- The White House DOGE office is continuing to crackdown on federal employees.
- On Saturday, federal workers got an email asking them to list what they accomplished last week.
- Some federal workers told BI they weren’t sure how to respond, given work stoppage orders.
The White House DOGE office sent an email to federal employees on Saturday asking them to list what work they accomplished in the last week.
The subject of the email, which was seen by Business Insider, read, “What did you do last week?”
“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager,” the email reads. “Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments. Deadline is the Monday at 11:59pmEST.”
Anonymous Department of Education Source
The emails followed President Donald Trump’s instruction to Elon Musk to “get more aggressive” in reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy.
One Department of Education employee who was placed on administrative leave by the Trump administration on January 31 told Business Insider that they planned to check in with their supervisor before responding to the email and were uncertain how to reply.
“Everything I normally do is on hold because they are reviewing it so I’m at a total work stoppage,” the Department of Education employee said. “I could go into everything I normally do that they are currently holding up. Another approach would be not to respond.”
In just a matter of weeks, Trump and the White House DOGE office have gone full steam ahead in their efforts to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy.
Roughly 77,000 federal workers accepted the buyouts offered by Trump shortly after he took office for his second term. At the US Agency for International Development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other key agencies, the administration has laid off scores of workers. Musk’s efforts have received pushback from several top-level officials, resulting in their resignations or retirements.
DOGE on Thursday said it had so far saved $55 billion in taxpayer dollars, largely through canceled contracts. However, it is unclear if the task force will come close to slashing its goal of $1 trillion from the federal budget.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
