck back with a potentially crippling blow. In a sweeping executive order decrying the unions as … Read more
Years before President Trump returned to the White House, his budget chief, Russell T. Vought, began mapping out a plan to shrink the federal government. In Mr. Vought’s design, spending would be slashed by about $9 trillion over the next decade. Entire federal programs — from housing vouchers to student loans — would be eliminated. … Read more
President Trump instructed a broad swath of government agencies on Thursday to end collective bargaining with federal unions, a major escalation in his effort to assert more control over the federal work force. Mr. Trump framed the order as critical to protect national security. But it targets agencies across the government, including the Departments of … Read more
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to block a ruling from a federal judge in California ordering it to rehire thousands of fired federal workers who had been on probationary status. The emergency application is one of several that appear to be headed to the Supreme Court, a reflection of the scores … Read more
A federal judge in Maryland granted a preliminary injunction on Monday barring top officials at the Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management from turning over sensitive data to Elon Musk and members of his Department of Government Efficiency team while a privacy lawsuit continues. The order was the latest development in a category … Read more
What is the Department of Government Efficiency? It’s a question that has come up over and over again in the avalanche of court cases challenging the authority of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, to conduct a full-throttle effort to gut and remake the federal government. Over two months of litigation playing out across more … Read more
President Trump announced Friday that the Education Department would no longer manage the nation’s $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio or supervise “special needs” programs in a major shake-up of an agency he has sought to eliminate. Student loans will move under the Small Business Administration, while special education services, along with nutrition programs, will move … Read more
If your eight-day work trip was unexpectedly extended by nine months, you might expect to rack up some overtime pay. Not so for Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, the NASA astronauts who spent 278 extra days on the International Space Station after their spacecraft malfunctioned. On Tuesday, they splashed down off the Gulf Coast of … Read more
Erin Cagney was supposed to hear on Monday that she could go back to doing the job she loved — as an archaeologist with the National Park Service in Washington, D.C. But the day came and went without a word. Ms. Cagney finally learned her fate on Wednesday evening. She was being reinstated, but immediately … Read more