AFGE National President Everett Kelley applauded President Trump’s March 5 decision to remove Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security while also calling on Congress to pass pending legislation so tens of thousands of workers can be paid during the partial DHS shutdown.
AFGE was among the first to call for Noem’s removal on Jan. 26, two days after AFGE member Alex Pretti from the Department of Veterans Affairs was shot and killed by DHS officers in Minneapolis during immigration raids there.
“Accountability matters, and this action was long overdue,” Kelley said. “Secretary Noem’s tenure was a disaster for the men and women of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She gutted leadership at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and bottlenecked disaster relief. She attacked the rights of officers at the Transportation Security Administration. She drove an exodus of experienced professionals from across the department.”
Noem’s ouster has had no immediate effect on resolving the funding stalemate at DHS that resulted in a partial shutdown beginning Feb. 14. It’s the third shutdown at the department since October – resulting in tens of thousands of essential employees going without pay at the Transportation Security Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Coast Goard, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
AFGE has been calling on Congress to pass the Shutdown Fairness Act (S. 3168 and H.R. 7137), which protects federal employees’ livelihoods by requiring the government to pay workers in full and on time during future government shutdowns.
“Secretary Noem’s removal changes the political dynamics that produced this standoff. Congress should seize this moment and immediately pass a measure to make sure the men and women protecting our country are being paid,” Kelley said.
About 90 percent of Homeland Security’s 260,000 employees are working without pay due to the ongoing shutdown, including employees at the Transportation Security Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
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AFGE and its National Veterans Affairs Council are calling on a federal court to force the Department of Veterans Affairs to comply with a judge’s order restoring AFGE’s master collective bargaining agreement with the VA and all subsidiary agreements.
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