DeepSeek & Buyouts in Washington 2/7/25

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Darin LaHood (R-IL) are pushing bipartisan legislation to ban Chinese AI app DeepSeek on government devices. The two lawmakers discuss their concerns about CCP espionage on American data. Also in Washington, the Trump administration offered buyouts to millions to federal workers as part of a “deferred resignation” program, but a federal judge paused the offer just 11 hours before the deadline to accept. President of the American Federation of Government Employees Everett Kelley discusses Elon Musk’s effort to trim the budget fat, arguing that there’s a better way to go about doing it. Plus, the US economy added 143,000 jobs in January, and new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent assures the American people that DOGE’s access to the Treasury is an “operational review, not an ideological review.”

Reps. Josh Gottheimer & Darin LaHood - 14:38

Everett Kelley - 24:56

In this episode:

Joe Kernen, @JoeSquawk

Becky Quick, @BeckyQuick

Andrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkin
Katie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie