Trump's cabinet ready to reassert power as Musk steps back | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
June 15, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2025
Trump's cabinet ready to reassert power as Musk steps back

World+Biz

Reuters
24 April, 2025, 10:00 am
Last modified: 24 April, 2025, 10:31 am

Related News

  • 'Drop Israel': How military escalation with Iran divides Trump's key MAGA members
  • Troops in LA can detain individuals, military official says, as protests spread
  • Musk says he regrets some posts he made about Trump
  • Trump warns protests at Army parade will be met with force
  • US Marines arrive in LA; California governor warns 'democracy under assault'

Trump's cabinet ready to reassert power as Musk steps back

Reuters
24 April, 2025, 10:00 am
Last modified: 24 April, 2025, 10:31 am
Elon Musk listens to US President Donald Trump speak in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, February 11, 2025. File Photo: REUTERS
Elon Musk listens to US President Donald Trump speak in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, February 11, 2025. File Photo: REUTERS

Members of President Donald Trump's cabinet will likely move to limit the influence of Department of Government Efficiency employees and reassert control over budgets and staffing once Elon Musk steps back from DOGE, two government sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The Department of Government Efficiency, created by executive order the day Trump took office and helmed by billionaire Musk, has spearheaded efforts to shrink the federal workforce and slash the deficit via mass firings, contract cancellations and reduced services to Americans across the federal government. 

But Musk confirmed plans on Tuesday to reduce his government time commitment to one or two days a week to focus on his battered car company Tesla raising questions about the future of the agency's work. As a special government employee, his mandate appeared due to expire at the end of May.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

The billionaire has provided the White House with political cover while DOGE pursued a cost-cutting drive that has made it deeply unpopular among career staffers. Cabinet secretaries view DOGE employees as encroaching on their traditional authority to hire and fire, and some have been reluctant to do its bidding. 

In recent weeks, tensions had escalated within the Trump administration over the authority granted to Musk. During a March cabinet meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed with Musk, accusing him of undermining USAID and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confronted Musk over proposed layoffs of air traffic controllers amid aviation safety concerns, sources familiar with the situation said.

The most significant shift will be the increased authority of the cabinet itself. Agency heads will now have the final say on which proposals move forward, solidifying their role at the center of federal efficiency and spending strategy.

The cabinet will have more autonomy and will no longer need Musk's sign-off on every decision, said one of the sources.

The shifting leadership dynamics within DOGE will also lead to a reassessment of the roles and responsibilities of young engineers initially hired by Musk to staff DOGE.

The engineers' influence may diminish, the source said, adding that they will come under increased scrutiny. The source said the qualifications and authority of the coterie of young engineers with little government experience will be questioned.

White House spokesman Harrison Fields pushed back on the idea that Musk stepping back from his role signals a shift in the direction or influence of DOGE.

"The way DOGE has been designed is that the Cabinet already has that autonomy over spending cuts. DOGE has just been an element of the agency," Fields said. "There will be no changes. DOGE is running effortlessly. In a way it's almost on cruise control, and it's working well within the federal government to execute the President's agenda," Fields said.

Many DOGE-watchers, from academics to advocates for and against his agency's work, see the budget slashing efforts continuing apace despite Musk's shift to part-time work, citing executive orders that have set the wheels in motion and Trump Cabinet officials on board with his agenda.

"A lot of what DOGE has done has been internalized by a lot of these agencies, and it's going to keep moving forward," said Nick Bednar, an associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School who has been tracking the government layoffs, and who sees government agencies as unlikely to reverse the cuts DOGE has made.

"There's a train that's left the station, it's difficult to stop," Bednar said.

'Mostly done' 

Musk, a top backer of Trump in the 2024 election and CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and executive chairman of X, is the ideological driving force behind the government overhaul. He has installed top lieutenants at key government agencies, while dispatching former staffers of X and SpaceX across a swath of federal agencies to oversee deep staff cuts.

He has had his fingerprints on a host of White House initiatives, from a federal hiring freeze, to several rounds of government-wide buyout offers, as well as a directive to agencies to craft restructuring plans to reduce their staffs. His demand that federal workers account for what they have achieved in time-consuming weekly emails was initially enforced by most cabinet secretaries but has now mostly stopped.

"The large slug of work necessary to get the DOGE team in place and working in the government to get the financial house in order is mostly done," Musk said on Tuesday.

With Musk turning to his business, DOGE will need to find another leader. One possibility is Amy Gleason, who in February the White House named as acting administrator. She said in a court filing on March 19 that Musk does not work at DOGE. Trump himself has contradicted that by saying on numerous occasions that Musk is in charge.

However, it has never been clear what his role day to day is, and that will become even more important to clarify in the lead up to his departure.

Tom Schatz, a proponent of DOGE's mission and president of the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste, said his exit could make DOGE more effective.

Musk "is a lightning rod" who "draws attention to whatever he does," he said. With Musk taking a small role, "it will be... maybe more effective because of less attention played to him."

Top News

Trump / Musk

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Representational image. File photo: TBS
    Chattogram Port proposes 70%-100% tariff hike
  • Benjamin Netanyahu in a video-message on 14 June. Photo: Collected
    Israel says attacks on Iran are nothing compared with what is coming
  • Police stand at a crime scene as they searched for a suspect posing as a police officer who shot two Democratic state lawmakers and their spouses in their homes, in the Minneapolis suburb of Champlin, Minnesota, U.S. June 14, 2025 in a still image from video. ABC Affiliate KTSP via REUTERS
    Manhunt underway after Minnesota lawmaker, her husband killed in 'politically motivated' attack

MOST VIEWED

  • Energy adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan with other government officials during a visit to Sylhet gas field on 13 June 2025. Photo: TBS
    I would disconnect gas supply to every home in Dhaka if I could: Energy adviser
  • Infographic: TBS
    Govt plans incentives for Bangladeshis bringing in foreign investment
  • Tour operator Borsha Islam. Photo: Collected
    ‘Tour Expert’ admin Borsha Islam arrested over Bandarban tourist deaths
  • BNP Acting Chairperson Tarique Rahman and Chief Adviser  Muhammad Yunus meet at Dorchester Hotel in London, UK on 13 June 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    National polls possible in 2nd week of February, agree Yunus, Tarique in 'historic' London meeting
  • Infographics: TBS
    220MW solar power plant planned in Feni
  • Rescuers work at the scene of a damaged building in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
    Tehran retaliates with 100 drones after Israel strikes Iran's nuclear facilities, kills military leaders

Related News

  • 'Drop Israel': How military escalation with Iran divides Trump's key MAGA members
  • Troops in LA can detain individuals, military official says, as protests spread
  • Musk says he regrets some posts he made about Trump
  • Trump warns protests at Army parade will be met with force
  • US Marines arrive in LA; California governor warns 'democracy under assault'

Features

Photos: Collected

Kurtis that make a great office wear

1d | Mode
Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

3d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

4d | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

5d | Features

More Videos from TBS

Which major powers align with whom in the Israel-Iran conflict?

Which major powers align with whom in the Israel-Iran conflict?

1h | Podcast
Israeli attack: Will Iran be inclined to develop nuclear weapons?

Israeli attack: Will Iran be inclined to develop nuclear weapons?

1h | Others
Why Did Israel Use Hellfire Missiles in the Iran Attack?

Why Did Israel Use Hellfire Missiles in the Iran Attack?

2h | Others
Beach Sand Tragedy: Negligence or Natural Disaster?

Beach Sand Tragedy: Negligence or Natural Disaster?

3h | TBS Stories
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net