Tax enforcers, scientists, bank regulators fired as Trump cuts federal jobs

President Donald Trump's administration has targeted bank regulators, rocket scientists and tax enforcers for dismissal as a US judge gave him the green light to continue with the unprecedented remaking of the US civil service — at least for now.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has swept through federal agencies, slashing thousands of jobs since Trump became president last month and put Musk in charge of a drastic overhaul of government.

The Office of Personnel Management, the government agency that manages the civil service, set a deadline of 8 pm on Tuesday for all government departments to provide a list of probationary employees who have been terminated so far and those they want to retain, according to an OPM spokesperson.

According to government data, about 280,000 civilian government workers were hired less than two years ago, with most still on probation, which makes them easier to terminate.

Agencies should prioritise retaining the highest-performing employees in "mission-critical roles," said McLaurine Pinover, OPM's head of communications.

It remained unclear whether the numbers would be disclosed.

State attorneys general from across the United States asked a federal court to intervene and place a temporary hold on the cost-cutting, but US District Judge Tanya Chutkan denied their request, allowing the campaign to continue while underlying litigation plays out.

"Plaintiffs legitimately call into question what appears to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual and an entity that was not created by Congress and over which it has no oversight," Chutkan said in her ruling, referring to Musk.

'People are scared'

With tax-filing season underway, senior officials at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) identified 7,500 employees for dismissal, with possibly more on the chopping block, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Republicans had objected to an IRS staff expansion undertaken by former president Joe Biden that independent budget analysts said would boost tax collections and help close the persistent US budget gap.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which oversees banks, said it has fired an unknown number of new hires, according to an email seen by the Reuters news agency.

The cuts could potentially worsen staffing problems at a 6,000-person agency where more than one in three workers are eligible for retirement.

Roughly 1,000 new hires, including rocket scientists, at NASA were expected to be laid off on Tuesday as well, according to two people familiar with the US space agency's plans, with more cuts possible.

"People are scared and not speaking up to voice dissent or disagreement," said one employee at the 18,000-person agency who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Layoffs were also expected at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which handles flood insurance and disaster response, as well as its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, sources said.

The Trump administration plans to fire hundreds of senior Department of Homeland Security employees this week, according to an administration official and a second source familiar with the matter.

The planned firings, first reported by NBC News, would target people viewed as not aligned with Trump, the sources said.

Among the workers swept up in the overhaul of dozens of agencies are those reviewing Musk's brain implant company Neuralink and others monitoring an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu that has infected millions of chickens and cattle this year.

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Source: TRT