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When Donald Trump took office for his second term, he moved quickly to bring his political adviser and top campaign donor — tech billionaire Elon Musk — into the government.
Musk now helms the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a White House team tasked with cutting federal spending. The unit has terminated a slew of government grants and contracts, according to its X account, and disrupted the work at agencies including the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where workers have also recently been put on leave or lost their jobs.
Musk is what's known as a "special government employee," a designation given to people who join the government for a short period of time typically to provide specialized expertise.
Here's what you need to know about SGEs.
In 1962, Congress created the role of "special government employee," which allows the executive branch, the legislative branch and independent federal agencies to bring on employees for specific roles on a temporary basis.
Typically, SGEs are hired as experts or consultants or serve as members of federal advisory committees, of which there are roughly 1,000 across the U.S. government.
SGEs are limited to working for the government for no more than 130 days out of a 365-day period, though they can work multiple years, and they can either be paid or unpaid. NPR has reported that Musk is not being paid...
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