WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is directing federal agencies to prepare for mass layoffs, according to the heads of the White House budget and personnel management offices.
Budget Director Russell Vought and acting OPM Director Charles Ezell wrote in a memo that the federal government is “costly, inefficient, and deeply in debt.”
“At the same time, it is not producing results for the American public. Instead, tax dollars are being siphoned off to fund unproductive and unnecessary programs that benefit radical interest groups while hurting hardworking American citizens,” they said.
The memo notes that President Donald Trump has required “large-scale reductions in force” and in order to implement that, it calls on the heads of departments and agencies to submit the first phase of reorganization plans by March 13, which “shall focus on initial agency cuts and reductions.”
These plans should be grounded in the principles of ensuring “better service” for Americans, “increased productivity,” a “reduced real property footprint” and a “reduced budget,” the memo said.
It calls for agencies to consolidate areas that are “duplicative” and where “unnecessary layers exist” within management and it also calls for implementing technology that can “automate routine tasks” so that staff can “focus on higher-value activities.”
The memo specifically calls for the removal of “underperforming employees or employees engaged in misconduct.”
The heads of departments and agencies will then have to submit plans for a second phase of workforce reduction by mid-April. “That will outline a vision for more productive, efficient agency operations going forward and be implemented by the end of September,” the memo said.
That second phase plan should include, it said, “any proposed relocations of agency bureaus and offices from Washington, D.C. and the National Capital Region to less-costly parts of the country.”
Vought and Ezell explain that the memo doesn’t apply to positions that are necessary for law enforcement, national security, immigration enforcement and national security as well as U.S. military personnel. It said it also excludes the U.S. Postal Service as well as presidential appointees.
An official at a federal agency told NBC News that DOGE employees have created a spreadsheet of workers in the agency and have started going through and marking whether they are considered critical or not.
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