Anna Kramer

Trump's Admin Says It Froze Blue State Infrastructure Projects. The States Don't Know If That’s True. Several of the states Russ Vought said would be impacted by the funding pause haven’t received any notice from the administration.

The Trump administration is insisting to me that it paused $11 billion worth of infrastructure projects in blue states. But they won't identify the projects.

So I went and asked the states about it. None of them have received any notice of anything. Confusion reigns.

Millions of Americans Risk Having Their Power Shut Off as the Shutdown Drags On States are running out of money for annual energy-assistance payments for the lowest-income Americans — and the government can’t send out more until the shutdown ends.

We’re running out of money to help the poorest Americans keep the lights on and the heat running

If the shutdown doesn’t end soon, millions of Americans may see their electricity turned off or fuel deliveries stopped for the coldest winter months

Federal Judge Says Trump’s Shutdown Layoffs Are Likely ‘Political Retribution’ While the Trump administration argued shutdown RIFs were “morally … the right thing to do,” a federal judge disagreed, concluding they were actually “intended for the purpose of political retribution....

NEW: A federal judge again blocked the Trump admin from conducting layoffs during the shutdown

The admin said RIFs are "the democratic thing to do"

The judge disagreed: The RIFs "are intended for the purpose of political retribution"

w/ @annackramer.bsky.social
www.notus.org/courts/feder...

Federal Judge Says Trump’s Shutdown Layoffs Are Likely ‘Political Retribution’ While the Trump administration argued shutdown RIFs were “morally … the right thing to do,” a federal judge disagreed, concluding they were actually “intended for the purpose of political retribution....

NEWS: A federal judge has barred the Trump administration's mass layoff plan on a more permanent basis.

During the hearing, Trump administration attorney Michael Velchik said about the RIFs: "Morally, this is the right thing to do."

w/ @oriana.bsky.social

Republican Frustration With Kristi Noem Has Reached a Boiling Point Both publicly and privately, GOP lawmakers are frustrated with Noem’s lack of communication and new rules that are delaying critical FEMA funds.

Last week, we reported that even staunch Republicans are angry at Kristi Noem for slow-walking recovery funds.

I’m following up.

🚨If you know about a place that’s waiting on money to rebuild from a disaster, please share it with me.🚨

Signal: annakramer.54, email: annakramer@notus.com

“When the President says get somebody a permit… we’ve got a mechanism to do that.”

— Interior Sec Doug Burgum just now, describing the national energy dominance council set up by Trump and how they speed up permits for companies and industries favored by Trump

Interior Department Cuts Would Hit Major National Parks, Per New Court Filing The Interior Department’s reduction-in-force plans include hundreds of workers for the National Park Service, and employees managing oil and gas leasing in Utah.

The Interior Department plans to “imminently” fire at least 2,000 employees across the agency, including hundreds of National Park Service employees, according to a Monday legal filing.
www.notus.org/trump-white-...

Looks like the USGS environmental research centers in Missouri, North Dakota, the Great Lakes, and Colorado are all slated to lose more than half of their staff. Would devastate the research these labs do on habitats, pollution, invasive species, etc.

You can review the numbers and the filing for yourself here storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Some key numbers:
-189 people axed across three NPS regional offices that oversee parks including Acadia, Yosemite, Joshua Tree
-6 of 10 people at NPS Chesapeake Bay office
-80 out of 102 at USGS center studying invasive species, PFAS, etc
-93 from Utah BLM office (manages oil and gas)

NEWS: The Interior Department is planning on firing more than 2000 people, including hundreds at the National Park Service.

Interior gave new detailed numbers after a federal judge got very frustrated and expanded her restraining order.
www.notus.org/trump-white-...

🔔 Follow us at @notusperspectives.bsky.social to read more
www.semafor.com/article/10/1...

The Trump Administration Plans More Layoffs — But Will Spare Union Employees for Now The Trump administration revealed its plans to lay off more than 1,500 people across 68 areas at the Interior Department.

The Trump administration has angered another federal judge — this time on RIFs.

"It is not complicated. During this time, these agencies should not be doing RIFs," Judge Susan Illston said just now.

"Don't do it!" she added later, visibly frustrated.

The Trump Administration Plans More Layoffs — But Will Spare Union Employees for Now The Trump administration revealed its plans to lay off people across 68 areas at the Interior Department.

NEWS: Interior has been planning mass layoffs across 68 areas of the agency, calling them "imminent" in a new legal filing.

FYI Interior = National Park Service, BLM, Fish and Wildlife, USGS.

