Federal workers urge Democrats to stand up to White House
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Hundreds of federal workers across 60 agencies and departments are urging Congress to rein in the White House even if it means shutting down the government, in a letter sent Thursday afternoon.
Why it matters: It's the broadest protest yet to emerge from inside the civil service — a sign of widespread discontent, anger and worry over the Trump administration's cuts to research, spending and the workforce.
- A shutdown would mean that many of these folks would go without pay, and those using their names are risking their jobs.
- The letter follows similar ones from inside specific agencies, including from employees at the EPA, NIH, NASA and FEMA. In two cases, workers were fired and suspended for speaking up.
Between the lines: Even while writing that these issues are beyond politics, the letter's first demand is to restore subsidies for Obamacare.
- That Democratic priority appears disconnected from preventing the White House overreach they're broadly opposing.
- Organizers say the demand is about protecting public health, and they're calling on both parties to take action.
- The funding fight gives "Democratic members a rare moment of leverage," Jenna Norton, a program officer at the National Institutes of Health who helped organize the letter, tells Axios.
Zoom in: Employees are asking lawmakers for three broader actions ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government:
- Restore research and funding where cuts have put public health and safety at risk.
- Stop illegal impoundments, in which the White House refuses to spend money appropriated by Congress.
- Reinstate employees who have been fired without cause and restore federal workers' union rights.
The other side: The administration argues that its changes make the government more efficient.
What they're saying: "Every member of Congress should be clear-eyed: ceding more of Congress's power to avoid a shutdown will only worsen the damage, embolden authoritarianism, and cost the country more in the long run," the letter says.
- "Do not repeat March's mistake, when a bad CR [continuing resolution] paved the way for mass firings across our agencies, gutted science, slashed health care access, and emboldened further attacks."
- "We do not want a shutdown, but we will accept a temporary shutdown to preserve our government on behalf of the American people."
The big picture: An estimated 200,000 federal workers have been fired or forced out since January — about 10% of the workforce — and another 100,000 are expected to go before the year's end.
- Funding has been cut or delayed for health and science research — including dismantling money for cancer research, as the New York Times recently reported.
- The president has fired agency heads, previously considered independent from such political interference.
Where it stands: Organizers inside the agencies started collecting signatures Saturday and by Thursday morning had 832, including more than 500 from current employees. Most signed anonymously, but 138 used their names.
- "Many have signed anonymously because we no longer have confidence our legal rights as civil servants will be upheld," they write, identifying themselves as those who "who respond to natural disasters, protect our food and water supply, deliver new cures, keep people healthy."
Signers hail from an alphabet soup of agencies: Homeland Security, ICE and the Department of Defense, according to NIH's Norton.
- Work on this letter was done in their personal time and on their own equipment, the organizers emphasize.
What to watch: The fight in Congress as the Sept. 30 funding deadline approaches.
