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The administration of the United States President, Donald Trump, on Wednesday ordered federal agencies to undertake more large-scale layoffs of workers.

This is as Trump’s adviser, Elon Musk, takes a star role at his first cabinet meeting and discusses his ambitious budget-cutting targets.

A new memo ordered agencies to submit plans by March 13 for a significant reduction in staffing to a federal workforce already reeling from waves of layoffs and program cuts by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE.

The memo represents a major escalation in Trump and Musk’s campaign to slash the size of the US government.

So far, the layoffs have focused on probationary workers, who have less tenure in their current roles and enjoy fewer job protections.

Trump, at the cabinet meeting, said the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Lee Zeldin, plans to cut up to 65% of his more than 15,000 employees.

Recall that on Tuesday, an Interior Department said that bureaus such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have been ordered to prepare for workforce reductions as high as 40%.

Some 100,000 of the nation’s 2.3 million civilian federal workers have been fired or taken buyouts.

The president offered Musk an extraordinary sign of support by inviting the billionaire to tout his work to the presidential cabinet, some of whom had pushed back on his recent demand that all of their employees justify their work or face termination.