Agencies grapple with Musk order

Business & Economy

The Big Story

Agencies grapple with responding to Musk order

The Office of Personnel Management informed officials at federal agencies that employee responses to an email asking for a recap of what they accomplished last week are voluntary and failure to do so will not be considered a resignation.

The guidance given to the human resources officers undercuts a Saturday push from Elon Musk demanding all federal employees send five bullet notes of what they accomplished in the week prior by 11:59 p.m. EST Monday or face removal.

Several departments had already instructed employees not to respond to the email.

In a message to staff Saturday, FBI Director Kash Patel said that “when and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses.”

“The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of our review processes and will conduct reviews,” he added.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leadership sent an email to its more than 250,000 employees likewise directing them not to respond to the email.

“DHS management will respond on behalf of the Department and all its component offices,” the email stated.

The Hill's Rebecca Beitsch has more here.

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Tax Watch

Not all on board with preferred GOP accounting method

Welcome to Tax Watch, a new feature focused on the fight over tax reform and the push to extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts this year.

Republicans are dissenting in both the House and Senate over an accounting assumption preferred by many in the party that would effectively allow the $4.6 trillion price tag of extending the Trump tax cuts to be ignored.

Known as working from the “current policy” baseline, the move would ignore the fact that the Trump tax cuts are expiring and just assume for accounting purposes that they’re continuing indefinitely.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) filed an amendment last week to a Senate budget resolution that would “strike references to current policy accounting,” breaking from the assumption held by many Republicans.

Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) has also disparaged the tactic, calling it fraudulent.

“He’s not wrong,” Adam Michel, director of tax policy studies at the libertarian CATO Institute, said of Schweikert’s position on social media.

The House and Senate are pursuing two different tracks for advancing President Trump's agenda. The House bill includes extending the Trump tax cuts while the Senate would include it in a subsequent bill this year.

— Tobias Burns

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