Trump rolls back CFPB, USAID and Department of Education: Where things stand

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 Trump rolls back CFPB, USAID and Department of Education: Where things stand
by Alex Gangitano - 02/14/25 4:59 PM ET

President Trump supercharged his overhaul of government agencies this week that included a fresh round of a widespread firings.

Trump signed an order this week indicating agency heads initiate large scale “reductions in force,” also known as RIFs, as part of implementing initiatives spearheaded by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The order targets a number of federal agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Department of Education.

Here’s where Trump’s rollback of various agencies stand.

CFPB

About 70 employees were dismissed from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, out of about 1,700 people who work at the bureau. The employees who were let go were largely on probationary status.

Jonathan McKernan was tapped to chair the bureau and replace acting director Russell Vought, who also serves as director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought, as acting director, had ordered employees to halt all work and announced he would not take the agency’s last drawdown from the Federal Reserve.

“The Bureau’s current balance of $711.6 million is in fact excessive in the current fiscal environment. This spigot, long contributing to CFPB’s unaccountability, is now being turned off,” he said on social platform X.

Despite the cuts, Richard Cordray, the first director of the CFPB who served under the Obama administration from 2012 to 2017, told The Hill he thinks the Trump administration is being more careful about slashes at the CFPB compared to other agencies because it has to work around the law that created the bureau.

“In some ways, this suggests that the rest of the employees, they recognize that they do have legal protections, and they’re going to move more slowly and more carefully on that front,” Cordray said. “I’m not convinced that they’re willing to just drop a nuclear bomb on the place and think that that’s going to serve them well with the American public.”

“There’s some reason initially, for alarm, but there’s a couple other reasons to think cooler heads may be prevailing here over time,” he added.

The CFPB also created a tip line on X, calling for people to report if they are being pursued by CFPB enforcement or supervision staff that could be in violation of Vought’s “stand down order.”


more
https://thehill.com/homenews/5146125-trump-rolls-back-cfpb-usaid-and-doe-where-things-stand/

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 VA cutting 1,000 employees
by Ellen Mitchell - 02/14/25 4:01 PM ET

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has dismissed more than 1,000 new employees as part of a wave of federal government layoffs that began this week, sparking concerns the firings could impact benefits for former service members.

Those dismissed include non-mission-critical probationary employees who have all served less than two years, according to a VA statement released late Thursday.

The VA said the layoffs will save the agency more than $98 million per year, with resources redirected back toward health care, benefits and services for VA beneficiaries.

“There are currently more than 43,000 probationary employees across the department, the vast majority of whom are exempt from today’s personnel actions because they serve in mission-critical positions – primarily those supporting benefits and services for VA beneficiaries – or are covered under a collective bargaining agreement,” the VA statement noted.

But some lawmakers have warned that the layoffs — part of President Trump and his administration’s effort to cut the 2.4 million civil servant workforce — have created chaos within the VA and will be devastating to the 9 million veterans the agency provides lifelong care and benefits for.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said the layoffs have affected VA researchers working on mental health, cancer treatments, alcohol and opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure.

In a statement on Thursday, Murray said she heard from VA researchers in her state “who are right now being told to immediately stop their research and pack their bags – not because their work isn’t desperately needed, but because Trump and Elon [Musk] have decided to fire these researchers on a whim.”

And Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said the “indiscriminate” firings, which included veterans, are a “direct assault on veterans and their families.”

“Firing 1,000 VA staff will clearly do nothing to better help serve our veterans, instead instilling chaos and uncertainty in a system that is already short staffed and complicated to navigate,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement Friday.

For at least five years, VA hospitals have struggled with major staffing shortages, especially among physicians, nurses and psychologists, according to an August report from the VA’s inspector general.

In a statement, VA Secretary Doug Collins said the layoffs were “a tough decision” but said it was “the right call to better support the Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors the department exists to serve.”

more
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5146387-veteran-affairs-cuts-1000-workers/

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Interior Department fires 2,300 employees after OPM directive

by Rachel Frazin - 02/14/25 1:26 PM ET

The Interior Department is firing 2,300 employees after a directive from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

An internal message reviewed by The Hill on Friday indicates the department let go of 2,300 employees who were on probationary status — meaning they started relatively recently.

The Interior Department has a broad mandate, overseeing national parks, tribal affairs, endangered species and conservation of and energy production on federally owned lands and in federal waters.

It’s not immediately clear how many of the now-fired employees worked in any particular program. However, The Washington Post reported the National Park Service was firing 1,000 people but restoring previously rescinded job offers to 5,000 temporary workers.

The move comes after the OPM instructed agency leaders to fire nearly all probationary employees, impacting as many as 200,000 people, as The Hill reported Thursday.

“The probationary period is a continuation of the job application process, not an entitlement for permanent employment,” an OPM spokesperson said in a statement.

“Agencies are taking independent action in light of the recent hiring freeze and in support of the President’s broader efforts to restructure and streamline the federal government to better serve the American people at the highest possible standard.”

The Interior Department did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

The move to fire the 2,300 people met pushback from environmental advocates.

more
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5145945-interior-department-fires-probationary-employees/

[IsailedawayfromFR]

All good, just what any private company would do if financial condition is shaky.