Thousands of federal workers are accepting contract buyouts offered by Elon Musk, according to USA Today.
President Donald Trump recently named South African immigrant Elon Musk the “Efficiency Czar.” Recently, Musk emailed the terms to federal employees. The deal offers to pay federal employees’ salaries until September 2025 if they resign by Feb. 6 and forgo the right to take legal action against the federal government regarding employment or resignation.
According to reports, 20,000 employees have taken the offer.
Musk leads the “Department of Governmental Efficiency,” an office created by Trump via executive order. The Tesla and X owner hopes to reduce the federal government’s size by 10%.
The offer is under intense scrutiny, as many government roles are ineligible, including civilian defense, intelligence employees, postal workers, and law enforcement personnel. This is likely due to the limited power of the DOGE office, which is not an official government department approved by Congress.
The legality of the offer is also under scrutiny, as Congress, not the executive branch, dictates the funding for government offices and employee pay. Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 of the Constitution addresses Congress’ “power of the purse.”
It states, “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”
Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government, and It creates laws that govern the use of funding. Maximo L.C. Alonzo, national secretary-treasurer for the National Federation of Federal Employees, believes the offer does not comply with federal regulations and, therefore, nothing guarantees that the terms of the offer will be met.
Alonzo said, “Absolutely do not resign. There is nothing that says that the day that you resign, they can’t just let you go. They don’t have to pay you — there’s nothing that says they have to pay you till September 30. This is nothing that has been done before. This is not in our regulations. There’s no regs about it. We’re not even sure if it’s actually legal. This is about trying to cut the federal workforce down, really kind of just breaking down these pillars of democracy.”
At Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s reelection ceremony, she spoke to the monetary powers of Congress when discussing the now-rescinded executive order to freeze federal grant funding.
“The president doesn’t have the authority to decide what programs to fund. Congress has the power of the purse. Money is appropriated by law,” Crockett said.
It remains to be seen if the buyout offer is legal and whether the arrangement will be honored.
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