Here are four updates to know:
1. The FDA plans to rehire about 300 employees who were recently fired, Reuters reported Feb. 22, citing anonymous sources. At least 11 employees from the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, which focuses on medical device reviews, were notified they could return to work on Feb. 24.
The White House recently fired more than 1,000 FDA staff members, the administration confirmed to Reuters.
2. President Donald Trump’s administration also restored funding for the World Trade Center Health Program, The Hill reported Feb. 21. The program provides treatment and medical monitoring to more than 100,000 survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The funding reversal follows cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency, which had aimed to reduce government spending and streamline the federal workforce. Around 20% of the program’s staff were fired, The Hill reported.
3. On Feb. 22, federal employees received an email from the Office of Personnel Management that instructed them to list five accomplishments from the last week. Failure to respond could result in job loss, CBS News reported Feb. 24.
The email subject line said “What did you do last week?” and required the five accomplishments to be listed while excluding classified information. It also asked that supervisors be included in the response. The initial deadline to respond was midnight Feb. 24, but Elon Musk, director of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, gave federal workers a second opportunity to respond in a Feb. 24 X post with no specific deadline listed.
“Subject to the discretion of the President [Trump], they [federal workers] will be given another chance,” Mr. Musk said. “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”
4. The email comes after President Trump said Feb. 22 that around 75,000 federal workers have accepted his federal buyout plan. He also signed an executive order in January that ended federal worker remote work.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Feb. 25 at 10:29 a.m. CT.
