The massive round of firings is part of an "initial effort" to cut the Defense Department's civilian workforce by 5% to 8% and was to be followed up with a hiring freeze.

The dismissals will begin next week, officials said, and could expand to include tens of thousands of other workers throughout the Defense Department.

With the annual budget deficit at $1.8 trillion last year and Trump proposing extensive tax cuts, there will also be significant pressure to use all the savings to reduce that deficit, rather than pass on part of it. Here’s what to know about the proposal:

President Donald Trump says he likes the idea to give some of the savings from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency back to U.S. citizens as a kind of dividend