美国国际开发署员工23日正式获知，该机构将在美国境内裁员1600人，其他绝大多数员工行政休假。
同一天，多个政府机构抵制政府效率部负责人埃隆·马斯克让全体联邦雇员汇报一周工作的要求，其中不乏总统唐纳德·特朗普任命的官员。

2024年4月25日，游客在美国首都华盛顿的国家广场游览。新华社记者刘杰摄

国际开发署裁员
国际开发署说，被裁减的1600人将自23日起陆续收到有关福利待遇的具体通知，可继续工作的员工将在23日17时前获通知。国际开发署一度将裁员目标定在2000人，后有所下调。

Employees who remain, except those responsible for critical task functions, part of the core leadership, or involved in specially designated projects, will be placed on administrative leave starting at [specific time] Eastern Time on [specific date].

The USAID also stated that government would cover travel expenses for employees abroad who voluntarily return to the U.S. Additionally, the agency plans to issue detailed implementation rules this week, requiring relevant staff to take personal belongings with them and return government-issued equipment.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), operating under the guidance of the U.S. Department of State, is the federal government's primary agency responsible for most non-military foreign aid and a key target for reform by the Government Efficiency Office. Its headquarters office in Washington, D.C., has been shut down, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has taken over the agency.

The vast majority of the agency's employees worldwide were originally required to take administrative leave starting from a certain date. However, Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. Federal District Court for the District of Columbia agreed to temporarily halt the administrative leave plan on a specified day. On another day, Judge Nichols rejected a request to extend the temporary restraining order, effectively giving the green light to the U.S. Agency for International Development's "administrative leave" plan.

Upon taking office, Trump immediately demanded a freeze on U.S. foreign aid, with only a few projects at USAID exempted. An official from the agency, currently the sole staff member overseeing U.S. food aid programs for three countries, told The Washington Post that he didn’t expect to be placed on administrative leave as well, leaving the related programs with "no choice but to halt."

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has over ten thousand employees and an annual budget exceeding one billion dollars. According to AFP, USAID is regarded as one of the key instruments of America's global "soft power." However, it has faced criticism and skepticism for years due to unclear accounting and the effectiveness of its projects.

多部门“已读不回”
马斯克牵头的联邦政府大裁员行动23日遭遇多个机构抵制。

On a certain day, a post on a social media platform stated that all federal employees were required to report their work progress from the previous week, and those who failed to comply would face termination. That same evening, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent out an email notification, instructing federal employees to report their "approximately five achievements from the previous week" by a specified Eastern Time deadline. However, the email did not mention anything about termination.

According to Reuters' compilation, as of the day, employees from the U.S. Department of Defense, State Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Education, Department of Commerce, as well as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Institutes of Health, and the National Tax Agency have been instructed to temporarily not respond to weekly work report notifications. Some intelligence agencies are also preparing to ask their employees to refrain from responding. However, the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the Department of Justice, has required its employees to respond.

FBI Director Kash Patel informed employees that the entire review process of the FBI is overseen by the Director's office. The Department of Defense also posted on social media, instructing employees to "pause" their responses, citing that "the Department of Defense is responsible for evaluating employee performance, and assessments will be conducted according to its own established procedures."

Both Reuters and AFP noted that many of the heads of these institutions were appointed by Trump, and such responses seemed to indicate "tension" or a "rift" between key figures in the Trump administration and Musk.

Currently, the Department of Government Efficiency has already laid off over 20,000 employees within the federal government and offered a "buyout" plan to an additional number of workers. According to Reuters, the "frenzied" pace of these measures has led to chaos in some agencies, forcing the federal government to rehire personnel responsible for critical functions such as the safety of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and those managing the avian flu outbreak.

In areas with a concentration of Republican voters, the mass layoffs have also faced criticism. Utah's Republican Senator John Curtis told CBS that while he supports the Trump administration's efforts to cut federal spending, he suggested Musk adopt a "more humane" approach. "These are real people with mortgages to pay. The idea that we have to be ruthless in cutting jobs is wrong." (Hai Yang)