Widespread layoffs of federal workers are underway.

That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post.

I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Thursday, February 13th.

Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories.

Yesterday morning, an official with the Office of Personnel Management emailed staff.

OPM is a small agency that functions as a human resources department for the government.

And now it's run by allies of Elon Musk, the billionaire advisor to President Donald Trump.

The message stated that large-scale layoffs have begun and that they're already overwhelming the office.

White House officials are eyeing cuts to agency budgets of between 30 and 40 percent on average across the government.

Those cuts are centered on significant staff reductions.

Late yesterday, a federal judge also lifted a pause on the administration's deferred resignation offer to federal employees.

That was an offer to pay workers through September if they quit now.

But it's no longer available.

The administration said it would not accept new applications.

These developments reflect the accelerating pace of the Trump administration's campaign to gut the federal government.

If Trump and Musk succeed, they could bring about one of the most substantial

transformations of the nation's civilian workforce in decades. And that could leave Trump with

even more power. Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday. That's number two.

The two leaders spoke on the phone for about 90 minutes. The call broke a years-long silence

between Washington and Moscow, and it kicked off Trump's ambitious bid to end Russia's war in Ukraine. After the call,

Trump had warm words about his conversation with Putin and another call with Ukrainian president

Volodymyr Zelensky. Well, we had a great call and it lasted for a long time over an hour

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