*

Trump and Musk aim to downsize federal government

*

Probationary employees targeted for layoffs across

agencies

*

Unions and states challenge legality of Musk's role

By Nathan Layne and Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump

and his adviser Elon Musk's campaign to radically cut back the

U.S. bureaucracy spread on Friday, with thousands of workers who

handle everything from securing the nation's nuclear weapons to

caring for military veterans losing their jobs.

About 1,200 to 2,000 workers at the Department of Energy

were laid off, including hundreds of employees from the office

that oversees the nuclear stockpile, sources familiar with the

matter told Reuters on Friday.

That added to

a round of cuts

that has targeted departments including Veterans Affairs,

Education and the Small Business Administration.

Officials from the Office of Personnel Management, which

oversees federal hiring, met with agencies on Thursday, advising

them to lay off their probationary employees, according to a

person familiar with the matter.

Some 280,000 employees out of the 2.3 million member

civilian federal workforce were hired in the last two years,

with most still on probation and easier to fire, according to

government data.

Moves at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau signaled a

broader range of people being targeted beyond probationary

employees, sources said, with some employees on fixed-term

contracts being axed.

Trump says the federal government is too bloated and too

much money is lost to waste and fraud. The federal government

has some $36 trillion in debt and ran a $1.8 trillion deficit

last year, and there is bipartisan agreement on the need for

government reform.

But congressional Democrats say Trump is encroaching on the

legislature's constitutional authority over federal spending,

even as his fellow Republicans who control majorities in both

chambers of Congress have largely supported the moves.

"I take Secretary Collins at his word when he says there

will be no impact to the delivery of care, benefits, and

services for veterans with this plan," Republican U.S.

Representative Mike Bost, who heads the House panel that

oversees the Department of Veterans Affairs, said in a statement

on Friday, referring to the department's chief, Doug Collins.

The department said on Thursday it was firing more than 1,000

employees.

The full scope of the layoffs was still emerging, but at

a minimum nearly 6,000 employees across seven departments and

agencies have been fired this week, according to reporting by

Reuters and other outlets.

BLUNT FORCE

Critics have also questioned the blunt force approach of

Musk, the world's richest person, who has amassed extraordinary

influence in Trump's presidency.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday shrugged off

those concerns, comparing Musk's Department of Government

Efficiency to a financial audit.

"These are serious people, and they're going from agency

to agency, doing an audit, looking for best practices," he told

Fox Business Network, dismissing what he called "hysteria" over

the cuts.

Musk is relying on a coterie of young engineers with

little government experience to drive his DOGE campaign, and

their early cuts appear to have been driven more by

ideology

than

driving down costs

.

The speed and breadth of Musk's effort has produced growing

frustration among some of Trump's aides over a lack of

coordination from his team, including White House Chief of Staff

Susie Wiles, sources told Reuters.

FOCUS ON REGULATORS

Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National

Federation of Federal Employees union, which represents more

than 100,000 workers, said he expects Musk and the Trump

administration to concentrate going forward on agencies that

regulate industry and finance.

"That's really what this whole thing is really all

about," Lenkart. "It's getting government out of the way of

industry and incredibly rich people, which is why Elon Musk is

so excited about this."

Trump and Musk have said they are committed to reducing the

size of the federal bureaucracy, which they charge is

unaccountable to the White House and blame for actively stalling

Trump's policy initiatives.

They have already offered some federal workers an incentive

package to quit voluntarily, tried to gut civil-service

protections for career employees, frozen most of U.S. foreign

aid and have attempted to shutter some government agencies such

as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the CFPB

almost entirely.

About 75,000 workers have signed up for the buyout, the

White House said, equal to 3% of the civilian workforce.

Workers throughout the government who had opted not to take

the buyout worried if they would be next on the chopping block.

"I decided to roll the dice and stick around," said an

employee in the General Services Administration, who was granted

anonymity to discuss his decision not to take the buyout. "It is

a little unsettling to say the least."

Unions representing federal workers have sued to block the

buyout plan. The American Federation of Government Workers said

on Thursday it will also fight the mass firings of probationary

employees.

A suit filed on Thursday by the attorneys general of 14

states alleges Musk was illegally appointed by Trump and seeks

an order barring him from taking any further government action.

Along with those court challenges, Musk and DOGE have been

hit with several privacy lawsuits over their access to

government computer systems.

Two federal judges overseeing privacy cases against DOGE

will consider on Friday whether Musk's team should have access

to Treasury Department payment systems and potentially sensitive

data at U.S. health, consumer protection and labor agencies.

Musk has sent DOGE members into at least 16 government

agencies, where they have gained access to computer systems with

sensitive personnel and financial information, and sent workers

home.

The Treasury Department's inspector general has launched an

audit of the payment system's security controls, according to a

letter sent in response to a request by Democratic lawmakers. A

congressional watchdog, the Government Accountability Office,

has also accepted a Democratic request to review the decision to

give DOGE access to Treasury systems.

DOGE did not respond to a request for comment on the

widespread layoffs, but a spokesperson for OPM said the firings

were in line with new government policy.