The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will close several more offices within its agency as part of President Donald Trump’s ongoing efforts to downsize the government, the acting administrator Janet Petro informed employees in a memo Monday.

Petro said the ‘phased reduction in force’ is ‘occurring in advance’ of this week’s deadline for federal agencies to inform the government of their layoff plans. 

‘While this will mean making difficult adjustments, we’re viewing this as an opportunity to reshape our workforce, ensuring we are doing what is statutorily required of us, while also providing American citizens with an efficient and effective agency,’ Petro wrote.

NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy; the Office of the Chief Scientist; and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility branch in the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity will be shuttered, in compliance with Trump’s executive order, ‘Implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency Workforce Optimization Initiative.’

Fox News Digital reached out to NASA to find out how many employees will be impacted by the office closures.

Agencies are required by Thursday to report to the Office of Personnel Management about their plans to downsize their workforce, as announced last month by Trump and Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

With hundreds left dead over the weekend under Syria’s new regime, Greek Foreign Minister Giorigios Gerapetritis warned Europe and the U.S. to ‘keep a close eye’ on the ruling Islamist group that is working to gain acceptance by the West. 

Syria contains a sizable population of Orthodox Christians, and Gerapetritis insisted the international community demand religious minorities be included in governance, or else leave sanctions in place. 

‘All ethnic and religious minorities should be included in the governance, rule of law,’ he told Fox News Digital in an interview conducted last week prior to the weekend’s violence.

‘The release of sanctions should take place mostly on a gradual basis. We need to see how it goes,’ he went on, adding that any lifting of sanctions should be ‘reversible.’ 

‘It is of the utmost importance that the U.S. and Europe are keeping a close eye on Syria. We need to encourage the new regime to stay close to international law.’ 

Days of clashes between those affiliated with Syria’s new governing force HTS and those loyal to ousted leader Bashar al-Assad have left hundreds of civilians dead. 

Death toll estimates have varied. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday more than 1,000 people had been killed, including 700 civilians. Another monitoring group, the Syrian Network for Human Rights, reported that government forces had killed 327 civilians and captured militants and Assad loyalists had killed 148. 

It was the bloodiest internal clash since Assad was ousted in early December.

Fighting began Thursday after Assad loyalists ambushed government forces in the Latakia province, and revenge killings left entire families, mostly of the Alawite sect of Islam, dead in their wake, according to the United Nations. 

‘We are receiving extremely disturbing reports of entire families, including women, children and hors de combat [surrendered] fighters, being killed,’ U.N. human rights commissioner Volker Türk said in a statement. ‘The killing of civilians in coastal areas in north-west Syria must cease, immediately.’

 Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said the fighting was part of ‘expected challenges’ and called for national unity. 

‘We have to preserve national unity and domestic peace; we can live together,’ he said. 

Russia and the U.S. asked the U.N. Security Council to meet privately on Monday to discuss the violence in Syria. 

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham was founded as an al Qaeda offshoot but broke away from the group in 2016. In December, the Biden administration lifted a $10 million bounty on the head of al-Sharaa. 

The group has been trying to shake its extremist reputation and terrorist designation, with a smooth-talking al-Sharaa claiming he does not want Syria to become the next Afghanistan and he believes in education for women.

Gerapetritis also expressed ‘concern’ about Turkey’s Blue Homeland Doctrine, which has prompted incursions into Greek waters. The expression refers to Turkey’s maritime claims over large portions of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, in large part spurred by large deposits of natural gas off the coast of Cyprus. 

‘We are concerned, you know, the Blue Homeland doctrine is a doctrine that goes against international law,’ he said. ‘Greece has abided by international law, especially international law of the seas.’

Geraptetritis said relations between Greece and Turkey had improved in recent years – Turkish incursions of Greek airspace had ‘minimized’ and the two countries had coordinated on tackling illegal immigration. 

‘There must be a major step concerning the limitation of maritime zones. We’re not still there,’ he said. 

Greece and Turkey, both members of NATO, have had tensions for decades, though relations have improved in recent years. 

‘I have to emphasize the fact that Greece is a pillar of stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the broader region.’

The foreign minister also boasted of Greece’s growing relationship with India, and views his nation as a gateway for India’s planned Middle East-Europe corridor. 

He framed it as a way to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative, where the CCP seeks access and influence across the globe by financing development and trade projects. 

‘This major, plan is, I think, an excellent project,’ said Gerapetritis. ‘In order to diversify the routes concerning transport, concerning data, concerning energy. We are very like-minded with the United States when it comes to foreign and security policy.’

