The Paper Trail: March 14, 2025

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Announcements

Working with Whistleblowers on Oversight & Investigations: POGO’s virtual training on an introduction to oversight will be Friday, March 21 at 12 noon. This event is only open to staff in Congress, GAO, and CRS. Register HERE.

Top stories for March 14, 2025

Congresswoman concerned acting leader of Commerce Department watchdog was previously removed from the position: A senior congresswoman who in 2024 successfully urged the removal of the acting inspector general for the Commerce Department is concerned that the same individual is now leading the office again following President Donald Trump’s purge of the watchdogs. (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

Trump’s White House Tesla showcase for Musk raises ethics concerns: Ethics experts are concerned the display resembles a high-profile infomercial for Musk’s company on government property, suggesting presidential endorsements can be bought. (Ivan Pereira, ABC News)

Massive layoffs at the Department of Education erode its civil rights division: With a mass email sharing what it called “difficult news,” the U.S. Department of Education has eroded one of its own key duties, abolishing more than half of the offices that investigate civil rights complaints from students and their families. (Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards, ProPublica)

🔎 See Also: How Education Department layoffs hit student loans, testing, civil rights (Laura Meckler et al., Washington Post)

House Oversight launches probe into deadly plane crash: Leaders of a House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs launched a bipartisan investigation into the military use of Washington-area air space following the crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that killed 67 people. (Hailey Fuchs, Politico)

🔎 See Also: Key takeaways from NTSB’s preliminary report on deadly midair collision between DC plane and military helicopter (Alexandra Skores et al., CNN)

Trump asks Supreme Court to curb judges’ power to block policies nationwide: In an emergency appeal, President Trump asked the justices to rein in or shelve three nationwide injunctions lower-court judges have issued against his bid to end birthright citizenship. But his request could have repercussions far beyond the debate over the controversial citizenship plan. (Josh Gerstein, Politico)

Judge orders sweeping rehiring of fired workers at 18 federal agencies: A second federal judge has ordered the mass reinstatement of fired federal workers, reversing the Trump administration’s terminations of probationary employees at 18 major agencies. (Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein, Politico)

Raskin asks for DOJ probe into acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin: Rep. Jamie Raskin, the Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Committee, has requested that the Justice Department’s inspector general initiate an investigation to determine whether Martin failed to meet high ethical standards and violated DOJ regulations, federal laws, and the Constitution. (Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill)

SSA weighs axing payments to 170,000 beneficiaries: The move to cease making payments to people without Social Security numbers would imperil the benefits of thousands of immigrants’ children with disabilities. (Natalie Alms and Erich Wagner, Government Executive)

Analysis: Under GOP Congress cedes power to Trump, eroding its influence: On spending, oversight and other issues, Republicans have enthusiastically handed powers traditionally reserved for Congress over to President Trump. (Carl Hulse and Catie Edmondson, New York Times)

Elon Musk & DOGE

U.S. judge orders DOGE, Musk to produce cost-cutting records: U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to turn over a variety of records and answer questions describing their efforts to slash federal spending. (Reuters)

U.S. Postal Service will cut workforce by 10,000 after signing deal with Elon Musk’s DOGE: USPS, an independent government agency with 635,000 employees that lost $9.5 billion last year, has been exempt from DOGE-directed federal employee reductions. However, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the postal service plans to reduce its workforce by 10,000 workers in the next month through a voluntary early retirement program. (CNBC)

Elon Musk paid a visit to NSA, Cyber Command amid DOGE-led overhauls: The visit marks the first publicly known case where Musk visited a U.S. intelligence agency in his role under DOGE. The NSA is the government’s largely clandestine intelligence office focused on signals intelligence, cybersecurity and conducting surveillance and intelligence-gathering on foreign adversaries. (David DiMolfetta, Nextgov/FCW)

Other DOGE News:

→ EPA begins eliminating offices as DOGE tightens grip on nearly all agency spending

