Trump backs DOGE as protests against the department escalate, the administration challenges a ban on federal worker competency tests, and Congress races against the clock on a new bill to avert a government shutdown. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.Lumen: Head to http://lumen.me/WIRE for 20% off your purchase.Shopify: Go to https://Shopify.com/morningwire to sign up for your $1 per month trial period and upgrade your selling today.
Chapter 1: What stance does Trump take on Doge and Tesla?
Protesters target Doge and Tesla, but Trump makes clear he stands behind Musk in his efforts to slash government spending.
I mean, the money they're spending on all of this stuff, the whole thing's a scam.
How do Americans feel about Musk and Doge?
I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, March 10th, and this is Morning Wire. Should federal employees have to pass a competency test to be hired? The Trump administration thinks so, but a decades-old law stands in the way. We have the Daily Wire exclusive.
And Trump calls on Republicans to back a government funding bill that would give him time to put the country's financial house in order.
We have to bring down the federal deficit and control the federal debt.
Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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Chapter 2: Why is federal worker competency testing controversial?
So it sounds like a good deal of solidarity between Trump and Musk at this point. Yeah. Now, all of this has led, though, to protests at Tesla facilities.
Where are we seeing those? So they're calling these Tesla takedown protests. And I'd say that none have been particularly large. You're mostly hearing about gatherings of hundreds, but they are actually happening all across the country and they're getting substantial media attention. Now, part of that is because some pretty high profile people are participating in these rallies.
Like on Friday, former head of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins, led a protest song at the Lincoln Memorial over potential research cuts.
This is a song for all the good people We're joined together by this noble dream
Okay, so that's not something that you see every day. But as for the less famous protesters, the GOP says that many of them are actually being paid by power brokers like George Soros and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. And they say that Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue is also playing a role in funding some of these groups.
Unfortunately, other protests are making news because they're going far beyond peaceful singing or carrying signs. We're now seeing protesters attacking Tesla dealerships, manufacturing facilities, and even charging stations with Molotov cocktails, gunfire, arson, things of that nature. Just a sampling here.
Over the weekend, someone shot up a Tesla dealership in Portland, Oregon, damaging cars and shattering windows. In Massachusetts, arsonists set a number of Tesla charging stations on fire. But we do want to note that for all of those protests, the latest polling says that the majority of Americans do back Doge.
asked how much influence Musk and Doge should have on government spending, 54% said some or a lot, compared to 46% who said only a little or none. A narrow majority, 51%, also said that they want to see that federal workforce reduced.
Well, let's see if he can hold on to that majority. Megan, thanks for reporting. Anytime.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of Trump's government funding bill?
The Trump administration will argue that it, quote, blatantly conflicts with current law and requires the federal government to make hiring decisions using explicit racial classifications.
It says it amounts to one court using a nearly half-century-old agreement to block the president from using measures that any large-scale employer would use to shape his workforce, and that the OPM must be relieved of the Luivano consent decree to return common sense to federal hiring. This is a big deal because Trump could basically turn federal employees into an elite group.
An exam could turn up the best and brightest who were evaluated objectively and hired based on merit.
All right, so you're saying the lines might move a little more quickly next time I go to the post office. We can hope. Could this prove to be a lasting change?
Yeah, this is one of these things that could be a legacy for Trump. In many ways, it's a big surprise that this decree is still standing so many years later, especially because blacks aren't actually underrepresented in the federal government. They're actually overrepresented by 50%. Even if we weren't in a post-DEI, post-affirmative action world, this consent decree was legally hard to justify.
Well, this will definitely be one to watch as Trump seeks to get control of the federal workforce. Luke, thanks so much for bringing us this exclusive. Thank you.
With yet another government shutdown deadline looming this week, Speaker Johnson proposed a seven-month funding patch Saturday in coordination with the Trump administration. The Trump-backed stopgap bill would keep the government funded through the end of September.
Joining us now is Representative Andy Harris of Maryland. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. Sure. So Speaker Johnson has proposed this stopgap bill, which he released this Saturday. What's in the bill and does it have support in the House?
Well, what the bill does is essentially freezes spending for the rest of the year. In fact, it actually lowers it a little bit. It makes some upgrades to the defense appropriations. So what we call stops and starts, stops some programs that are unnecessary, starts others. Provides a little extra money for the deportation of the illegal alien criminals that's underway.
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