China had swept in to help Greece financially during its public debt crisis, with Chinese companies investing billions in the nation at a time when most investors were spooked by its debt defaults. Now, Greece appears to be pulling away from that influence. 

‘It is our firm conviction that we need to develop alternative cooperation and alternative trade routes [to China].’

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., met with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) employees on Friday who were fired as a result of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) federal workforce reductions. 

CFPB has provided over $21 billion in consumer relief, according to the agency’s latest data from Dec. 3. 2024. Kaine accused Musk of targeting the CFPB with DOGE cuts for his own gain. 

‘The fact that the Trump administration would target these guys at the front end of a chainsaw massacre… Why are you going after these consumer protection advocates? It smells really bad. I mean, it makes it seem like it happened because Musk has some particular interest in gutting these regulators who are protecting everyday folks.’

In an interview with Fox News Digital following his meeting with former CFPB employees, Kaine said the CFPB saved ‘tens of thousands of Virginians’ from unfair or abusive financial practices. 

‘These folks are doing great work,’ Kaine said. ‘This is an agency that returned $21 billion to consumers who got ripped off. I know the Virginia statistics. It’s tens of thousands of Virginians who got relief because of the work that these folks did.’

Virginia has the second-highest number of federal civilian employees in the United States, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Kaine has been a vocal opponent of DOGE’s federal workforce cuts, holding town hall meetings to address concerns from his constituents. 

Kaine said Musk and DOGE are ‘hurting people to help themselves’ by promoting a government that yields a ‘huge giveaway to Elon Musk and people just like him.’

‘There’s just too much bubbling up about Musk trying to get a contract here with the Department of State, trying to displace a contract at the DoD, and maybe steer it toward either his own companies or companies that he’s close to. When you allow an unelected guy to just come with the chainsaw and have access to people’s… and look, they’ve released data that they shouldn’t release: sensitive data, classified data, names of people who did not authorize them to put their data out to the world. They’re engaging in behavior that’s hurting people… why? I think they’re hurting people to help themselves,’ Kaine said. 

Regarding the ongoing federal workforce firings, Kaine said: ‘They ain’t using a hatchet. They’re using a chainsaw.’ Kaine said Trump is relying on executive actions to dismantle government agencies because even congressional Republicans wouldn’t ‘go along with this stuff that he’s doing.’

‘He is not confident he could get even Republican majorities to go along with this stuff. He’s going to do what he can, because even these Republican majorities that seem completely cowed and submissive, with no backbone and no willingness to exercise a vocal cord that they have, he doesn’t think they will go along with this stuff that he’s doing,’ Kaine said. 

The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by the deadline of this article. 

Joe Valenti, a former CFPB term worker who met with Kaine on Friday, told Fox News Digital he was locked out of the CFPB office last month, received a stop-work order and then a termination letter with no severance. 

Valenti said consumer finance laws are ‘not necessarily being enforced’ by halting CFPB operations. 

‘The federal government is abdicating from its role in protecting working people from financial harms and that affects low-income constituents, like the people who I served at CFPB. It affects service members, affects veterans, seniors. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act is one of the laws that CFPB would oversee and enforce. That goes back to World War I. If you don’t have a cop at the beat at all, what’s going on in the markets and what does it mean for people who are affected by market abuses?’ Valenti said. 

CPFB is one of several agencies that has been impacted by DOGE’s federal workforce reductions. Elon Musk posted on X on Feb. 7, ‘CFPB RIP,’ followed by a gravestone emoji. 

President Donald Trump has touted CFPB cuts, telling the Future Investment Initiative Institute Priority Summit on Feb. 19 that his administration ‘virtually shut down’ CFPB. 

‘We virtually shut down the out-of-control CFPB, escorting radical-left bureaucrats out of the building and locking the doors behind them. What they were doing was so terrible. Where they were spending the money was so terrible,’ Trump said. 

Trump confirmed to reporters in the Oval Office on Feb. 10 his plan to have the agency ‘totally eliminated.’ Trump said the CFPB was a ‘waste’ used ‘to destroy some very good people’ and it was a ‘very important thing to get rid of.’ 

A complaint filed last month by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) accuses Russell Vought, CFPB acting director and director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), of ‘preparing to conduct another mass firing, this time of over 95% of the Bureau’s employees.’

Vought ordered CFPB employees to halt agency operations unless otherwise approved on Feb. 10. Seventy-three newly hired ‘probationary employees’ and 70 to 100 ‘term employees’ were subsequently fired while around 200 contracts were canceled, according to the lawsuit and media reports. 

