Newsletter

The Paper Trail: June 6, 2025

Elon Musk’s 130-Day Self-Interest Spree; New Questions About IRS Nominee; Looming Salt Crisis for U.S. Rivers; and more.

Jun 06, 2025

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The Paper Trail

Announcements

Making the Most of Your Resources: Working with GAO: POGO’s virtual training on working with GAO will be Friday, June 13 at 12 noon. This event is only open to staff in Congress, GAO, and CRS. Register HERE.

Top stories for June 6, 2025

Dismissed by DEI: Trump’s purge made Black women with stable federal jobs an “easy target”: The president’s attack on DEI has derailed the government careers of highly educated civil servants — even though the jobs some lost weren’t directly involved with DEI programs. Hard numbers documenting the demographics of the federal workers forced out are hard to obtain, but a broad assessment shows that the agencies with the most diverse staffs have been hit the hardest. (J. David McSwane, ProPublica)

🔎 See Also: Trump is planning to slash 107,000 federal jobs next year. See where (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

Education Department is stonewalling inspector general investigation into staff cuts, Democrats allege: Congressional Democrats requested that the Education Department fully comply with an inspector general investigation into President Trump’s workforce reductions at the agency. The request was prompted by a May 23 notification from acting Education Department Inspector General René Rocque that department officials aren’t turning over requested information and are putting conditions on interviews with staff. (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

Oversight Dems: Commerce reneged on probationers’ health benefits: Congressional Democrats accused the Commerce Department of illegally reneging on recently fired probationary employees’ health benefits. Some fired workers have also been unable to access their personnel records to show to insurance companies and prospective employers. (Erich Wagner, Government Executive)

Gabbard placed top adviser inside the ODNI’s watchdog office, officials say: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard installed one of her top advisers to a position within the office of the inspector general of the intelligence community, potentially compromising the office’s independence and integrity. (Meryl Kornfield and Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post)

“The intern in charge”: Meet the 22-year-old Trump’s team picked to lead terrorism prevention: One year out of college and with no apparent national security expertise, Thomas Fugate is the DHS official tasked with overseeing the government’s main hub for combating violent domestic extremism. (Hannah Allam, ProPublica)

Noem ending TSA Quiet Skies traveler surveillance program: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claims the TSA’s traveler surveillance “Quiet Skies Program” is costly, ineffective, and was used by the Biden administration “to target political opponents and benefit political allies.” The program has faced scrutiny from both Democrats and Republicans in recent years, with many expressing concerns about potential civil liberty violations. (Sarah Fortinsky, The Hill)

White House proposes shutting down chemical safety agency: Next year, the White House plans to shut down the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, an independent agency that plays a key role in probing the causes of major chemical accidents. (Maxine Joselow, Washington Post)

Potential shortcomings in USAID–State Department merger plan raise concerns: The State Department’s inspector general found several problems with the administration’s plan to fold USAID into the State Department, including hiring numbers that aren’t based on any workforce strategy and an unfinished realignment implementation plan. (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

Internal docs raise questions about Trump IRS pick Billy Long's “no-show jobs” and “strange” schedule inside a powerful agency: The work calendar of Billy Long, IRS commissioner nominee and currently a senior advisor at OPM, raises questions about his workload and whether he’s complying with recordkeeping requirements. There are also concerns about Long’s qualifications to lead the IRS and his past work promoting questionable tax credits. (Hunter Walker, Talking Points Memo)

Analysis: Stephen Miller v. the Rule of Law: White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s threat to unilaterally suspend habeas corpus is part of a larger pattern of Trump administration attacks on the courts. (Katherine Hawkins, The Constitution Project at POGO)

Elon Musk & DOGE

“130 days of Elon Musk”: Report cites more than 100 times DOGE boss benefited self, business: A new report by Senator Elizabeth Warren features a list of 130 actions by Musk, his companies, and his family members that “raise questions about corruption, ethics, and conflicts of interest.” (Erin Doherty, CNBC)

