DOGE Dismantling of USAID Likely Unconstitutional, Judge Rules

Reuters
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Happy Tuesday!

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a lengthy call today during which they agreed to pause strikes against energy and infrastructure targets and said they would hold further negotiations, according to the White House. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he supports the partial ceasefire.

On the home front, Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare public statement pushing back on Trump's call for the impeachment of a federal judge who ordered a halt to the deportation of more than 200 migrants. "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," Roberts said in his statement. "The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."

Also today, the 2025 Major League Baseball season started today the same way the 2024 season ended: with a win by the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers.

Here's what else you need to know.

Judge Rules DOGE's Dismantling of USAID Likely Unconstitutional

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development "likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways."

In a 68-page ruling, Judge Theodore D. Chuang of the U.S. District Court in Maryland ordered Elon Musk's DOGE Service to restore email, payment and other systems for USAID employees and contractors - and to demonstrate its compliance within seven days.

The ruling, in a in a lawsuit filed by 26 USAID current or recently fired employees and contractors, also blocks DOGE from taking "any actions" at USAID - including firing employees or placing them on leave, closing buildings or terminating contracts - without the permission of an official with legal authority at the agency.

Chuang also ruled that Musk has demonstrated "firm control over DOGE" and has likely functioned as its administrator, exercising enough authority to require that he be confirmed to his position by the Senate under the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.

"[T]he record of his activities to date establishes that his role has been and will continue to be as the leader of DOGE, with the same duties and degree of continuity as if he was formally in that position,'" Chuang wrote.

The White House reportedly called the ruling a "miscarriage of justice" and argued that "rogue judges" are subverting the will of the American public by blocking the Trump agenda. It said the administration would appeal.

"Today's decision is an important victory against Elon Musk and his DOGE attack on USAID, the United States' government, and the Constitution," said Norm Eisen, executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund, a group backing the legal challenge. "They are performing surgery with a chainsaw instead of a scalpel, harming not just the people USAID serves but also the majority of Americans who count on the stability of our government. This case is a milestone in pushing back on Musk and DOGE's illegality."

Separately, another federal judge said late Monday that probationary workers fired by the administration must be returned to their jobs and cannot just be placed on administrative leave en masse, as many departments reportedly have been doing.

Quote of the Day

"Yes, yes I do."

− House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, when asked Tuesday if he supports Sen. Chuck Schumer staying Senate Democratic leader. Jeffries last week notably refused to say he had confidence in Schumer's leadership, responding only with a brusque, "Next question."

The two Democratic leaders met in Brooklyn on Sunday and issued a joint statement Tuesday morning touting a Democratic "National Day of Action to Protect Medicaid."

Jeffries told reporters today that he and House Democrats stand by their decision to oppose the Republican spending bill that Schumer later helped pass by breaking a filibuster. The House minority leader also said he and Schumer had a "good conversation" Sunday about their path forward and making sure that Democrats "all speak with one voice" in efforts to stop steep Medicaid cuts likely to be required as part of Republicans' budget plan. (Republicans insist they are targeting waste, fraud and abuse, not benefit reductions.)

In an appearance on ABC's "The View," Schumer again defended his decision on the funding bill and his relationship with Jeffries. "I'll tell you one thing: We are totally united in one thing - many things - but one thing above all. We are united in going after Trump and showing the American people that he is making the middle class pay for the tax cuts on the rich," Schumer said.

IRS Has Spent Just $9 Billion of Its Biden-Era Funding Boost: Report

Three years ago, Congress provided the IRS with billions in extra funding to revitalize the agency, but that vast majority of that money has either been rescinded or gone unspent, according to a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, known as TIGTA.

The Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022 included $79.4 billion in supplemental funding for the IRS budget over a decade - money that was intended to boost staffing by as much as 87,000 following a decade of decline, improve taxpayer service, modernize technology and foster a renewed focus on making corporations and high-income tax cheats pay what they owe.

Republican lawmakers pushed back against that effort from the start and won a $21.6 billion recission as part of a deal to raise the federal debt limit, reducing funding to $57.8 billion, available through September 30, 2031. Another $20.2 billion in funding slated for enforcement was frozen as part of the government funding deal for the current fiscal year, leaving $37.6 billion, or a bit less than half of the original amount, although the fate of that frozen sum is not yet certain.

According to the TIGTA report, the IRS has spent just $9 billion of the funds Congress has made available. The chart below shows the areas in which the money has been spent. The largest amount - $4 billion - has been spent on operations support, although that number represents just 15.8% of the total Congress made available in that area. The second largest allocation area, enforcement, has seen $1.6 billion in spending - just 6.7% of the $24 billion Congress has provided, and just 3.4% of the $46 billion provided in the initial allocation.

As the report notes, not all of the $9 billion in extra funding has been used to boost the agency, as intended. Instead, some of the supplemental funds have been used for general operating expenses rather than new projects and enhancements, mainly because Congress froze appropriations at 2023 levels in 2024, failing to keep pace with inflation.

The bottom line: At its current pace, the IRS will not spend all of its funding boost by 2031, even as the future of that funding stream is threatened by Republican lawmakers seeking to reduce or eliminate it entirely. With the IRS estimating that a sustained period of investment could produce more than $850 billion in extra revenue over the next decade, that could be bad news for the budget deficit and national debt.

Number of the Day: 3.6 Million

Just over 3.6 million babies were born in the United States last year, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number, cited by the Associated Press, represents an increase of just over 22,000 compared with the newly released final tally for 2023: 3,596,017.

The 2024 uptick runs counter to the longer-run trend that has seen U.S. births and birth rates falling. The 2023 total was the lowest since 1979.

"I'd be hesitant to read much into the 2023-24 increase, and certainly not as an indication of a reversal of the trend towards lower or declining U.S. fertility," Hans-Peter Kohler, a University of Pennsylvania sociologist, told the AP.

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