As part of US President donald trump and his advisor Elon Musk's attempt to drastically reduce bureaucracy in America, over 9,500 employees who manage everything from federal lands to military veterans care were let go on Friday.
The Departments of Interior, Energy, Veteran Affairs, Agriculture, and health and Human services have been the targets of the employee termination drive thus far. Many of these employees, though not all of them, are probationary staffers in their first year of employment, which means they have fewer employment protections.
Some organizations, like as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an independent watchdog, have been effectively shut down. The cuts also impact employees on fixed-term contracts. According to Reuters, which cited two persons with knowledge of the situation, the Internal Revenue service, the tax collection agency, is also getting ready to fire hundreds of employees next week. This may be an attempt to reduce funding before the april 15 deadline for Americans to submit their income tax returns.
Trump, Musk offer buyout option
The white house claims that the current layoffs are on top of the 75,000 employees who willingly left after accepting trump and Musk's buyout offer. This amounts to around 3% of the 2.3 million civilian employees.
The federal government has too much debt, according to President trump, who also claims that too much money has been wasted on fraud and waste. There is a broad consensus about the necessity of federal government reform, and there is around $3.6 trillion in debt and a $1.8 trillion deficit from the previous year.
Even while Trump's fellow Republicans, who hold the majority in both chambers of Congress, have mostly supported his actions, congressional Democrats have said that he is interfering with the legislature's constitutional responsibility over federal spending.
However, Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, is being questioned for his direct approach to the issue. Musk has gained a good deal of power during Trump's administration as the co-chair of his "Department of government Efficiency" (DOGE).
On Friday, however, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed such worries, likening Musk's DOGE to a financial audit. He stated in an interview with Fox business Network that "these are serious people, they're going from agency to agency, doing an audit, looking for best practices."
A group of young engineers with no government experience are running Musk's DOGE campaign, and it seems that their initial cost-cutting measures are motivated more by ideology than by cost-cutting.
Fired federal workers left in shock
In this trump and Musk-led campaign, several government employees were abruptly laid off, leaving them stunned.
Nick Gioia, who served in the army and worked for the Department of Defense for 17 years before joining the USDA's Economic Research service in december only to be fired this week, said, "I feel like I've been betrayed by my country, even though I've done a lot for it as a veteran who served his country."
"To sit here and watch people like Mr. Musk tweet out how he feels like he's doing a great job, he doesn't realize what he's doing to people's lives," Gioia said, adding that he believes that these layoffs have nothing to do with government employees.
Musk, who has significant contracts for SpaceX with the US federal government, and the trump administration should continue to concentrate on organizations that oversee business and finance, according to Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees union, which represents more than 100,000 workers. He claimed that "Elon Musk is so excited about this" since the goal of the entire situation is to remove the government's obstacles from business and extremely wealthy individuals.
The Departments of Interior, Energy, Veteran Affairs, Agriculture, and health and Human services have been the targets of the employee termination drive thus far. Many of these employees, though not all of them, are probationary staffers in their first year of employment, which means they have fewer employment protections.
Some organizations, like as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an independent watchdog, have been effectively shut down. The cuts also impact employees on fixed-term contracts. According to Reuters, which cited two persons with knowledge of the situation, the Internal Revenue service, the tax collection agency, is also getting ready to fire hundreds of employees next week. This may be an attempt to reduce funding before the april 15 deadline for Americans to submit their income tax returns.
Trump, Musk offer buyout option
The white house claims that the current layoffs are on top of the 75,000 employees who willingly left after accepting trump and Musk's buyout offer. This amounts to around 3% of the 2.3 million civilian employees.
The federal government has too much debt, according to President trump, who also claims that too much money has been wasted on fraud and waste. There is a broad consensus about the necessity of federal government reform, and there is around $3.6 trillion in debt and a $1.8 trillion deficit from the previous year.
Even while Trump's fellow Republicans, who hold the majority in both chambers of Congress, have mostly supported his actions, congressional Democrats have said that he is interfering with the legislature's constitutional responsibility over federal spending.
However, Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, is being questioned for his direct approach to the issue. Musk has gained a good deal of power during Trump's administration as the co-chair of his "Department of government Efficiency" (DOGE).
On Friday, however, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed such worries, likening Musk's DOGE to a financial audit. He stated in an interview with Fox business Network that "these are serious people, they're going from agency to agency, doing an audit, looking for best practices."
A group of young engineers with no government experience are running Musk's DOGE campaign, and it seems that their initial cost-cutting measures are motivated more by ideology than by cost-cutting.
Fired federal workers left in shock
In this trump and Musk-led campaign, several government employees were abruptly laid off, leaving them stunned.
Nick Gioia, who served in the army and worked for the Department of Defense for 17 years before joining the USDA's Economic Research service in december only to be fired this week, said, "I feel like I've been betrayed by my country, even though I've done a lot for it as a veteran who served his country."
"To sit here and watch people like Mr. Musk tweet out how he feels like he's doing a great job, he doesn't realize what he's doing to people's lives," Gioia said, adding that he believes that these layoffs have nothing to do with government employees.
Musk, who has significant contracts for SpaceX with the US federal government, and the trump administration should continue to concentrate on organizations that oversee business and finance, according to Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees union, which represents more than 100,000 workers. He claimed that "Elon Musk is so excited about this" since the goal of the entire situation is to remove the government's obstacles from business and extremely wealthy individuals.
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