Russell Vought Is Targeting Billions in Funding for Programs in Democrat-Led Cities The Office of Management and Budget director said the Army Corps of Engineers is pausing and possibly canceling projects in New York, San Francisco, Boston and Baltimore.

Russ Vought said that Army Corps is going to stop working on projects in Baltimore, New York, Boston, and SF, blaming shutdown + money running out.

Worth noting that 97% of Army Corps employees are not furloughed and still getting paid bc their paychecks don't come from annual appropriations.

UPDATE: The unions suing the govt. over RIFs just added three more employee unions to the lawsuit: NFFE, SEIU, and NAGE. These unions represent people employed at Interior (which covers National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife)

ICYMI: Looks as if Interior Department is thinking about firing a bunch of people on Monday, according to a legal filing last night.

This would violate a judge’s temporary restraining order on the shutdown firings.

Republican Frustration With Kristi Noem Has Reached a Boiling Point Both publicly and privately, GOP lawmakers are frustrated with Noem’s lack of communication and new rules that are delaying critical FEMA funds.

NEW: Republicans are fed up with Kristi Noem and FEMA delays.

“You would think a former member of Congress would have more fucking respect for the institution she used to serve in,” one GOP member told us. “She’s causing a lot of problems.”

Federal Courts Are Flooded With Lawsuits Against Trump. That’s Not An Accident. The avalanche of litigation against the Trump administration is a result of months-long, and in some cases years-long, planning from different groups who worked in tandem to meet the moment.

NEW: Federal courts are flooded with lawsuits against the Trump admin — a result of legal groups’ months-long, and in some cases years-long, preparation for Trump 2.0

One lawyer said Trump’s 1st term was “dress rehearsal,” and now they know what they’re up against
www.notus.org/courts/legal...

Bessent Says U.S. Government Will ‘Set Price Floors’ Across Industries The treasury secretary made the eyebrow-raising comment during a conversation about trade and industrial policy with CNBC.

Today, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the US govt. would set “price floors” across a range of industries.

The reporter doing the interview didn’t follow up on that comment, so we don’t know anything more about what he meant.

Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump’s Shutdown Layoffs “This hatchet is falling on the heads of employees all across the nation,” U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said in a court hearing.

NEW: A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump admin's shutdown RIFs and barred officials from conducting more layoffs

"This hatchet is falling on the heads of employees all across the nation," the judge told Trump's lawyer in a hearing

w/ @annackramer.bsky.social
www.notus.org/courts/judge...

Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump’s Shutdown Layoffs “This hatchet is falling on the heads of employees all across the nation,” U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said in a court hearing.

NEWS: A federal judge just temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s mass layoffs.

Energy Department finally giving out a list of the offices getting hit with layoffs. The cuts span every office that does work on efficiency, affordability, and clean power.

No breakdown of how many people in each office. Also hearing that no one has actually been fired yet.

HHS Appears to be Cutting Its Entire Family Planning Office Almost every member of the Office of Population Affairs lost email access and is unable to tell if they were laid off, workers told NOTUS.

New: HHS appears to be cutting its entire family planning office.
www.notus.org/health-scien...

HHS Appears to be Cutting Its Entire Family Planning Office Almost every member of the Office of Population Affairs lost email access and is unable to tell if they were laid off, workers told NOTUS.

NEW: Only one employee remains in the Office of Population Affairs at HHS, which oversees family planning initiatives run by the federal government.

W/ @annackramer.bsky.social:

www.notus.org/health-scien...

HHS Appears to be Cutting Its Entire Family Planning Office Almost every member of the Office of Population Affairs lost email access and is unable to tell if they were laid off, workers told NOTUS.

Everyone in the family planning office at HHS has been locked out of their emails + computers, so they can’t confirm if they’ve been fired

It appears that the whole office — which funds the country’s repro health clinics — has been cut

w/ @margaretmanto.bsky.social

NEWS: Trump administration officials have revealed that, so far, over 4,100 federal workers have been laid off in this round of RIFs

The administration is "actively considering whether to conduct additional RIFs related to" the shutdown, per a new court filing
www.notus.org/trump-white-...

The White House is trying to blame Dems for mass firings today. But Sen. Susan Collins is not willing to go along with that talking point.

“I strongly oppose OMB Director Russ Vought’s attempt to permanently lay off federal workers who have been furloughed," she just said in a statement.

Confirmed Education and CISA at DHS as well.

DHS spox just confirmed that RIFs are happening at CISA (the cybersecurity agency).

"RIFs will be occurring at CISA. During the last administration CISA was focused on censorship, branding and electioneering. This is part of getting CISA back on mission."