President Donald Trump and members of his second administration are continuing their effort to swiftly remodel the federal government, including making far-reaching changes to personnel. The president on Wednesday held his first Cabinet meeting, during which he discussed federal jobs, Elon Musk’s role, tariffs and Russia.
State Department to cut almost 10,000 foreign aid awards
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has completed his review of foreign aid contracts and grants distributed by the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development “as of this morning” and that he intends to end nearly 10,000 of the awards, the overwhelming majority of them, permanently within the coming days.
The filing said almost 5,800 USAID awards and approximately 4,100 awards distributed through the State Department will be terminated, while about 500 USAID awards and roughly 2,700 State Department awards will be retained.
The news was revealed in a joint status report filed Wednesday in a court hearing over the federal case over the $1.9 billion foreign aid freeze.
“USAID is in the process of processing termination letters with the goal to reach substantial completion within the next 24-48 hours,” according to the defendant’s statement included in the filing. “As a result, no USAID or State obligations remain in a suspended or paused state.”
Three officials familiar with the situation told ABC News the numbers of awards to be retained and cut listed in the document were accurate.
The timeline for the review was originally slated for 90 days, but what’s unclear is whether the process was rushed as part of the legal proceedings.
One official cast doubt on the review process, asserting it was a ruse and that the administration always intended to cut the majority of aid awards.
Trump, Musk scale back promise of saving $2 trillion
During the Cabinet meeting, Musk and Trump notably walked back a campaign promise, saying that he wants DOGE to save the government $1 trillion rather than the $2 trillion previously promised on the trail.
“We’re looking to get it maybe to $1 trillion, if we can do that. We’re going to start getting to be at a point where we can think in terms of balancing budgets,” Trump said. “And that’s a big — whether it’s this year or next year, I think we’ll be very close to balancing budgets.”
Trump signs new DOGE executive order
President Donald Trump signed an executive order that issues new DOGE cost-cutting instructions to agencies, according to the Trump administration’s rapid response X account.
The president was expected to sign executive orders in the Oval Office this afternoon. However, the signing was not open to reporters.
The new DOGE-related executive order requires that agencies promptly submit a brief that would justify payments and travel expenses. The order states that these payments will be posted publicly.
It also requires agencies to work with the DOGE team to terminate or modify any contracts that were deemed unnecessary.
The order also indicates that all credit cards held by agency employees will be frozen for 30 days, until Friday, March 28, unless the employee is utilizing the card for disaster relief or other critical services as determined by the agency leader.
Lastly, the order instructs the General Services Administration to create a plan to offload any real estate that is no longer needed.
Administration orders NYC to end congestion pricing by March 21
The Trump administration has instructed New York City to end congestion pricing by March 21.
The Federal Highway Administration sent a letter to New York State Department of Transportation, New York City Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Transportation Authority, saying congestion pricing must end by March 21.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has vowed to fight the administration over their wishes to end the program, which generated nearly $50 million in revenue in its first month, according to officials.
A 65% federal workforce cut at EPA?
Trump said during his Cabinet meeting Wednesday that he spoke with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, and “he thinks he’s going to be cutting 65 or so percent of the people from environmental.”
Sources close to the EPA had mixed reactions to that news.
One federal employee with direct knowledge of EPA staffing told ABC News they were not surprised after Trump’s attempts to reduce the agency in his first term. Others, though, said they were stunned by Trump’s statements on Wednesday.
