No Regular Workweek
Washington woke up this morning to new layers of disruption.
President Donald Trump broke with tradition to boot the four-star chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in favor of a three-star retiree. At USAID, the hammer’s coming down after a judge said the new administration can proceed with firings.
And across the government, federal workers are being told to immediately explain their jobs — or to ignore a “what did you do last week” email.
In addition to helping you catch up on the latest developments, today’s edition of Starting Line offers some deep dives into what’s been rocking Washington, alongside a nerdy distraction with our weekly quiz.
Bienvenue
European leaders are scrambling to meet with Trump as they seek to maintain security on that continent if Trump slices US military and financial support for Ukraine.
Today’s the third anniversary of Russia’s attack, and French President Emmanuel Macron will be at the White House, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer scheduled to meet with Trump later in the week. Read More
Confusion Across Government After Musk Prods on Job Tasks
A midnight deadline looms for thousands of federal employees to tell the government’s HR department what they’ve done in their jobs lately. When staffers log in to start their workweek, some will see conflicting instructions to hold off on replying. Plus, they may also see a social media threat from Elon Musk saying “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
The result? Confusion and chaos.
The Office of Personnel Management email sent out over the weekend demands a reply with details of job tasks by tonight. The missive, spurred by Musk’s DOGE, is part of efforts to overhaul the federal bureaucracy that have sowed chaos across the government and spurred dozens of lawsuits.
- “Once again, agencies were caught off guard by these emails,” the National Treasury Employees Union said in a message to its members. The union advised its members not to immediately respond to the OPM email and follow guidance from their agencies, according to a message seen by Bloomberg Tax.
Agencies Ask for Pause: The IRS, banking regulators, the DOJ, and the Pentagon followed up by instructing employees to wait while they seek clarity from OPM. The Health and Human Services Department initially directed staff to reply and later told its staff to hold off as well. Others, such as the Interior Department, hadn’t issued guidance as of Sunday afternoon, Keith Perine reports. Read More
Exclusive: Rubio Wants to End More USAID contracts
Jack Fitzpatrick has the scoop on a directive that went out yesterday ordering the US Agency for International Development staff to terminate dozens of additional contracts.
The next phase of the administration’s push to change decades of focus on “soft power” influence abroad targets funding for education programs, independent media, and democracy promotion in Latin American countries, according to two employees.
The targeted funding awards could total as much as $2 billion.
Read More about yesterday’s directive and the latest on USAID litigation:
- Rubio Calls for More USAID Contracts to be Terminated
- USAID Workers Cite Fear of Musk to Stay Anonymous in DOGE Suit
- Judge Ends Block on Trump Plan to Put USAID Workers on Leave
In Court
While judges gave Trump what he wants for USAID, the litigation swung against him, at least for the short term, in other cases.
A federal judge in New York kept in place restrictions on giving Elon Musk’s government efficiency team access to Treasury Department payment records and data systems that contain personal information.
Judge Jeannette A. Vargas ordered the DOGE team to certify by March 24 that all of its members have gone through the proper security clearances and trainings needed to access payment data. She’ll reevaluate whether to keep the injunction in place later, Isaiah Poritz reports.
The limitation on access to sensitive data was a victory for a group of 19 mostly Democratic-controlled states. Read More
And groups representing college diversity officers, university professors, and restaurant workers, along with city officials from Baltimore, won a temporary restraining order against portions of the president’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Chris Marr reports that Judge Adam Abelson of the US District Court for the District of Maryland found several provisions to be unconstitutionally vague. Others, he said, violate free speech rights. Read More
Military impact
The top of the military chain of command changed over the weekend with chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Charles Q. Brown, fired even though his term wasn’t set to expire until 2027.
Trump announced on Truth Social that he plans to nominate retired Air Force Lieutenant General Dan Caine: “Despite being highly qualified and respected to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the previous administration, General Caine was passed over for promotion by Sleepy Joe Biden.” Read More in the BGOV Defense Brief
And a smaller shakeup with impact on the troops: Probationary employees fired by DOGE include most members of a new team at Ginnie Mae working on a program to help military service members living abroad close on mortgages without having to leave their posts.
Emily Flitter reports that the cuts also included people hired to help deal with cyber attacks on mortgage lenders. Read More
How Well Do You Know Washington?
The Senate will vote this week on ending one of President Trump’s “national emergencies” – the one on domestic energy. The Republican majority is numerous enough to swat that effort down. If that’s what happens, when will that emergency declaration and the other one, on the border with Mexico, automatically expire?
A) Never – they’re open-ended until he or a future president declares otherwise
B) Six months, unless he renews them
C) One year, unless he renews them
D) The declarations automatically expire at the end of Trump’s term
Scroll to the bottom for the answer to this week’s quiz.
Tax Consequences
The IRS, which tends to be busy in the spring, has been rocked in multiple ways by the new administration’s whirlwind. Michael J. Bologna reports that the firing of federal staff has state officials concerned about how the trickle-down can change their work and even their revenue.
States’ personal and corporate income tax systems rely heavily on IRS rules and systems. “If IRS is left with diminished capacity, there will be downstream effects that the states will be dealing with,” said Greg Matson, executive director of the Multistate Tax Commission, which coordinates tax harmony and enforcement activities across the states. Read More
Michael Rapoport talked to attorneys who’ve been waiting for guidance to clarify some intricacies of tax law, and reports that Trump’s regulatory freeze means there’s no telling when to expect the needed guidance.
Agencies including the IRS are blocked from issuing most new rules until a Trump-appointed official signs off on them. Regulations in the pipeline that weren’t finalized before the change of administration — such as those on the use of clean-energy tax credits — are on hold. “People are generally nervous about whether the needed guidance will come out timely in their area,” said Monte Jackel, principal at Jackel Tax Law and a former IRS official. Read More
Erin Slowey and Erin Schilling report that tax professionals are braced for a slower IRS pace, especially for filers with complex tax returns. And one tax pro said she’s advising clients going through appeals to make a deposit on the disputed taxes so that they’re not accruing interest while waiting for the resolution of audits. Read More
Dive Deeper
Need more details? These recent explainers and QuickTakes cut through the clutter:
- Musk’s Adviser Role Sets Up Constitutional Test Over His Power
- Trump Wants Ukraine’s Minerals, But What Does It Actually Have?
- What Trump Aims to Achieve With His Tariff Plans
- The Treasury Payment System DOGE is Targeting
And subscribers, to get up to speed on the week ahead on Capitol Hill, check out today’s BGOV Congress Tracker
Did You Ace the Quiz?
The correct answer to this week’s question is C with a bit of A.
Though a president can terminate them at any time, states of emergency expire after a year, unless he chooses to renew them.
The reason A is a little correct is that renewals are common. The national emergency declared by President George W. Bush in 2001 following attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 has been continuously extended. It’s still in place.
Kellie Lunney explained the upcoming vote in Friday’s Starting Line.
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