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Elon Musk defends DOGE as Trump orders agencies to comply with cuts
CBSN
Washington — Standing beside President Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Elon Musk defended the Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to drastically cut spending and dismiss workers across the federal government, insisting that Americans voted for major change and the Trump administration is delivering.
Musk, the world's wealthiest man, took questions for the first time since the president gave him broad authority to overhaul the executive branch.
"The people voted for major government reform and that's what the people are going to get," Musk said, with his young son by his side. "They're going to get what they voted for."
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The U.S. confirmed at least a dozen deaths from whooping cough last year, according to preliminary figures released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That marks the most fatalities from the bacterial infection since a 2017 surge of the illness, which is also known as pertussis.
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As vaccination rates decline, widespread outbreaks of diseases like measles and polio could reemerge
Health officials in western Texas are trying to contain a measles outbreak among mostly school-aged children, with at least 15 confirmed cases. It's the latest outbreak of a disease that had been virtually eliminated in the U.S., and it comes as vaccination rates are declining — jeopardizing the country's herd immunity from widespread outbreaks.