Week 21 saw Trump making new federal employees at-will, gutting NASA and NEH and setting a timeline to dismantle FEMA.
The Trump administration has laid off two-thirds of employees at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). According to AFGE Local 3403, which represents NEH workers, 108 employees were laid off due to a reduction in force. The agency previously had 180 people on staff.
“The agency is limping along with our current leaders acting as though we can still fulfill all our statutory obligations with only 1/3 of the staff,” said the local. “Almost all open awards were terminated by DOGE, and leaders have closed nearly half of the funding opportunities previously offered by the agency, many due to lack of staff capacity.”
NEH is the only agency in the U.S. that provides grant funding to museums, libraries, universities, and independent researchers to support scholarship, preservation, and public programming in the humanities.
“Without this funding, many beloved programs like National History Day, the National Book Festival, and PBS documentaries will suffer,” the local added. “Many Americans benefit from programming provided by their local state humanities councils, which will now lose half of their federal funding and the agency staff support for those councils.”
Here’s a quick recap of Trump’s attacks on America in his 21st week in office, how these actions hurt federal workers and the American people they serve, and how We the People fight back:
June 12: House GOP approved the Trump administration’s request to claw back $9.4 billion it had previous approved, including $8.3 billion for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). AFGE earlier this year sued the Trump administration for illegally shutting down USAID. We are awaiting a judge’s decision on our request for a permanent injunction.
June 11: In retaliation against AFGE and other unions for successfully standing up for federal workers in courts, the Trump administration and Senate GOP released its version of Trump’s House-passed ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ with several provisions attacking federal employees and their workplace rights. The retaliation bill would, among other things, make future federal employees at-will and force them to pay 9.4% toward retirement, or 14.4% if they want to retain their civil service rights. As at-will employees, they won’t have civil service protections against unfair treatment and disciplinary actions such as due process, protection against discrimination, and rights to organize and join a union.
June 11: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) challenged Trump’s new hiring plan, asking the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to take action against the illegal loyalty-test questionnaire that seeks to advance Trump supporters while disqualifying job applicants who are indifferent to Trump. Under the ironically named Merit Hiring Plan issued by the Office of Personnel Management on May 29, one of the essay questions directs federal job applicants to answer how they would help advance Trump’s agenda. It’s unclear how the OSC would respond to the request as Trump fired its previous leader, Hampton Dellinger, who advocated on behalf of probationary employees illegally fired by the administration.
June 11: The Department of Education is asking fired employees to return to work following a judge’s ruling ordering the agency to reinstate the employees.
June 11: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reinstating about 460 employees who had previously been laid off. The workers are the National Center for Environmental Health, the Immediate Office of the Director, the Global Health Center, and the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention. After a public outcry, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said the firings were a mistake.
June 10: Trump said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be dismantled after this year’s hurricane season, which officially ends Nov. 30, and states will have to deal with their own disaster response and recovery. Additional federal aid will come directly from the White House, opening doors to politization of our nation’s disaster relief efforts.
June 10: The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) laid off two-thirds of its workforce, or 108 employees. AFGE Local 3403, which represents NEH workers, said laying off a large chunk of the workforce will hurt the agency’s mission of supporting research and public education on humanities.
June 10: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is laying off more than 80,000 employees, but it has no idea how to handle these mass layoffs, so it’s hiring the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to do it. They have signed a contract worth $700,000 to fire staff who get rid of people hired to take care of veterans.
June 9: NASA is asking its employees to voluntarily resign in response to Trump’s proposed budget cuts of 24% next fiscal year. Employees have until July 25 to decide whether to participate in the controversial deferred resignation program, voluntary early retirement, or voluntary separation program. The goal is to reduce the number of workers by 32%, from 17,391 employees to 11,853. NASA in March laid off 23 employees and shuttered three offices: the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy; the Office of the Chief Scientist; and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Branch of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Workers expressed concerns over the agency’s scientific integrity and its ability to carry out its mission.
June 9: A federal judge ordered the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to temporarily halt disclosures of Americans' personal data to the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) agents. This is a class-action lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Lex Lumina LLP, Democracy Defenders Fund, and The Chandra Law Firm on behalf of AFGE, other unions, and all federal employees. Several AFGE members are named plaintiffs.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has officially walked back its plan to lay off more than 80,000 employees as part of the Elon Musk-led “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) initiative.
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In a significant decision impacting the federal workforce, the Supreme Court lifted lower-court injunctions, enabling the current administration to proceed with its controversial plans for mass layoffs and restructuring of federal agencies.
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In a late-breaking development, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a temporary administrative stay of the preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of Executive Order 14251.
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