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The Paper Trail: February 14, 2025

Trump Orders “Large Scale” Cuts, Expands DOGE’s Power; Federal Aid Still Not Flowing; Is a Monopoly Ruining Your Love Life?; and More.

Feb 14, 2025

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Top stories for February 14, 2025

Trump orders plans for “large scale” work force cuts and expands Musk’s power: A new executive order directs agency officials to draw up plans for “large scale” cuts to the federal work force and further empowers DOGE to approve new hires. (Theodore Schleifer and Madeleine Ngo, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: OPM fires its own probationary period staff (David DiMolfetta and Eric Katz, Government Executive)

🔎 See Also: Some agencies begin purges of recent hires even as OPM directs federal offices to pump the brakes (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

🔎 See Also: Inspectors general file lawsuit to fight firings (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

Federal judge clears way for “deferred resignations”: The federal judge who had temporarily blocked the deferred resignation program reversed course on Tuesday, dissolving the temporary restraining order upon concluding that he lacked jurisdiction. Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. ruled that the plaintiffs must first adjudicate their claims before the MSPB or FLRA before suing in court. About 75,000 federal workers have accepted the resignation offer. (Erich Wagner, Government Executive)

🔎 See Also: Trump fires one-third of MSPB (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

🔎 See Also: Trump apparently fires FLRA chairwoman (Erich Wagner, Government Executive)

GSA staff facing massive cuts and fears of “nonstop” surveillance: The GSA plans to slash its budget and staff in half and ramp up monitoring of the remaining work force — a model that might soon be deployed across most of the rest of the federal government. (Jenna McLaughlin and Shannon Bond, NPR)

Many groups promised federal aid still have no funds and no answers: Judicial rulings have unfrozen some federal grants to nonprofits, states, and companies, but the reprieve has been uneven and many fear the relief is only temporary. (David A. Fahrenthold et al., New York Times)

Top FEMA official is fired over payments for NYC migrant shelters: FEMA fired its chief financial officer and three other employees after Elon Musk claimed the agency had used disaster relief funds to house migrants in New York City luxury hotels. (Luis Ferré-Sadurní, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: DOGE staffer is trying to reroute FEMA funds (Ka (Jessica) Burbank, Drop Site)

Trump fires USAID inspector general one day after blistering report: The White House fired USAID Inspector General Paul Martin a day after his office issued a report warning that more than $489 million in food assistance was at risk of spoilage or diversion after the Trump administration implemented an aid freeze and stop-work order. (David Nakamura, Lisa Rein and John Hudson, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: Trump advisers look to shift U.S. foreign aid to Wall Street ally (Shawn Donnan, Joe Deaux, and Daniel Flatley, Bloomberg)

Musk team announces millions in cuts to Education Dept. amid legal pushback: DOGE announced that the Department of Education had “terminated” 89 contracts, as well as 29 grants associated with diversity and equity training. Most of the contract cuts hit the department’s research arm, which produces research on best practices in education. (Zach Montague and Dana Goldstein, New York Times)

How the Justice Dept. helped sink its own case against Eric Adams: The series of events — in which the acting No. 2 official at the DOJ seemed to guide criminal defense lawyers toward a rationale for dropping charges against a high-profile client — represents an extraordinary shattering of norms. Legal experts say it also sends a message that, under the Trump administration, the DOJ will make prosecutorial decisions based not on the merits of a case but on purely political concerns. (Michael S. Schmidt et al., New York Times)

How many Trump officials have taken money from Qatar?: The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is already shot through with loopholes that allow foreign powers to evade disclosing the full extent of their spending in Washington. Those loopholes will get even bigger under President Trump. (Matt Sledge, The Intercept)

Other DOGE News:

→ DOGE has more than doubled its budget already

→ Elon Musk’s business empire scores benefits under Trump shake-up

→ X reaches $10 million settlement with Trump over Twitter account suspension

→ U.S. plan to award $400M vehicle contract removes reference to Musk’s Tesla

→ 19-year-old Musk surrogate takes on roles at State Department and DHS

→ Treasury revoked editing access “mistakenly” given to DOGE staffer

→ “Anxiety provoking”: Government workers describe their DOGE interviews

Supreme Court Ethics

ProPublica updates Supreme Connections database with previously missing disclosures: The new financial disclosures include Justice Alito’s deferred 2023 filing (which reports the $900 concert tickets gifted by a German princess) and eight previously missing disclosures from Justice Thomas which cover 1992 to 1999 and reveal more than 100 gifts or travel-related reimbursements. (Sergio Hernández, ProPublica)

Insurrection

DOJ accused of deleting evidence in Jan. 6 court cases: Federal courts and judges have repeatedly ordered that any evidence or exhibits tied to the January 6 cases be placed in an online portal. Some of those records have disappeared over the last week. (Brandi Buchman, HuffPost)

