President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday directing federal agencies to work with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to examine and document payments made as a way to cut unnecessary costs.
The order directs agencies to create a system to “seamlessly record” payments made to contracts and grants, along with “written justification” about why each payment was made.
It says all contacts and grants should be examined and “where appropriate” done away with. It says to prioritize looking at those grants and contracts that are given to educational institutions and foreign entities.
Agency heads are still able to approve new grants and contracts, but only after examination and on a “case-by-case basis.”
Unnecessary traveling to conferences, credit card distribution and unneeded extra property, should be examined and done away with, according to the order.
This order comes on the heels of Mr. Musk playing a big role in the first official Cabinet meeting held at the White House Wednesday.
At the meeting, Mr. Trump talked highly of the work of Mr. Musk and the DOGE team. He insisted that his Cabinet secretaries are also supportive of what Mr. Musk is doing — firing workers from several agencies and canceling contracts all in the name of saving the government money.
However, some aren’t happy with Mr. Musk’s latest power move of asking government workers to detail five things they did last week at their jobs in an email. Employees feared for their jobs if they didn’t respond and some agency heads told them to ignore it.
“They have a lot of respect for Elon and that he’s doing this, and some disagree a little bit, but I will tell you for the most part I think everyone’s not only happy, they’re thrilled,” Mr. Trump said.
He defended the email, saying “it’s a good idea because, you know, those people, as I said before they’re on the bubble.”
Mr. Musk insists the email was just to check whether the employees were actually live people.
A memo was sent earlier Wednesday by the Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget to agencies, telling them to prepare for “large-scale” layoffs and create a plan for reorganizing the agency.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.