Officials at one U.S. government department got ahead of the game as Elon Musk's DOGE employees started sticking their noses into funding, staffing and policies and that has left one Donald Trump administration official fuming.
According to a report from Axios, Trump's plans to use the DOGE to "root out" the supposed deep state has led to a flurry of activity as government employees are furloughed, offered buyouts and ordered to not spend any money with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) getting most of the press as its current incarnation is shut down.
The agency, which dispenses civilian foreign aid and development assistance, will reportedly be folded into the State Department, according to a report from CBS, although there are questions over whether the Trump administration can legally make the move without congressional approval.
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As Axios is reporting, the agency, which will be under the purview of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was ordered to freeze expenditures along with the State Department -- but was slow to comply, reports suggest.
As Marc Caputo reported, "An administration official familiar with Rubio's efforts said the secretary has no pre-baked plan to root out 'Deep State' actors. Rubio, with Musk's team, is reviewing spending as the department pauses foreign expenditures under a Trump executive order," before adding, "The State Department abided by Trump's spending freeze, the official said — 'just the opposite experience of USAID where people started pushing money out the door against ... the spirit of the executive order. We just had outright rebellion.'"
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