Dobbs Aftermath

New York won’t comply with extradition of abortion provider, governor says: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she won’t comply with a request to extradite to Louisiana a New York doctor who faces a criminal charge for allegedly prescribing abortion-inducing drugs to a Louisiana patient. In a separate case this week, the same doctor was fined $100,000 in Texas and ordered to stop providing abortion medication there. (Frances Vinall, Washington Post)

After abortion bans, infant mortality and births increased, research finds: Infant mortality increased along with births in most states with abortion bans in the first 18 months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe, according to new research. The findings also suggest that abortion bans can have the most significant effects on people who are struggling economically or who are in other types of challenging circumstances. (Pam Belluck, New York Times)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Watchdog agency’s closure could lead to more military financial scams: Advocacy groups sued to prevent the closure of the CFPB, warning that financial scams are particularly problematic for military families, since debts can affect individuals’ security clearance status and ultimately undermine readiness. (Leo Shane III, Military Times)

In one of the Marines’ most iconic jobs, a stunning pattern of suicide: In the last five years, there have been at least seven suicides among Marine Corps drill instructors. Critics and relatives of those who died accuse the Marine Corps of fostering an environment that contributed to their deaths. (Kelsey Baker and Drew F. Lawrence, Washington Post)

LGBTQ Pride flags banned at VA facilities under new policy: VA Secretary Doug Collins unveiled new rules banning LGBTQ Pride flags and other unofficial banners at department offices and spaces, saying the move will bring “consistency” to agency messaging. The policy doesn’t apply to veterans’ gravesites or museum pieces, or historical and education displays operated by the department. (Leo Shane III, Military Times)

Business and Finance

The housing loophole that lets wealthy investors raise rents on poor tenants: Developers and real estate investors are taking advantage of an obscure section of the tax code that allows owners of low-income rental properties that have received tax credits to raise rents far sooner than the law typically requires. (Jesse Coburn, ProPublica)

Health Care

Trump’s move to slash research funding shakes medical community: While the NIH’s move to slash funding has been halted by a federal judge, medical researchers fear their work could soon come to a screeching halt. (Joseph Choi, Hill)

Delayed CDC report shows increased evidence of bird flu spread to people: The report is the latest evidence that the outbreak of H5N1 avian flu is spreading undetected in cows, and the spillover into people at highest risk of exposure is going unnoticed. The report is one of three about bird flu that were scheduled to be published three weeks ago in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). But the publication was abruptly suspended when the Trump administration instructed federal health agencies to pause all external communications. (Lena H. Sun, Washington Post)

Measles outbreak hits town in Texas: A worsening measles outbreak has taken root in Texas, sickening two dozen and hospitalizing nine on the western edge of the state, where childhood vaccination rates have dropped in recent years. Vaccination rates have been declining nationwide since 2020 and now sit below 93%. (Teddy Rosenbluth, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Louisiana health department says it will stop promoting “mass vaccination” (Tim Balk, New York Times)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Since Trump’s “emergency,” what is actually happening on the border?

→ Religious groups sue Homeland Security over immigration arrests

→ Some migrants sent to Guantánamo are being held by military guards

→ “Become American, work hard, love democracy”: dreams dashed by Trump orders

Other News:

→ Judge orders CDC, FDA to restore websites taken down after Trump gender order

→ Trump made chair of Kennedy Center as its president is fired

→ U.S. hits new low on global corruption index amid concern over courts

→ Pilots got 100 collision warnings for helicopters near National Airport in past decade

→ U.S.-funded “social network” attacking pesticide critics shuts down after Guardian investigation

Because It’s FridayValentine’s Day

Big bad love: Is a monopoly ruining dating? There’s a rise in dissatisfaction with dating apps. One possible reason is that many of the major apps are owned by one company, Match Group. Critics say the $8.5 billion corporation operates under a “perverse incentive” to not actually help its users find love but instead to string them along with promises that if they spend more money they’ll find their match. (Amos Barshad, The Lever)

Upcoming Events

📌 WEBINAR: Think Tank Funding in America. Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Tuesday, February 18, 12 noon - 1 p.m. ET.

📌 Nomination of Lori Chavez-DeRemer to serve as Secretary of Labor. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Wednesday, February 19, 10:00 a.m., 216 Hart Senate Office Building.

📌 Nominations of Troy Edgar to be Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, and Dan Bishop to be Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Thursday, February 20, 10:00 a.m., 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Hot Docs

🔥📃 GAO - Coast Guard: Additional Efforts Needed to Address Cybersecurity Risks to the Maritime Transportation System. GAO-25-107244 (PDF)

🔥📃 USAID OIG: Oversight of USAID-Funded Humanitarian Assistance Programming Impacted by Staffing Reductions and Pause on Foreign Assistance. February 10, 2025 (PDF)

🔥📃 VA OIG: Lapse in Fiduciary Program Oversight Puts Some Vulnerable Beneficiaries at Risk. 24-01219-12 (PDF)