→ “The president wanted it and I did it”: Recording reveals head of Social Security’s thoughts on DOGE and Trump

→ Social Security scraps far-reaching cuts to phone services after Post report

→ Hundreds of federal offices could begin closing this summer at DOGE’s behest, internal records show

Classified Documents

Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira pleads guilty to obstructing justice, calls himself a ‘proud patriot’: Judge Vicki Marcus agreed to the plea deal and sentenced Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guard member who leaked highly classified documents about the war in Ukraine, to a dishonorable discharge and no jail time. The judge rejected a prosecution request for a written reprimand and a demotion in rank for him. (Michael Casey, Associated Press)

Dobbs Aftermath

Missouri AG orders Planned Parenthood to stop medication abortions they don’t offer: Last November, Missouri voters embedded abortion rights into the state constitution, yet services were briefly halted and only recently resumed at two Planned Parenthood clinics. Both clinics now provide only surgical abortions, pending state approval to offer abortion medications. (Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech, The Hill)

Russia-Ukraine War

Trump administration toughens sanctions on Russian oil, gas and banking sectors: On Wednesday, the Treasury Department allowed a 60-day exemption for certain energy transactions involving sanctioned Russian banks to expire, preventing these banks from accessing U.S. payment systems for major energy transactions. (Jennifer Jacobs, Ed O’Keefe, CBS News)

Putin still intends Ukraine domination, U.S. intelligence reports say: While offering a cautious assessment on ceasefire chances, spy agencies say the Russian leader is determined to hold sway over Kyiv. (Warren P. Strobel and Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post)

Political Misbehavior

Trump to make rare visit to main Justice amid interference concerns: President Trump is set to speak at the Justice Department on Friday, raising concerns about compromising the agency’s traditionally independent relationship with the White House. Although not unprecedented, a president’s in-person visit to the Justice Department is highly unusual. (Myah Ward and Josh Gerstein, Politico)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

The office that investigates disparities in veterans’ care is being “liquidated”: The Trump administration has shut down a unit of the Department of Veterans Affairs created under President Joe Biden to address disparities in how the federal government provides disability compensation to military service members. (Vernal Coleman, ProPublica)

Military medical system unprepared for future conflict, experts say: When it comes to combat casualty care, “without urgent intervention, the Military Health System will continue to slide into medical obsolescence,” a retired Air Force trauma surgeon told senators Tuesday. (Karen Jowers, Military Times)

Beards, body fat in the crosshairs as Hegseth orders military-wide standards review: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a sweeping, military-wide review of physical fitness and grooming standards with the apparent aim of making the military a stricter and less accommodating environment for troops. (Konstantin Toropin and Thomas Novelly, Military.com)

Portugal rules out buying F-35s because of Trump: The country’s air force has recommended buying the jets, but the outgoing defense minister said “the predictability of our allies” must be taken into account when making procurement decisions. (Laura Kayali, Politico)

Business and Finance

EPA accused of faking criminal investigation to claw back climate funds: In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) requested information about a supposed criminal investigation into the EPA’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). (Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica)

Universities scramble to avoid being Trump’s next target: Amid the DEI backlash and funding threats, universities nationwide are canceling events and rescinding grad school offers. (Sara Randazzo and Joe Barrett, Wall Street Journal)

Trump administration demands Columbia change discipline and admissions rules: The administration said the action was necessary because of what it described as the university’s failure to protect Jewish students from harassment. (Katherine Rosman, New York Times)

Infrastructure

DOT’s firings raising anxieties beyond flying: Layoffs at the Transportation Department touched several areas that focus on safety, including studying roadway deaths and helping prevent pipeline leaks. (Chris Marquette, Politico)

Farmers sue Trump administration over halted IRA grants: Farmers and environmental groups are challenging the freezing of grants including those that are part of a $300 million program to help farmers install renewable energy or energy efficiency upgrades. (Rachel Frazin, The Hill)

