#Trump’s EO also revokes a #Biden admin order from 2021 designed to promote #access to voting.

The admin is calling it “the farthest-reaching executive action taken in the history of the Republic to secure our elections.”

After signing, Trump said more #election actions would be taken in the coming weeks.

#DOGE has sought access to a powerful database of nearly all US workers’ earnings kept by the #health dept’s #ChildSupport office, setting off another disagreement w/career staff over demands for legally #protected records, acc/to 4 people familiar w/the matter.

Over the last several weeks, #billionaire #ElonMusk’s team has clashed w/ #CivilServants over attempts to #access privileged #information or systems kept by the #Treasury Dept, #IRS & #SocialSecurity, among other agencies.

#Congress created the '#Broadband #Equity, #Access & Deployment Program' in 2021 to extend broadband to the most remote areas of the nation. The #Commerce Dept came up w/standards & rules for states & territories applying for the funds—including the preference for fiber-optic broadband, to provide fast #internet speeds.

#Musk, #Trump’s adviser & #DOGE leader, is chief exec of #SpaceX, the rocket co that makes #Starlink. Starlink uses low-altitude #satellites to beam internet service to dishes…

#Musk & his advisers — including Steve Davis, a cost cutter who worked w/him at X & other companies — did not want to create a commission, as past budget hawks had done. They wanted direct, insider #access to government systems. They realized they could use the #USDS office, whose staff had been focused on helping agencies fix #technology problems, to quickly penetrate the #FederalGovernment — & then decipher how to break it apart.

Wouldn’t it be great, #Musk offered, if he had #access to the #computers of the #FederalGovernment?

Just give him the passwords, he said jocularly, & he would make the govt fit & trim.

What started as musings at a dinner party evolved into a #radical takeover of the #FederalBureaucracy. It was driven with a frenetic focus by Musk, who channeled his #libertarian impulses & resentment of #regulatory #oversight of his vast #business holdings into a singular position of #influence.

The WH said it was a privilege, not a right, to have such #access, & that it wanted to open space for “new media” outlets, including those that just so happen to support #Trump.

But after the WH’s decision to bar the venerable AP as punishment for its coverage, the message is clear: Any #journalist can be expelled from the #press pool at any time for any reason. There are worse penalties, as Ms. Tregubova would later discover, but…her eviction was an early step down a very slippery slope.

Neither Bates nor the plaintiffs specified which particular #DOGE members will testify. The #Trump admin will select by them , but they must be knowledgeable about the data #security & #access at issue.

The only insight about DOGE’s ops inside US #FederalAgencies have come from carefully crafted statements filed in court by DOGE allies across the govt, & a few ofcls who work w/them. Bates pointed to those statements as a reason for the depositions.

The association said that it had been given no warning of Leavitt’s announcement & that there had been no prior discussions about it with the White House. “The WHCA will never stop advocating for comprehensive #access, full #transparency & the right of the American public to read, listen to & watch reports from the White House, delivered without fear or favor,” Eugene Daniels, the president of the association, wrote.

Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said buffer zones are necessary to ensure safe #access to #health-care centers.

“No #patient should have to encounter #threats, #intimidation, & #attacks while seeking #healthcare — & no #medical provider or health center staff should be threatened because of their work to deliver #abortion care to patients in need….Buffer zones & bubble zones help to create a safer environment for patients, providers, & staff.”

In the coming weeks, the docs show, #DOGE has planned for the #Trump admin to trim staff from dozens of offices across the executive branch, including those that protect employees’ #CivilRights & others that investigate complaints of employment #discrimination in the federal workplace. Among the groups targeted are a #VeteransAffairs office that works to ensure all #veterans receive #equal #access to care & an office within #HHS that provides info about the #health of minority populations.

#GaryPeters doesn’t have plans for after he leaves the #Senate, but a teaching job in academia or #policy work at a think tank fit his interests. He wants to continue to play a role in developing public policy, he said, particularly around ensuring #equitable #access to changes in #technology like #ArtificialIntelligence.