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Trump offers US federal workers buyouts to resign
In another part of its efforts to reshape the US government, the Trump administration has offered federal workers buyouts worth more than seven months’ salary to leave their jobs.
A memo circulated on Tuesday evening set out four mandatory directives, including a full-time return to the office for most employees. It also said that the federal workforce would be subjected to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct” and warned that most agencies would be downsized.
It said the offer to leave would remain open until 6 February.
The US government is roughly the nation’s 15th-largest workforce, with more than 3 million employees. Project 2025, the conservative manifesto that has guided much of Trump’s policy goals, calls for mass firings of federal workers and suggests replacing many with political appointees.
Denouncing the offer, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees union, Everett Kelley, said it was part of an attempt to pressure workers not considered loyal to the new administration to leave their jobs.
“Purging the federal government of dedicated career federal employees will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government,” a statement read.
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What we know about the block on Trump's funding freeze
More now on the news that a federal judge has blocked a move by President Trump to pause trillions of dollars in federal loans, grants, and other financial assistance.
Federal grants and loans reach into virtually every corner of Americans’ lives, with hundreds of billions of dollars flowing into education, healthcare and anti-poverty programmes, housing assistance, disaster relief, infrastructure, and a host of other initiatives.
A two-page internal memo which had been due to take effect at 5pm eastern time on Tuesday told all federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance”.
Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
The memo was met with widespread confusion in Washington, where civil servants struggled to understand its full extent scope and application.
The US constitution gives Congress control over spending matters, but Trump has said he believes the president has the power to withhold money for programmes he dislikes.
A letter from senior Democrats on the House Committee on Appropriations expressed “extreme alarm about the Administration’s efforts to undermine Congress’s power of the purse”, adding that this and other directives had “sown immense confusion across the country, with some reports indicating that they could immediately halt all federal funding for any grant or loan”.
US district judge Loren AliKhan granted the temporary halt after several advocacy groups argued the freeze would devastate programmes ranging from healthcare to road construction. The court will revisit the issue on Monday.
Opening summary
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of all the latest developments from US politics.
We start with the news that a federal judge has temporarily blocked a move by President Trump to pause trillions of dollars in federal loans, grants, and other financial assistance.
A two-page internal memo had told all federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance” and that “the use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars”.
The directive was seen as part of Trump’s desire to end programmes related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The court order came moments before it was due to take effect and will prevent it from being implemented until at least next Monday, 3 February.
The administrative stay came in response to a lawsuit filed by four groups representing non-profits, public health professionals and small businesses in which they said the directive was illegal and would have a “devastating impact on hundreds of thousands of grant recipients who depend on the inflow of grant money”Stay with us for more on that and all the latest updates throughout the day.
