Running the Department of Government Efficiency appears to be “his plate full,” according to tech billionaire Elon Musk.
The owner of Tesla and Space X announced slashing government spending by about $2 trillion when he was named head of DOGE. He recently asked stuffers to produce a five-point email outlining their accomplishments for the previous week as part of his efforts to reach this target.
The deadline for responding to the quest was February 24 for federal employees. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,” Musk warned in his post on X.
“Due to the sensitive and confidential nature of the Department’s work,” the source claimed, the Department of Justice cautioned the recipients of the email not to reply.
A number of other organizations, notably the Department of Defense, followed suit. Similar instructions were given to his staff by FBI Director Kash Patel.
Elon Musk was criticized by Democratic Senator Tina Smith for making this appeal to approximately 2.4 million federal employees.
“This is the ultimate dk boss move from Musk – except he isn’t even the boss, he’s just a dk,” Senator Smith wrote on X, a social media platform that Musk owns, after sharing a screenshot of Musk’s email.
“I bet a lot of people have had an experience like this with a bad boss – there’s an email in your inbox on Saturday night saying, ‘Prove to me your worthiness by Monday or else,'” she continued in a different piece. I support the workers, not their millionaire jerk bosses.
What did you get done last week?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 23, 2025
In response to Smith’s article, Musk wrote, “What did you get done last week?”
Smith answered, “@ElonMusk You are not my boss, as much as I hate to say it. Minnesotans are the ones to whom I answer.
“But since you bring it up, I fought last week to stop tax breaks for billionaires like you, which were funded by taking money away from health care for mothers and babies.”
Musk claims that even before the deadline, several staff members replied to his email.
Smith was joined in criticizing Musk by Senator Patty Murray. Murray stated on X that Musk’s inability to comprehend //usaspending.gov does not prove that spending is a “conspiracy.” “A program isn’t a waste merely because the world’s wealthiest guy doesn’t benefit from it. He doesn’t like it, thus it isn’t fraud. Even if he disagrees with a law, it is still lawful.
Musk described his actions as “a very basic pulse check” in order to defend them.
