It’s basic: whether people go on vacation or orders come down from the top, work piles up on people’s desks. Trump’s orders have been turned into mandates. Legal filings and foreign aid have been stopped. Health services have been stopped, including research on communicable diseases and pandemics. The official reason is that Trump’s goal is to get control of the government, no matter how routine many of the actions are.
Maxine Joselow, Emily Davies, The Washington Post: Trump presses pause on parts of the federal government