12:30 Report — Musk, departments locked in standoff

12:30 REPORT

Let's kick off another week. In today's issue:

Musk deadline for federal workers looms
House GOP leaders try to woo moderates
AI-generated Trump video plays at HUD
Kristen Bell’s “Frozen” parody at SAG Awards

Today's forecast in DC: ⛅ 49° (Find your weather here)

I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send tips & feedback to cmartel@thehill.com. Someone forward this to you? Sign up.

A federal government standoff with Elon Musk:

Over the weekend, tech billionaire Elon Musk announced that federal employees would receive an email “requesting to understand what they got done last week.”

As you can imagine, there was severe blowback to Musk’s directive.

First, what was in the email?: It requested roughly five bullet points outlining their work accomplishments from the previous week. The deadline is midnight tonight, and “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,” Musk wrote on X. It also instructed employees to include their manager on their email responses to the Office of Personnel Management address. Musk said it is meant to spot “outright fraud” from people who aren’t working.

A response may get you on Musk’s good side, apparently: Musk said that employees who have already sent in their five things email “should be considered for promotion.”

Several agencies are not having it: Agencies, such as the FBI (per FBI Director Kash Patel’s request), the State Department, the Defense Department and the intelligence community have instructed employees not to respond.

This raises the question: Does Musk have the power to order all federal employees to justify their employment to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a group backed by Trump but the limits of whose power is unclear? A group of federal employee unions is suing. A group of federal employee unions are suing.

Some reactions:

A GOP senator wants compassion in this process: “If I can say one thing to Elon Musk, it’s like, ‘Please put a dose of compassion in this. These are real people. [These] are real lives. These are mortgages,’” Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) told CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) thinks it’s a ‘d---’ move: “This is the ultimate d‑‑‑ boss move from Musk – except he isn’t even the boss, he’s just a d‑‑‑,” Smith posted.

James Carville thinks the federal government will ‘collapse’: The Democratic strategist suggested the Trump administration will “collapse” in the next month as the public reacts to his far-reaching changes.

💡 Why this matters: This may signal the start of federal agencies breaking with Musk. His authority within the federal government has been debated, and many have criticized this move as a major overreach of power. Several agency heads have even stepped in to try to prevent Musk from elbowing his way in to undercut their authority. Who will win this standoff — Musk or the agency heads? And what happens to employees who do or do not sidestep their manager to comply with Musk?

Then there’s the logistics: Millions of people work for the federal government. While it’s unclear how many people work for the relatively small DOGE operation, it would be nearly impossible to sort through these responses and make proper informed hiring decisions.

Here's some food for thought: ProPublica noted that, “If DOGE is a federal agency, it can’t shield its records from the public. If it’s not an agency, then its tens of millions of dollars in funding weren’t legally allocated and should be returned, some contend.” 🔎 Read the analysis

📸 Trump posted a SpongeBob meme to troll federal workers

➤ ANOTHER ROADBLOCK FOR DOGE:

“A federal judge on Monday temporarily barred the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing troves of sensitive personal data from federal agencies,” reports The Hill’s Ella Lee. What we know

➤ MORE READS:

Analysis in The Washington Post: Fit for a king? Trump’s moves challenge world order and U.S. bureaucracy.
NBC News: Trump and Elon Musk are floating 'DOGE dividends.' Low-income Americans might not get the benefits.
CNN: Recording reveals new details on controversial DOGE employee
Op-ed in The New York Times: What Republicans Can Do to Take Control of DOGE

➤ THE RETURN TO OFFICE MANDATE HAS KICKED IN:

Musk said this morning that any federal workers who haven’t returned to the office will be placed on administration leave this week.

➤ I’M SORRY, WHAT?:

There’s an AI-generated video of Trump kissing Musk’s feet played on the cafeteria monitor at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) this morning.

📸 Photo from The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch

📹 Video from Vox’s Rachel Cohen

HUD responds: “Another waste of taxpayer dollars and resources. Appropriate action will be taken for all involved,” HUD spokesperson Kasey Lovett said in a statement to The Hill.

➤ JOB MOVES:

Trump named radio and podcast host Dan Bongino as the deputy FBI director.

He also fired a number of top Pentagon officials, which Democratic leaders and former national security leaders have warned is dangerous.

For example, he fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., a four-star pilot — and named Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Read more on the controversial dismissals

🌡️ In Congress

The story to watch this week:

House Republicans will try to pass a budget resolution this week to kick-start the process of passing President Trump’s agenda.

The first step: The House Rules Committee will vote on the budget resolution at 4 p.m. today.

The next step: If that passes, the resolution will then move to the House floor.

That may sound easy, but it’s not: Republicans have such tight margins that they can only afford to lose one vote. That means every Republican (but one) must agree. So far, at least four Republicans are a “no” for now. They want assurances that social safety net programs like Medicaid will not be severely affected.

Republican leadership is scrambling to win over moderates, reports The Hill’s Mike Lillis.

🐘 Other News

It was conservatives’ Super Bowl weekend:

President Trump and his team took a victory lap last week at their annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) right outside of Washington, D.C.

Five takeaways:

1. It was an opportunity for emerging Republican talent to introduce themselves to activists.

2. Trump’s team sees its chaotic first month as a major victory.

3. Vice President Vance was the overwhelming favorite to be Trump’s 2028 successor, according to its traditional survey of attendees.

4. Elon Musk brought a chainsaw as a prop. He came close to stealing Trump’s thunder.

5. CPAC felt more low-key and niche than in past years.

Read more about these takeaways and CPAC from The Hill’s Julia Manchester

🐝 Internet Buzz

🌽Celebrate: Today is National Tortilla Chip Day.

❄️ The talk of TikTok: Actor Kristen Bell hosted the 2025 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards on Sunday night. She opened with a parody of the “Frozen” song by singing “Do You Want To Be An Actor?” 📹 Watch. Plus, she and actor Leighton Meester did a parody of “Gossip Girl.” 📹 Watch

📆 On The Agenda

The House and Senate are in. President Trump is in Washington. (all times Eastern)

12:15 p.m.: Trump meets with French President Emmanuel Macron in the White House.
2 p.m.: Trump and Macron hold a joint press conference. 💻 Livestream
4 p.m.: The House Rules Committee debates Trump’s agenda. 📆 Livestream
5:30 p.m.: The Senate holds a vote to end debate on Daniel Driscoll to be secretary of the Army. 📆 Today’s agenda
6:30 p.m.: First and last House votes. 📆 Today’s agenda

👋 And Finally…

Because you made it this far, enjoy this incredible music video featuring sheep and lambs.

Stay Engaged

Send comments, story ideas and events for our radar to cmartel@thehill.com. A friend forward this to you? Subscribe here.

View past issues of 12:30 Report here and check out other newsletters from The Hill here. See you next time!

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