Three CFPB leaders were placed on administrative leave in early February, Fox News Digital confirmed. An agency spokesperson said CFPB’s chief legal officer, Mark Paoletta, placed Lorelei Salas, the CFPB’s supervision director, and Eric Halperin, the agency’s enforcement chief, and Zixta Martinez, the agency’s deputy director, on administrative leave.

There have been protests outside the CFPB headquarters in Washington since the firings, featuring Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, who initially proposed the agency. 

CFPB is an independent government agency intended to protect consumers from unfair financial practices in the private sector. It was created by President Barack Obama’s administration in 2010 following the Great Recession of 2008. 

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Democrats are accusing Republicans of trying to gut federal health care programs with their plan to avert a partial government shutdown.

The bill, a rough extension of current federal funding levels called a continuing resolution (CR), is expected to get a House-wide vote on Tuesday. It will need to pass the Senate and be signed by President Donald Trump by the end of Friday, March 14 to avoid federal programs getting shuttered and tens of thousands of employees furloughed.

Trump has called on all Republican lawmakers to support the bill.

Democrats, however, have unleashed a staunch opposition campaign against the legislation. It is a stark departure from political tradition that normally sees liberal lawmakers vote by the dozens to avoid a government shutdown.

Democratic leaders have in particular accused Republicans of trying to harm funds for Medicare and Medicaid with the bill – something the GOP has denied.

‘The partisan House Republican funding bill recklessly cuts healthcare, nutritional assistance and $23 billion in veterans benefits. Equally troublesome, the legislation does nothing to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, while exposing the American people to further pain throughout this fiscal year. We are voting No,’ read a joint statement by House Democratic leaders released on Saturday night.

The trio of leaders – House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif, – sent a letter to lawmakers bashing the CR on Friday, before the text was released.

‘House Democrats would enthusiastically support a bill that protects Social Security, Medicare, veterans health and Medicaid, but Republicans have chosen to put them on the chopping block to pay for billionaire tax cuts,’ they wrote.

‘We cannot back a measure that rips away life-sustaining healthcare and retirement benefits from everyday Americans as part of the Republican scheme to pay for massive tax cuts for their wealthy donors like Elon Musk. Medicaid is our red line.’

A senior House GOP aide accused House Democrats of ‘intentionally misleading the American people.’

‘Their pre-baked statements are disingenuous,’ the senior aide told Fox News Digital. ‘The Democrats came out against the bill before there was even text.’

Trump, for his part, has said multiple times that he does not want Congress touching Medicaid but has left the door open to cutting ‘waste, fraud and abuse,’ a line that has been repeated by Republican lawmakers.

It is worth noting that yearly congressional appropriations, which are covered by the CR, largely do not touch mandatory government expenditures like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Those programs need to be altered in the federal budget – which Republicans are also working on right now via the reconciliation process.

However, the legislation does not address expected payment cuts coming to doctors who treat Medicare patients, a facet that’s given some interest groups like the American Medical Association (AMA) pause.

‘Physicians across the country are outraged that Congress’s proposed spending package locks in a devastating fifth consecutive year of Medicare cuts, threatening access to care for 66 million Medicare patients,’ AMA Chair Bruce A. Scott said on the group’s website.

It is possible the bill will still get some Democratic votes, likely from lawmakers in competitive districts wary of being blamed for a government shutdown. Republicans will need to shoulder the burden largely themselves, however, in Monday evening’s expected vote to advance the bill through the House Rules Committee.

If it passes, then the bill will have to see a House-wide procedural vote known as a ‘rule vote,’ which generally falls along partisan lines.

The final House vote on the bill is expected sometime Tuesday afternoon.

The 99-page legislation released over the weekend largely keeps government spending flat at fiscal year (FY) 2024 levels until the beginning of FY 2026 on Oct. 1.

The bill allocates an additional $8 billion in defense spending to mitigate national security hawks’ concerns, while non-defense spending that Congress annually appropriates would decrease by about $13 billion.

There are also some added funds to help facilitate Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operations.

Cuts to non-defense discretionary spending would be found by eliminating some ‘side deals’ made during FRA negotiations, House GOP leadership aides said. Lawmakers would also not be given an opportunity to request funding for special pet projects in their districts known as earmarks, another area that Republicans are classifying as savings.

It allows Republican leaders to claim a win on no meaningful government spending increases over FY 2025. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that 83% of USAID programs will be canceled following the conclusion of a six-week review by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

In total, 5,200 contracts are being terminated, Rubio wrote in his early Monday morning post on X announcing the new reforms. He said the canceled contracts amounted to ‘tens of billions of dollars’ being spent ‘in ways that did not serve,’ or even harmed, the national interests of the U.S.

