GOP senator calls for 'compassion' in Musk's approach to federal workers

Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) on Sunday called for “compassion” in tech billionaire Elon Musk’s approach to federal workers.

“I just published an op-ed, Deseret News, Deseret.com, and I talk about my experience as mayor and having to do similar things,” Curtis told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”

“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.’”

Musk, a special adviser to President Trump, gave a warning Saturday to federal employees about a new policy requiring they detail weekly work efforts by email.

“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk said in a previous post on his social platform X.

“Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,” the tech billionaire continued.

Musk did not outline extra details on X, but a copy of a message that federal employees were sent has been reviewed by The Hill.

“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullet points of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager. Please do not send any classified information, links or attachments,” said the email, listing the deadline as 11:59 p.m. EST Monday.

Musk said Sunday that “good responses” to the email have encouraged him.

“To offboard someone with grace and compassion is mission critical to every organization. This has been largely missing from the media reports of current cuts,” Curtis said in a Saturday opinion piece for Deseret News.

“We also shouldn’t discount or vilify the good people who work diligently for the American people even in the face of poor leadership in bloated bureaucracies. I agree with those concerned that the DOGE approach has appeared reckless and rash,” he added.

In his “Face the Nation” appearance, Curtis said he believes the message sent to federal employees “is a request [that] is that difficult.”

“I would ask my employees to let me know what they're doing. But I will double down on the fact of, we don't need to be so cold and hard, and let's put a little compassion and, quite frankly, dignity in this as well,” he added.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.

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