Health Care

Health watchdog’s fraud oversight, morale at risk from job cuts: Sweeping layoffs across the federal government are prompting concern from lawmakers and former officials that the Department of Health and Human Services will be less prepared to tackle fraud within the Medicaid program. (Ganny Belloni, Bloomberg Law)

Oz avoided Medicare taxes, Democrats allege. Oz says the move is allowed: Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, avoided paying some Medicare and Social Security taxes over the course of three years by leveraging an accounting tactic that has been questioned by the government. (Lauren Weber, Washington Post)

RFK Jr. seeks to tighten loophole allowing chemicals in U.S. food supply: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is making one of his first official moves aimed at increasing oversight of the chemicals found in the nation’s food supply — a key component of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda to root out chronic disease and childhood illness. (Rachel Roubein, Washington Post)

Sent home to heal, patients avoid wait for rehab home beds: Staffing shortages at post-acute facilities around the country led to a 24% increase over three years in hospital length of stay among patients who need skilled nursing care. (Felice J. Freyer, KFF Health News)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ FEMA launches review of migrant shelter aid, suggesting smuggling laws were violated

→ Trump administration empties Guantánamo of migrants, flies all back to U.S.

→ Immigrants fuel growth in major U.S. urban counties

Other News:

→ EPA plans to close all environmental justice offices

→ Federal appeals court dismisses Florida case over gender identity in schools

→ Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona dies at 77

Nominations & Appointments

Nominations

• Richard Anderson - Assistant Secretary of the Air Force
• John Arrigo - Ambassador to Portugal
• Thomas Barrack - Ambassador to Turkey
• John Bartrum - Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Enterprise Integration)
• Brian Burch - Ambassador to the Holy See
• Leo Brent Bozell III - CEO of the United States Agency for Global Media
• Jonathan Brightbil - General Counsel of the Department of Energy
• Michael Cadenazzi - Assistant Secretary of Defense
• Leah Campos - Ambassador to the Dominican Republic
• Hung Cao - Under Secretary of the Navy
• Terrance Cole - Administrator of Drug Enforcement
• Paul Dabbar - Deputy Secretary of Commerce
• Patrick David Davis - Assistant Attorney General
• Janet Dhillon - Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
• Joseph Edlow - Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
• John Andrew Eisenberg - Assistant Attorney General
• Somers Farkas - Ambassador to Malta
• Tilman Fertitt - Ambassador to Italy and San Marino
• Robert Gleason - Director of the Amtrak Board of Directors
• Andrew Hughes - Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
• Catherine Jereza - Assistant Secretary of Energy (Electricity)
• Jovan Jovanovic - President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States
• Brandon Judd - Ambassador to Chile
• Ethan Klein - Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Matthew Kozma - Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis
• Harry Kumar - Assistant Secretary of Commerce
• Aaron Lukas - Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence
• Edward Martin - United States Attorney for the District of Columbia
• Cheryl Mason - Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection)
• Nicole McGraw - Ambassador to Croatia
• Sean McMaster - Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration
• David Metcal - United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• Joseph Nocella - United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York
• Sean O’Keefe - Deputy Under Secretary of Defense
• Michael Obadal - Under Secretary of the Army
• Seval Oz - Assistant Secretary of Transportation
• James Percival - General Counsel, Department of Homeland Security
• Sean Plankey - Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
• Andrew Puzder - Ambassador to the European Union
• Jason Reding Quinones - United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida
• Leandro Rizzuto - Ambassador to the Organization of American States
• Gadyaces Serralta - Director of the United States Marshals Service
• Brett Shumate - Assistant Attorney General
• John Squires - Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
• George Wesley Street - Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center
• Eric Matthew Ueland - Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget
• Andrew Veprek - Assistant Secretary of State (Population, Refugees, and Migration)
• Timothy John Walsh - Assistant Secretary of Energy (Environmental Management)
• David Woll - General Counsel of the Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Daniel Zimmerman - Assistant Secretary of Defense

Nominations

• Dr. Dave Weldon