“Big Balls” is officially a full-time government employee: At least three of Elon Musk’s early DOGE operatives have recently become full-time government employees: Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, and Ethan Shaotran’s employment designations at the GSA have been officially converted to full-time. All three maintain their “senior adviser” titles; Coristine and Farritor are drawing some of the largest salaries paid to federal government employees. (Makena Kelly, Wired)

🔎 See Also: A 23-year-old crypto bro is now vetoing NSF grants while staring at his water bottle (Mike Masnick, Techdirt)

Lawsuit: DOGE, HHS used “hopelessly error-ridden” data to fire 10,000 workers: A class-action lawsuit claims the Department of Health and Human Services teamed up with DOGE to fire 10,000 employees while relying on “hopelessly error-ridden” personnel records. (Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica)

Weaponization of the Government

Trump orders investigation into Biden’s actions as president, ratcheting up targeting of predecessor: President Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Counsel David Warrington to investigate Joe Biden’s actions as president, alleging aides masked Biden’s “cognitive decline” and casting doubts on the legitimacy of his use of an autopen to sign pardons and other documents. (Matt Brown and Chris Megerian, Associated Press)

🔎 See Also: DOJ reviewing Biden pardons (Brett Samuels, The Hill)

🔎 See Also: Oversight chair subpoenas Biden’s doctor (Hailey Fuchs, Politico)

Trump admin claims Columbia violated Jewish students’ rights, threatens school’s accreditation: The Department of Education notified the accreditor for Columbia University that the school violated federal anti-discrimination laws with regard to its Jewish students, and that it “no longer appears to meet ... accreditation standards.” (Rebecca Cohen and Tyler Kingkade, NBC News)

🔎 See Also: How the FBI sought a warrant to search Instagram of Columbia student protesters (Shawn Musgrave, The Intercept)

The law firms that appeased Trump — and angered their clients: Support for the law firms that didn’t make deals with Trump has been growing inside the offices of corporate executives. At least 11 big companies are moving work away from law firms that settled with the administration or are giving, or intend to give, more business to firms that refused to strike deals. (Erin Mulvaney et al., Wall Street Journal)

Reproductive Freedom

Trump rescinds Biden policy requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services revoked a Biden administration requirement that hospitals provide emergency abortions to women whose health is in peril, including in states where abortion is restricted or banned. Although CMS didn’t explicitly tell hospitals they were free to turn away patients seeking abortions in medical emergencies, experts say the policy could still discourage doctors from performing emergency abortions. (Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times)

FDA to “review the latest data” on mifepristone. What could it mean for access to the abortion pill?: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked the FDA “to review the latest data on mifepristone.” According to a letter published on social media by Senator Josh Hawley, the review aims to closely monitor the drug's safety. Experts say safety concerns are misguided and backed by flawed research. (Sara Moniuszko, CBS News)

Defense and Veteran Affairs

Pentagon won’t say how many civilians have left since February: The defense secretary’s office refuses to say how much the workforce has shrunk this year, as it moves forward with a comprehensive review aimed at further slashing its civilian ranks. (Meghann Myers, Government Executive)

U.S. may strip Harvey Milk’s name from Navy vessel: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Navy to review for possible removal the names of vessels honoring prominent civil rights leaders including Harvey Milk, Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Cesar Chavez, and Harriet Tubman. (Karoun Demirjian and John Ismay, New York Times)

Analysis: Gutting military testing office may be the deadliest move yet: Reducing the size of the Office of the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) means the office will have to rely more on analyses provided by the military services and the defense industry — neither of which are the neutral arbiters needed to properly oversee the performance of new weapons. (Dan Grazier, Responsible Statecraft)

