Fresh out of Barnard College with a degree in political science, Riley is a writer and reporter for GZERO. When she isn’t writing about global politics, you can find her making GZERO’s crossword puzzles, conducting research on American politics, or persisting in her lifelong quest to learn French. Riley spends her time outside of work grilling, dancing, and wearing many hats (both literally and figuratively).
During his 130-day stint as a special government employee, Elon Musk cut 12% of the federal civilian workforce before the drudgery of battling bureaucracy beat him down. On Wednesday, Musk announced he would not be continuing his work at the Department of Government Efficiency, and criticized the House-passed tax-policy bill, which is estimated to increase the deficit by nearly $4 trillion.
However, DOGE will stay in place in his wake. What’s more, we haven’t seen the last of Musk. While he said earlier this month that he plans to substantially cut his political spending, the GOP isn’t going to let a big donor go that easily. We’ll be watching whether he keeps his word, or throws dollars behind politically-aligned candidates in the 2026 midterms.
