Federal Workers Deserved So Much Better, and I'm Ashamed of My Country.

This could have been thoughtful. This could have been measured to caused less pain. This could have been SO much more f****** dignified.

William J. Bosanko's story at the National Archives spans a generation. Following his mother's path into public service, he began in 1993 as an archivist's technician, eventually rising through dedication and expertise to become Deputy Archivist. Known as "a consummate professional," Bosanko earned widespread respect for maintaining the Archives' nonpartisan integrity through multiple administrations.

At the National Institutes of Health, similar dedication could be found in Michael Lauer, M.D., who served as Deputy Director for Extramural Research for a decade. His distinguished career earned him both the NIH Equal Employment Opportunity Award and the Arthur S. Flemming Award for Exceptional Federal Service. Alongside him, Larry Tabak, Ph.D., served as Principal Deputy Director, bringing his expertise as both a scientist and dentist to one of our nation's premier research institutions.

These aren't just names and titles. They represent decades of accumulated expertise and institutional knowledge, dedicated public service… and they were all dismissed from the Federal Government without so much as a “thank you for your service to our country.” One might even argue they’re being proverbially spat on as they’re dismissed from duty.

For the best… ?

Will these efforts even save us money? It’s rather hard to say… for example, The Planetary Society points out that NASA provides a 3-to-1 return on the taxpayer's investment, according to recent economic analyses, generating more than $75 billion in the U.S. economy and supporting over 300,000 jobs across the country. Despite that fact, there are varied reports of mass dismissals there too; reports range from 1,750 employees to 10% of the whole workforce, but concrete numbers will likely take a few more days.

Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting firings at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Monday evening. The cuts at the roughly 6,000-person agency come despite warnings the watchdog is already facing staffing challenges. Not only did staffing shortages cause them to drop the ball on monitoring Signature Bank, who collapsed in 2023, but more than a third of the FDIC’s workforce is eligible for retirement in two years.

I have been reading news stories about the layoffs/firings/dismissals all day, and the job titles disappearing from the federal government are stunning: nurse, data scientist, nuclear safety specialists, park rangers, doctors, social workers… and many, including myself, are wondering how any of this is supposed to make our country better; operationally, economically, health-wise, or in any way at all.

Experts Who May Have A Point

Reshma Ramachandran, Yale health professor: “On day one, the new HHS secretary is gutting the agencies that would be necessary to make America healthy again.” (Politico)

Tom Frieden, M.D., former CDC director under President Obama: "They're top doctors, veterinarians and other health professionals. They sign up for a two-year training program to serve the country. Not only is terminating them bad for the country, it's also a disgraceful violation of a commitment." (Fierce Healthcare)

Everett Kelley (AFGE Union President): "These firings are not about poor performance" … "There is no evidence these employees were anything but dedicated public servants. They are about power. They are about gutting the federal government, silencing workers, and forcing agencies into submission to a radical agenda that prioritizes cronyism over competence" (Time Magazine)

David Spero, national president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO: “This decision did not consider the staffing needs of the FAA, which is already challenged by understaffing. Staffing decisions should be based on an individual agency’s mission-critical needs. To do otherwise is dangerous when it comes to public safety. And it is especially unconscionable in the aftermath of three deadly aircraft accidents in the past month.” (NBC News)

Serious question, economic consequences aside… even if you DO think this is a good idea, even if you ARE cheering on the reduction of federal government (and I can’t even believe I have to ask this but)…

When did it become acceptable to treat public servants like shit?

Sorry for beating a dead horse, but once again, this was NOT the only way President Trump could have accomplished this mission; Republicans in Congress have already proven their political aspirations matter more than We The People. There’s a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. and Democrats would have looked like idiots trying to argue against saving federal dollars. This could have been thoughtful. This could have been measured to caused less pain. This could have been SO much more fucking dignified.

As you hear from them directly, ask yourself whether these sound like the dreaded members of the swamp that Trump spent a decade promising to drain.

