The administration of the United States President Donald Trump on Friday gave no sign of restraining from its plan for a second wave of mass firings and budget cuts across the US government after two federal court rulings ordered the reinstatement of thousands of workers.
Vice President JD Vance on Friday acknowledged that mistakes had been made during the downsizing process, which has moved at breakneck speed since Trump took office in January.
Federal agencies had faced a Thursday deadline to submit large-scale reorganization plans as part of Trump’s push to radically remake the federal bureaucracy, a task he has largely left to Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk.
DOGE’s effort has so far produced potential cuts of no fewer than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian workforce, the freezing of foreign aid, and the cancellation of thousands of programs and contracts.
The approach of DOGE at times has reportedly been so scattershot that key federal employees such as those who oversee the country’s nuclear stockpile and scientists combating bird flu have been fired and recalled.
Similarly, it was gathered that financial markets have been rattled by the economic risks posed by a global trade war being waged by Trump.
Stock markets are said to have fallen dramatically over the past two weeks, wiping out $5 trillion in value over concerns that Trump’s policies could lead to a recession.
According to Vance on Friday, Musk’s DOGE has made mistakes at times and defended most federal employees as hard-working.
“Elon himself has said that sometimes you do something, you make a mistake, and then you undo the mistake. I’m accepting of mistakes.
“I also think you have to quickly correct those mistakes. But I’m also very aware of the fact that there are a lot of good people who work in the government — a lot of people who are doing a very good job,” Vance said.
Recall that judgments in federal courts in California and Maryland on Thursday ordered some agencies to reinstate thousands of probationary employees who had been dismissed in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the White House, calling the judges partisan activists, vowed to fight back.