Steve Pearce, who pushed 2020 election conspiracy theories and fought public lands protections, is Trump’s new pick to manage hundreds of millions of acres of federal land. He’s also 78 years old.

There is truly no better place to learn about the elections last night than our @notus.com newsletter this morning. Everything you need to know is right here 👇 www.notus.org/newsletters/...

UPDATE: Karoline Leavitt said that USDA will in fact be paying out the partial SNAP payments in compliance with the court. Trump "does not want to have to tap into this fund in the future, and that’s what he was referring to in his true social post," she said.

Baffling twist: Trump just said that SNAP "will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!" Just one hour earlier, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said SNAP guidance has been sent to states.

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.

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

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...

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

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: [email protected]

“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

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-...

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 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.

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.

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.

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.”

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...

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.

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...

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.

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

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...

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.

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."

Some details emerging on mass firings. The AFGE union said in court today that Department of Treasury is working to issue RIF notices to 1300 workers.

Russ Vought just said that firings have begun. OMB called them "substantial." Our initial story is below — but we're very short on the details. Please reach out if you hear anything, I'm on Signal at annakramer.54

OMB Director Russ Vought says that the mass firings of federal workers have begun. OMB called them "substantial" in a statement to NOTUS but gave no further information.

We’re partnering with 7 more local outlets around the country — adding Maine, Vermont, Utah, Ohio, Wisconsin, PA + Mississippi to the original six. Truly the best part about working at NOTUS!! Bringing DC news to the people who are actually shaped by it.

After analyzing hundreds of projects being canceled by the Trump admin, @annackramer.bsky.social, Manuela Silva and I found that funds for energy projects in blue states are being cut while the same work continues to be funded in red and swing states. www.notus.org/energy/trump...

Those big Trump cuts to Dem states? Well, we analyzed them and found loads of similar projects in red and swing states that got to keep their money — even though it came from Biden’s climate agenda, too.

If you know what specific projects DOE cancelled, please reach out! They still haven’t published a list. I am curious how the cancelled funds compare to the funds still available in states that voted for Trump.

DOE just said it is canceling 321 awards for 223 projects at ~ $8 billion, corresponding to the cancelled money for Dem states that Trump admin announced earlier today They managed to cut hundreds of projects for Dem states w/out cutting any for GOP.

NEWS: Government layoffs are coming in the next few days, sources tell us. Preparation is underway at the agencies, and RIFs have already started at the US Patent Office. White House is blaming Dems for the firings, even though nothing about a shutdown requires mass firings.

🚨 Hearing that RIF notices have gone out at the patent office. If you work in the federal government and you get a RIF notice along with your furlough, please let me know! I will keep you anonymous. You can reach me on Signal at annakramer.54

National Parks are staying open during the shutdown — a controversial and risky choice. Last Trump term, keeping the parks open during the shutdown ended in vandalization, Joshua Trees being cut down, and overflowing toilets.

NEWS: Interior is declining to share shutdown plans until it actually happens. This leaves open big questions, the biggest one being: What will happen with the National Parks? During Trump 1, the agency kept the parks open during the shutdown, resulting in serious damage.

I’m about to start an AMA on r/fednews! Please hit me up with questions on this crazy day — shutdown looming, possible RIFs, last day of the fiscal year chaos, I’ll be diving into all of it. www.reddit.com/r/fednews/co...

It’s a crazy day. It looks like the govt is going to shut down. And we have no idea whether Trump is serious about firing people during a shutdown. I’m going to be doing a Reddit AMA today at 1:30pm ET on r/fednews. If you have qs for me, you can submit them now! www.reddit.com/r/fednews/co...

Shutdown strategy from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, led by Secretary Scott Turner This is the first thing that comes up on their website right now hud.gov/#close

EPA shutdown plan has finally been posted. Almost 13.5k people furloughed, around 1700 will stay on. They’ve added working on the FY27 president’s budget as an excepted activity that can keep people from furlough

There's still no shutdown plan for the National Parks posted, so we don't know if they will close the parks. During first Trump term, they broke with tradition and kept the parks open during the shutdown, which resulted in serious vandalization and damage to rare and fragile ecological systems

News: OPM has determined that federal workers handling the mass firings of other govt workers should be deemed essential during a shutdown This comes after OMB directed agencies to prep for mass firings if there's a shutdown this week By @annackramer.bsky.social: www.notus.org/trump-white-...

NEWS: The Trump administration has declared that people working on RIFs are essential workers and can be asked to keep working if the government shuts down

Slipped into a 10:40pm email last night: USDA is “repurposing” $285 million to start a farmer assistance program 1 year earlier than Congress authorized. They don’t say where they are taking the money from — aka the program Congress actually wanted the $280 million to fund