Quotes from Federal (or formerly Federal) Workers

Brian Gibbs, laid off park ranger in Iowa: “It felt merciless … I felt violated, very disheartening … Very challenging to lose a stable income and to lose my insurance. And to try and, you know, feel that I can comfortably and confidently take care of my family” Gibbs said. “[The parks] allow for us to, you know, refill our spirits, you know, our spiritual need, our physical needs, our mental needs. And they’re the best. They’re the best of humanity. They’re the best of Americans. Nothing’s going to get better unless we care.” (KFVS12 News)

Forest Service employee with knowledge of firings in Wisconsin: “We’re not nameless, faceless federal bureaucrats,” the federal worker said. “We’re people living in these communities, too.” (Wisconsin Public Radio)

CDC Employee: "If you want, like Gov. Kemp said, to reduce the government, fine. … But to be cruel and just cut people with no kind of regard for what you’re actually cutting, what’s the point in that other than to cause trauma among people? … That’s not real leadership to me.” (Source: AJC)

Andrew Lennox, Former Veterans Affairs Employee: "It's going to result in worse care or not the quality care that the veterans deserve. It's going to turn into burnout, fatigue, and just lack and quality care." (PBS News)

Arielle Kaine, Former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Employee: "We are not in this work for a profit. The people that we serve are the most vulnerable, whether they're senior citizens, whether they're pregnant women, like my program, or whether they're low-income people or people with disabilities. That's who we're motivated to serve, particularly in HHS. I worry, where do these people go? If they have to turn to the private market or a private health plan to solve all these problems — and they're expensive patients to cover because they have their high needs — I worry about the impacts." (PBS News)

Former HHS employee: “You’ve got policy people operating on a policy vision, but then you have DOGE. Nobody knows who those people are. They are coming from the shadows and they’ve got their own set of priorities.” (Politico)

Just-fired CMMI employee (granted anonymity): (Describing their work) "...enhancing care for Medicare Advantage enrollees." (Politico)

Chelsea Milburn, former public affairs specialist for the Department of Education: "I'm much more angry than devastated. It took away my hope that I would continue to be respected and valued for my service. And especially in the way the termination happened." … "It read like a copy-and-paste letter that did not provide any specifics. It was just very cold and cruel.” (USA Today)

Doug Berry, former pathways intern at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development: "I got to donate an hour of my time to clean out my desk and hand off what I was working on to my coworkers." (USA Today)

USDA Probationary Worker (Phoenix): "There's no way to tie me to a specific performance issue because I'm six weeks on the job" (Time Magazine)

Senior IRS Agent (New York): "I feel like right now the administration is kind of demonizing federal workers" (Time Magazine)

HR Manager at Veterans Health Administration: "It's the worst I've ever seen. We're paralyzed because we don't know what's happening tomorrow … If the GOP wants to win someone like me back, they would need to start making changes right now. I have not voted for a Democrat in two decades. I will vote Democrat in the midterms and the next presidential race for sure" (Time Magazine)

Jourdain Solis (IRS Fuel Compliance Officer who took the buyout offer): "I couldn't guarantee that my program would stick around. Taking this offer would have been much better than being laid off and only qualifying for unemployment. Our value as public servants gets questioned all the time, so I just really didn't want to work for a country that doesn't respect public servants as much as they should." (Time Magazine)

VA Employee: "They obviously are out of their depth and are struggling desperately to make whatever it is that they are trying to do work" … "I don't think they will succeed" (Time Magazine)

Probationary Senior IRS Agent: "It's funny because we have very smart businessmen running this whole thing, and the last thing you do in business is cut your revenue stream,” … “The IRS is the revenue stream, especially the auditors. It wouldn't make any sense to cut us." (Time Magazine)

Scott Gagnon: “I was specifically recruited to apply to this job because of my abilities,” … "I received a national award while I was in this position for addiction prevention." "We did this to serve our fellow people in our regions, and to not be able to do that—it’s heartbreaking," Gagnon said. "I'm just a normal Mainer trying to help other Mainers.” One of his key responsibilities was supporting the Maine Crisis Line, 9-8-8, which provides mental health and addiction support. (News Center Maine)

As I was writing this story, news broke that the JFK Presidential Library & Museum has closed until further notice due to the federal layoffs. Jack Schlossberg, Kennedy’s grandson, blamed DOGE directly on Instagram: “In my opinion, this has nothing to do with government efficiency. The workers who were fired today actually bring in revenue for the government. It’s really about stealing the past and about generating propaganda so that people don’t know what’s really happening,” Schlossberg said in a video.

So I’ll ask one more time: Since when is it acceptable to treat public servants like shit?

And how do we make it unacceptable again?