Rubio added that the remaining 18% of USAID programs—approximately 1,000—will now be managed by the State Department. The move to transfer that authority, he said, was made in consultation with Congress. 

In his Monday morning post, Rubio also thanked DOGE and its ‘hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform.’ Musk responded to the post, adding ‘good working with you,’ calling the work ‘tough but necessary.’

‘The important parts of USAID should always have been with Dept of State,’ Musk wrote. 

The pair reportedly got into a heated exchange last week during a meeting with President Donald Trump’s Cabinet officials, which included Musk, over whether Rubio was doing enough to implement cuts at USAID. Trump reportedly defended Rubio during the spat, according to The New York Times, chiming in that he was doing a ‘great job’ in such a demanding and high-pressure position. Trump later wrote on Truth Social that the two ‘have a great relationship.’

USAID was an early target of Trump, who, just hours after taking office, ordered a 90-day pause on all U.S. foreign assistance programs pending a review to ensure those programs aligned with American interests. Musk has also been at the forefront of criticism of the agency, asserting it is ‘beyond repair’ and likening the agency’s spending to illegal money laundering for left-wing nonprofits.

As the Trump administration has sought to dismantle USAID, a slew of lawsuits seeking to halt its actions have come down. The Supreme Court issued an emergency ruling last week, refusing to halt a judge’s order directing the Trump administration to resume $2 billion in foreign aid payments owed to other countries via pre-existing contracts.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

The Trump administration ended a waiver that allowed the Iraqi government to buy Iranian electricity in a renewed effort to choke off Iran’s profits.

National security advisor Mike Waltz told Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani that the end of the waiver was consistent with President Donald Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign on Iran as the administration goes all-in on trying to prevent the regime from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

‘Waltz welcomed the Iraqi Prime Minister’s efforts to achieve energy independence for Iraq, and encouraged the Iraqi government to welcome more western and U.S. energy companies into Iraq’s oil and gas sectors.’ 

Waltz also urged the Iraqi government to resolve its dispute with the Kurdistan Regional Government, where Iraq has been choking off the flow of oil from the Kurdistan region in Iraq to Turkey for years, allowing the region’s continued dependence on Iranian oil. 

It is part of a global push to boost oil supply and keep prices in check, in an effort that would starve Iran and Russia of fuel profits. 

‘The National Security Advisor urged the Iraqi government to work with the Kurdistan Regional Government to address remaining contract disputes and pay arrears owed to U.S. energy companies, and also requested that the Iraqi government retain an investment coordinator to work with U.S. companies seeking to invest and operate in Iraq,’ according to a readout of Waltz’s call with the prime minister. 

Trump first issued the sanctions waiver for Iraq when he began applying ‘maximum pressure’ on Iran during his first administration.

The waiver only applied to electricity, where Iraqi reliance on Iran has precipitously fallen to just 4%. If the new move expanded to include gas used for power plants, however, it ‘would cause Iraq to lose more than 30% of its electricity energy,’ according to a spokesperson for Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity, Ahmad Moussa, who said the nation is searching for alternatives. 

‘There are two ways Iran can be handled – militarily, or you make a deal. I would prefer to make a deal…’ – President Donald Trump

Former President Joe Biden continuously renewed the waiver until its expiration on Saturday. 

The U.S. has significant leverage over Iraq – $100 billion of its reserves are held in the U.S., and Washington could wield that leverage amidst Iran’s increasingly firm grip over Iraqi leadership. The U.S. still has a military presence of about 2,500 personnel stationed in Iraq to help fight ISIS. 

Trump revealed he sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pushing for Tehran to agree to a nuclear agreement — or face military consequences.

‘I’ve written them a letter, saying I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily it’s going to be a terrible thing for them,’ Trump told FOX Business on Friday. ‘There are two ways Iran can be handled – militarily, or you make a deal,’ Trump said. ‘I would prefer to make a deal, because I am not looking to hurt Iran.’

According to nuclear experts, Iran is already enriching uranium to 60%, putting it mere days or weeks away from 90% weapons-grade supply.

On Saturday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would not negotiate with ‘bullying countries.’ 

Iran currently exports an average of 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, but under Trump’s Feb. 6 executive order, the secretaries of State and Treasury are to work to ‘implement a campaign aimed at driving Iran’s oil exports to zero.’ 

The U.S. is also working to end a sanctions waiver for the Chabahar port in Iran, where India has poured in $370 million to build a trading gateway to the Middle East. 

Next, the U.S. could set its sights on China, which buys up 90% of Iran’s oil outflow.