Photo: Science Photo Library RF
1 Republicans Block Congressional Subpoena Of Elon Musk
As Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency continue to investigate and dismantle agencies, the attention and anger against him continue to grow. Even though he’s made no public appearances since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, his actions in the first two weeks of the administration have drawn the ire of Democratic elected officials in Washington, bringing claims that he wasn’t elected by the people and could be breaking the law with his actions. For his part, Musk said on Monday about the funding freeze from USAID that he had talked to Trump about the agency, saying “I went over it with him in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down.” Over 100 people protested in front of the Department of Labor yesterday, one of Musk’s latest targets, with elected Democratic officials in attendance. The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Gerry Connolly, attacked Musk’s activities with DOGE and moved to subpoena Musk to testify before the committee, a motion that failed along party lines. The failure led to a short period of chaos with multiple representatives speaking at the same time. Elon responded on X with a post that read “How is this reality? Lmaooo.”
2 Education Department Staff Given Buyout Offer, Told It Could Vanish At Any Time
President Donald Trump’s administration has made a buyout offer to the employees of several federal agencies, but one department’s offer got an update that’s potentially not good news. Top officials at the Education Department reportedly told staff members yesterday that if they accept the offer from the administration to resign and receive up to eight months of pay as a severance package, it could be canceled at any time. Employees were reportedly told that they would have no recourse if they accepted the deal and then had it rescinded. Today is the deadline for employees to accept the deal and resign. According to reports from "NBC News," the Secretary of Education would be allowed to rescind the agreement and employees would be waiving all legal claims. In other words, the workers would get nothing. One department official who attended a meeting with the department’s new chief of staff and its chief human capital officer said “It sounded like a commercial for a used car dealership, like, ‘Act now, one day only.’” More than 40-thousand employees have taken the buyout offer so far according to the White House.
3 Mexico Deploys The First Of The 10-Thousand National Guard Troops To Border
Mexico began dispatching the first of 10-thousand troops to the border separating Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas yesterday. The line of trucks from the Mexican National Guard and Army were accompanying National Guard members who picked through the brush, pulling out makeshift ladders and ropes that had been tucked away. The deployment comes just days after a tariff showdown with the Trump administration led to Mexico promising to increase their border enforcement efforts. Over fifteen hundred troops are expected to be sent to the area, making it second only to the Tijuana area in number of troops deployed.