On the campaign trail, Presidential candidate Donald Trump disavowed the unpopular Project 2025 that seeks to dismantle federal agencies and terminate hundreds of thousands of federal workers, seeing it as a liability. His transition team went on to say people associated with the notorious blueprint wouldn’t be part of the Trump administration.
After winning the election, however, Trump started staffing his administration with Project 2025 architects, notably its principal author Russell Vought who became director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that oversees policies and agency funding.
On Feb. 26, Vought issued a memo to agency heads, directing them to start preparing for mass layoffs through a reduction in force (RIF) by submitting a reorganization plan by March 13. Vought tried to claim in the second paragraph of the memo that the American people voted for Trump and his “promises to sweepingly reform the federal government.”
The American voters have been duped by Trump and Vought who are on a mission to take away their benefits by attacking the very people who provide these services.
The staffing at the Social Security Administration (SSA), for example, is at its lowest in 50 years due to cuts while nearly 120,000 Americans visit a Social Security facility every single day. Social Security is an earned benefit that the American people have paid into in order to retire with dignity. The American people know this, and they oppose cuts to Social Security. But Trump’s SSA acting commissioner announced his plan to fire half of the workforce.
The Environment Protection Agency is slated to cut 65 percent of its workforce, and Housing and Urban Development has also announced to its workers that layoffs are on the horizon.
Several agencies have begun moving forward with their RIF plans, with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), General Services Administration, (GSA) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) having already sent out RIF notices.
The American people will feel the impact of these staffing cuts if the administration succeeds.
“Longer waits at VA hospitals, fewer inspectors ensuring the safety of our meats and produce, less research into cures for debilitating and deadly diseases, more risks for air travelers, longer waits for Social Security enrollment and passports, and the list goes on,” said AFGE President Everett Kelley.
AFGE will continue to defend our contracts, our members’ jobs, and the services they provide to the American people.
TSOs made enormous progress at their agency with a union contract, but the Trump administration earlier this month illegally terminated the negotiated contract with AFGE, prompting our union to file a lawsuit.
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