DOGE fires numerous federal government employees
In recent months, the Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] has fired numerous government employees in an attempt to reduce government spending and budgets. President Donald Trump has offered “deferred resignation,” giving months of paid leave to any government employee who voluntarily left their jobs as of Feb. 6. Just before this plan went into action, a federal judge deemed this illegal because it violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and other federal laws, but 75,000 employees still left their jobs.
One department that has been affected is The Department of Veteran Affairs. The Department of Veteran Affairs dismissed over 1,000 employees. These workers included researchers working on various health subjects such as cancer treatments, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn exposures.
The Education Department also has gone under significant budget cuts. 900 million dollars has been cut from the Institute of Education Services, which tracks students’ progress. Thirty-nine people have been fired from the Education Department and over 169 Institute of Education Services employees’ contracts have been terminated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] was told that they were to lose over 1,300 employees. In the end, the number was closer to 700, but many employees from other health departments such as the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have also fired an unrecorded amount of employees according to AP News.
The National Park Service [NPS] has let go of 1,000 employees as of Feb. 14. That day, many employees received an email stating that they had been laid off. The NPS has stated that without these employees, national parks will begin to suffer. “With park visitation expected to increase in the next year, fewer employees could translate to longer lines to get into parks, changes in park hours and more trash pile ups at some locations,” ABC News said. In response to these firings, some NPS employees hung an upside-down American flag down the side of El Capitan, symbolizing a sign of dire distress. This symbol of protest gained lots of attention from the media because of how many tourists came to see the lava falling down El Capitan’s Horsetail fall.
Several other government departments and agencies have undergone similar budget cuts and releases of employees. According to The New York Times, over 100,000 federal employees have lost their jobs. Trump plans to continue budget cutting and limit the federal government with the help of DOGE and Elon Musk.
