A 25-Year-Old With Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System  —  The Bureau of the Fiscal Service is a sleepy part of the Treasury Department.  It's also where, sources say, a 25-year-old engineer tied to Elon Musk has admin privileges over the code that controls Social Security payments, tax returns, and more.

White House preparing executive order to abolish the Department of Education  —  The planned order follows years of campaign promises from President Donald Trump to abolish the federal Education Department.  —  The White House is preparing an executive order to eliminate the Department of Education …

FBI turns over names of 5,000 employees who worked on January 6 cases to Trump Justice Department, as agents sue  —  FBI officials have complied with demands to provide the Justice Department with a list of thousands of employees who worked on investigations related to the January 6, 2021 …

About 20,000 federal workers took “buyout” so far, official says  —  About 20,000 federal workers have accepted the “buyout” offer put forward by the Trump administration last week, a senior administration official tells Axios. … - The offer is open through Thursday, meaning the total could rise …

RFK Jr. closes in on HHS cabinet post after Senate panel vote  —  Robert F. Kennedy Jr., once seen as a longshot to serve as America's top health official, is now set to head to the Senate floor for a confirmation vote.  —  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now one step closer to running …

NFL to remove ‘End Racism’ messaging in end zone ahead of Super Bowl: Sources  —  NEW ORLEANS — At his annual news conference Monday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell expressed strong support for the league's policies designed to promote diversity at the club-employment level and indicated that those endeavors will continue.

China counters with tariffs on US products.  It will also investigate Google  —  China countered President Donald Trump's across-the-board tariffs on Chinese products with tariffs on select U.S. imports Tuesday, as well as announcing an antitrust investigation into Google and other trade measures.

Republican Senators Say They're Fine Handing Their Power to Elon Musk  —  Musk's actions may be unconstitutional but “nobody should bellyache about that,” Sen. Thom Tillis said.  — Copy  —  Tech billionaire Elon Musk is working to shut down government agencies and cancel congressionally approved funding …

‘Things Are Going to Get Intense:’ How a Musk Ally Plans to Push AI on the Government  —  Thomas Shedd, a Musk-associate and now head of the General Services Administration's Technology Transformation Services (TTS), told government tech workers in a meeting this week that the administration plans …

‘Beyond betrayal.’ Venezuelans in Florida are angry at Trump immigration policy  —  MIAMI — Venezuelan migrants in South Florida say they feel betrayed by a Trump administration decision to end legal protections for hundreds of thousands of people who fled dictatorships and sought refuge in the U.S.

Negotiations stall ahead of shutdown deadline as Democrats slam Trump for subverting spending laws  —  Democrats are eying the March 14 deadline to push back on Trump's recent unilateral actions, saying he needs to follow the law on government funding.  —  WASHINGTON — Government funding negotiations …

Ocasio-Cortez: Musk ‘one of the most unintelligent billionaires I have ever met’  —  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) slammed tech billionaire and “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) head Elon Musk as “one of the most unintelligent billionaires that I have ever met.”

Proud Boys Lose Control of Their Name to a Black Church They Vandalized  —  A judge awarded the trademarked name and symbols to a Washington church to help satisfy a $2.8 million judgment against the far-right group.  —  The Proud Boys no longer have control over their own name.

Waffle House is placing a surcharge on every egg it sells  —  New York CNN —  The soaring price of eggs has forced Waffle House to add a temporary surcharge on customers' orders.  —  The Georgia-based chain is adding a 50-cent charge per egg because of the “nationwide rise in cost of eggs …

U.S. Begins Migrant Flights to Guantanamo Bay  —  The Trump administration has said it would expand operations at the American naval base in Cuba to hold up to 30,000 immigrants  —  WASHINGTON—The first flights carrying detained migrants from the U.S. to Guantanamo Bay have headed …

EPA spending freeze continues despite court orders  —  Two judges have ordered the administration to lift the freeze.  But nonprofits and states still can't get money for contracts backed by the Inflation Reduction Act.  —  The Trump administration is still freezing many climate …

Scoop: Senate Dems plot USAID revenge on Trump … - Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told Axios on Tuesday that he's willing to place holds on Trump nominees on the Senate Judiciary Committee.  — Blumenthal said the caucus is proceeding as if there is a blanket hold on Trump nominations.

Trump administration adds fine print to ‘Fork’ resignation offer, deepening confusion  —  It's been a week since nearly all 2.3 million civilian employees of the federal government were presented with an offer: Agree to resign from your job by Feb. 6 and keep your pay and benefits through the end of September.

State audit finds overall unnecessary spending under former UF President Ben Sasse  —  Sasse's expenditures included more than $300,000 in private jet flights  —  A preliminary report from the Florida Auditor General found UF failed to prevent former President Ben Sasse from leveraging …

Half of Wisconsin Head Start programs can't access needed funds after federal freeze  —  One Head Start center in Waukesha closed last week, leaving more than 250 families without child care  —  One week after the Trump administration ordered a pause on federal grants and loans …

Waffle House adding surcharge for every egg ordered  —  (NEXSTAR) - Waffle House restaurants across the nation will be adding a 50 cent surcharge to every egg ordered amid soaring prices due to inflation and the bird flu epidemic.  —  The surcharge took effect Monday, according to a Waffle House memo shared with Nexstar.