The Senate voted on Tuesday to confirm Frank Bisignano as commissioner of the Social Security Administration, which has been thrown into turmoil after a three-month stretch steered largely by Elon Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency. President Trump’s nominee was confirmed by a vote of 53 to 47, which had been expected and was split…
Two weeks ago, a three-judge panel from the federal appeals court in Washington lifted a freeze on firing employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with some conditions. The judges, ruling on a Friday night, said that workers could be fired if agency leaders determined, after a careful assessment, that they were not needed to…
As Elon Musk sought to reassure Wall Street analysts on Tuesday that he would soon scale back his work with the federal government, the strain of his situation was audible in his voice. The world’s richest man said that he would continue arguing that the Trump administration should lower tariffs it has imposed on countries…
President Trump and Elon Musk promised taxpayers big savings, maybe even a “DOGE dividend” check in their mailboxes, when the Department of Government Efficiency was let loose on the federal government. Now, as he prepares to step back from his presidential assignment to cut bureaucratic fat, Mr. Musk has said without providing details that DOGE…
Tesla is expected to report on Tuesday that its profits fell in the first three months of the year, which could increase the pressure on Elon Musk, the automaker’s chief executive, to curtail his work for President Trump and spend more time managing the company. Wall Street analysts expect Tesla to say its net profit…
An office in an obscure corner of the federal government that NASA has relied on to safely land astronauts on the moon and robotic probes on Mars is facing pressure to cut its tight-knit team of experts by at least 20 percent, according to two people familiar with the mandate. The thinning of the staff…
At least five children and three adults with cholera died as they went in search of treatment in South Sudan after aid cuts by the Trump administration shuttered local health clinics during the country’s worst cholera outbreak in decades, the international charity Save the Children reported this week. The victims, all from the country’s east,…
In Washington State, April is when millions of young Chinook salmon are released from hatcheries, where they started as tiny, pink globes, to swim downstream and rebuild the salmon population. They are part of an ecosystem that affects tribal, commercial, and recreational fishing and are a main source of food for endangered killer whales. But…
For the last several months, Ken Harvey has been cultivating a budding side business for his Honda and Mazda dealerships in Northern California: selling used Teslas. A few times a month, Mr. Harvey picks up a few pre-owned Teslas at a local automobile auction and offers them for sale, often at surprisingly affordable prices, thanks…
Federal worker unions have sought over the past two months to lead the resistance to President Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency, filing lawsuits, organizing protests and signing up new members by the thousands. This week, Mr. Trump struck back with a potentially crippling blow. In a sweeping executive order denouncing the unions as…