Analysis: Make sustainment competitive again: Congress should require the Pentagon to purchase all necessary repair rights and materials when acquiring new systems. This “right-to-repair” reform is key to military readiness and to bringing competition back to weapons maintenance and repair, which will ensure taxpayers get more bang for their buck. (Austin Fialkow, Project On Government Oversight)

🔎 See Also: Right to repair for the Pentagon: To-do’s for right now (Virginia Burger, Center for Defense Information at POGO)

Business and Finance

Supreme Court sides with woman claiming anti-straight job discrimination: The justices unanimously struck down a standard, used in nearly half of the nation’s federal judicial circuits, that required members of groups that historically have not faced discrimination to meet a higher standard to prove workplace bias than members of minority groups. (Justin Jouvenal, Washington Post)

Supreme Court backs Catholic Charities in tax exemption case: The court’s unanimous ruling could affect how states and the federal government consider eligibility for tax exemptions for religiously connected organizations, including Catholic-affiliated hospitals that employ hundreds of thousands of workers. (Ann E. Marimow, Washington Post)

Infrastructure

A salt crisis is looming for U.S. rivers: Freshwater ecosystems in the U.S. are growing saltier. Increasing salinity has not only been linked to mass deaths of aquatic life and damaged infrastructure, but some people can also taste it in drinking water. Removing it is no small task. (Kasha Patel, Washington Post)

Health Care

Here are the nearly 2,500 NIH grants that have been ended or delayed: Since President Trump took office in January, the NIH has ended 1,389 awards and delayed funding to more than 1,000 additional projects. The agency awarded $1.6 billion less compared to the same period last year — a 20% reduction. The disruptions are affecting research in many fields — including COVID, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and substance use — and at institutions across the country. (Irena Hwang et al., New York Times)

Parents sue over son’s asthma death days after inhaler price soared without warning: Cole Schmidtknecht had insurance but couldn’t afford to refill his asthma inhaler after the cost jumped from $70 to more than $500. A part of the insurance system that many Americans don’t know about was responsible for the price spike: pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the middlemen that control which drugs insurance companies will cover. (Jason Kane, Anne Thompson, and Linda Carroll, NBC News)

🔎 See Also: Asthma sufferers could be at greater risk if Trump cuts health program (Miranda Green, KFF Health News)

FDA approved — and ineffective: The FDA has approved hundreds of drugs on the basis of inadequate evidence that they work — and in many cases amid clear signs that they pose a risk of serious harm. (Jeanne Lenzer and Shannon Brownlee, The Lever)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Deportation flights reach highest level under Trump so far

→ Trump administration returns Guatemalan man it erroneously deported

→ ICE officers stuck in Djibouti shipping container with deported migrants

→ Judge blocks immediate deportation of family of Colorado terror suspect

→ Weapons violations, misconduct, and whistleblower retaliation at ICE

→ Is it legal for ICE agents to pretend to be utility workers?

Other News:

→ Top CDC COVID vaccine adviser quits after RFK Jr. ended recommendations

→ Those from the countries in Trump’s travel ban say they’re confused and angry about what comes next

→ Vought calls for more OMB staff after spearheading governmentwide cuts

→ Bondi accused of “serious professional misconduct” in Florida Bar complaint

→ Penny Schwinn sought to start a business after being nominated for Education Dept. role. It could raise questions

→ U.S. sanctions International Criminal Court judges linked to Israel, Afghanistan probes

Upcoming Events

📌 Oversight of the Department of Defense. House Committee on Appropriations; Subcommittee on Defense. Tuesday, June 10, 9:30 a.m., Capitol Complex, H-140 CAPITOL.

Hot Docs

🔥📃 HUD OIG: Memorandum: HUD Should Better Track Elevated Blood Lead Levels in HUD-Assisted Multifamily Properties. 2025-OE-0801 (PDF)

🔥📃 Office of United States Senator Elizabeth Warren: Special Interests over the Public Interest: Elon Musk’s 130 Days in the Trump Administration. June 3, 2025 (PDF)