Judge Blocks Trump and Musk’s Controversial Plan to Cut US Government Workforce

A federal judge in Massachusetts has temporarily blocked a bold and controversial plan by billionaire Elon Musk and President Donald Trump to reduce the size of the US government through a mass buyout of federal employees. The scheme, spearheaded by Musk under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), aimed to encourage federal workers to resign in exchange for eight months of pay or risk being fired in future rounds of job cuts.

The temporary injunction, issued on Thursday, halted the plan’s original deadline and extended it to Monday, when US District Judge George O’Toole will conduct a hearing to examine the legal challenges brought by labor unions. This move follows increasing concerns about the legality of the buyout and its broader impact on federal agencies.

Musk, who has been one of Trump’s strongest financial supporters, has played a central role in driving this initiative. The DOGE program aims to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce, a long-standing goal of Trump’s administration. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that more than 40,000 federal employees had already accepted the buyout offer, a relatively small fraction of the government’s workforce, which consists of over two million employees.

Labor unions representing around 800,000 government workers, along with several Democratic lawmakers, have strongly opposed the plan, calling it a direct attack on civil servants. Unions have also questioned the legality of forcing employees into a situation where they either resign voluntarily or face the risk of being fired without due process. They have raised concerns about the Trump administration’s broader campaign to dismantle government agencies, many of which play crucial roles in public services, national security, and global humanitarian efforts.

One of the most severely affected agencies is USAID, the government’s international humanitarian arm. Reports indicate that USAID’s global workforce will be reduced from over 10,000 employees to fewer than 300. Critics argue that this level of job cuts would effectively dismantle the agency, leaving it unable to carry out essential programs such as food distribution, disaster relief, and international development initiatives.

Randy Chester, vice president of the American Foreign Service Association, warned that the drastic reductions would make it impossible for USAID to continue distributing food to vulnerable populations around the world. Similarly, other federal agencies, including the Department of Education and the CIA, have also been targeted in the mass downsizing effort.

Another aspect of the controversy surrounding the Musk-Trump plan is the question of how much access Musk has to sensitive government data. Reports indicate that two Treasury Department employees working with Musk were given “read-only” access to the Treasury’s payment system. While Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has downplayed concerns, stating that no changes could be made to the data, the revelation has raised alarm over potential breaches of security.

One of the Treasury employees involved in the project has since resigned after being linked to social media posts promoting racism and eugenics, further deepening the controversy surrounding the initiative. The situation has fueled growing suspicions about Musk’s deeper involvement in shaping government policy and his influence over critical administrative decisions.

The method used to roll out the buyout plan has also been criticized. Federal employees received an email titled “Fork in the road,” a phrase Musk previously used when he took over Twitter in 2022. The message described the buyout as an opportunity to “take the vacation you always wanted, or just watch movies and chill, while receiving your full government pay and benefits.” Critics argue that this language trivializes the impact of the mass layoffs and misleads employees about the long-term consequences of accepting the offer.

Union leaders have also warned that the buyout program may be legally dubious, as it involves federal budget allocations that require congressional approval. Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), cautioned that government workers should not trust offers that are not backed by clear legislative authority. He accused the administration of using scare tactics to push employees out of their jobs and weaken the government.

An anonymous employee from the US Office of Personnel Management revealed that the strategy behind the buyout is to create an atmosphere of panic, forcing employees to leave voluntarily. “We’re trying to instill a panic so that people just walk out the door and leave government in a crippled state, which is partly their objective,” the employee told AFP.

The legal battle over the buyout plan is expected to intensify in the coming days. The hearing scheduled for Monday will determine whether the plan can proceed or if further legal action will be taken against it. Meanwhile, the controversy continues to spark heated debate over the future of the federal workforce and the broader implications of Trump and Musk’s efforts to reshape government operations.