President Trump's latest executive order takes aim at federal employee travel, directing government agencies to prohibit travel without written and approved justification for the trip.
The directive requires that federal agencies, with assistance from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), build a system that records approval for federally funded travel for conferences and other nonessential purposes. Once in place, the agency head "shall prohibit agency employees from engaging in federally funded travel for conferences or other nonessential purposes unless the travel-approving official has submitted a brief, written justification for the federally funded travel within such system."
The order also directs agencies to provide the DOGE administrator with a monthly informational report listing each agency's justifications for nonessential travel, which shall be posted publicly unless prohibited by law or is granted an exemption.