For besieged federal workers, the closure of the government this week was another blow that many describe as the most difficult year, which they once had at work.
Since President Donald Trump established the Department of Government's Efficiency Executive order On the day of inauguration, the federal labor force went through mass dismissals and resignations, reduction of financing and Delay of entire agenciesThe field was judicial claims and replaying, since exhausted agencies are trying to complete the necessary work. And now, after the Democrats of Congress and Republicans could not agree to the temporary budget to keep the government open, there is a shutdown that led to more than than 1 million federal workers Either evaporated (it is forbidden to work and unpaid), or it is necessary to work without payment.
“I worked within the framework of several administrations, and this is the worst that I felt like,” says an employee in housing construction and urban development for almost 15 years that was released. At her work, she helps to give out grants designed to make cities safer and more affordable, thanks to things such as ramps for people with disabilities and revising the streets, and to provide housing for some of the most vulnerable population of America. But now she wonders how she will pay her own mortgage, if the closure is delayed – and the brainstorming, how to make food in her pantry lasts a little longer.
Why did we write this
Federal workers who have experienced previous closes of the government say that uncertainty is always stress. But this one already feels worse, several federal workers report, having appeared after several months of interdepartmental shocks and dismissals of the Trump administration. Many feel embarrassed not only about the immediate confrontation – but also what will happen when it ends.
Federal workers who survived previous closures say that uncertainty is always stressful, whether it is within two days or 35, as the last in 2018-19, which was the longest in the history of the United States. But this closure already feels worse, several federal workers monitor report, after several months of interdepartmental shocks and contempt from the president and his administrationMany people feel awkward not only about immediate confrontation, but also what will happen when it ends.
“Even if the shelter is removed today, we still have the same problems tomorrow, because it will be the same rhetoric and emails,” says an employee in veterans, who is still working with payment and who, like all employees interviewed for this story, received anonymity to speak freely. “Over the past nine months, it was like a psychological war.”
It is assumed that the employees of the condensed person, and those who work without salaries, must be paid “As soon as possible“After the closure ends, according to the Law of 2019. But some say that they do not count on receiving a return payment, taking into account the methods in which the Trump administration has already tore off most of the constitutional power of the Congress. And they are wondering if they will even return.
The threat of “indirect” layoffs
Russell VouughtDirector of the Office and Budget, who spent years working on the goal of a sharp reduction in the federal bureaucracy and was one of the key architects of the Heritage Fund Project 2025He promised “indirect” dismissal during the closure. Until now, the only declared reduction was transport and energy projects in states and cities that did not vote for President Trump: M -NUGH 18 billion dollars in financing infrastructure in New York was suspended, as well as $ 2.1 billion. USA in the form of financing infrastructure in Chicago, and this is almost $ 8 billion Financing “Green New Scam” He was canceled at the Ministry of Energy.
But the press secretary of the White House Karolin Livitt said that the upcoming dismissals could be. ”In thousands. President Trump published on social networks that he met with Mr. Vought On Thursday “To determine which of many democratic agencies, most of which are political fraud, it recommends to be reduced” during the closure. He added: “I can’t believe that the radical left democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.”
US Department of Defense, US Department of Veters Affairs, US Department of Homeland Security, US Department of Justice, US Department of Agriculture, US Department of the Treasury, US Department of Health & Human Services, US Department of the Interior, US Department of Transportation, US Social Security Administration, US Department of Commerce, US Department of State, US Environment AGENSIA, US DepArttion of Energy, Us Department of Labor, US Small Business Administration, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, US Department of Education
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Jacob Turkott/Personnel
Some federal workers also see at this moment the opportunity – a rare chance to cancel the administration. Despite the fact that they do not quite cover the disconnection and its influence on them and their colleagues, after he had, some support her policy.
“This battle is quite important that if they cannot reach an agreement that will work for the American people, then this is where we should be while we still [Republicans] He will come to the table, ”says an employee on veterans.
Others, however, feel that they are used in a political game that can be greatly completed. Some even feel the devoted democrats of Congress, who, in their opinion, fought for them.
“The democrats seemed to me, it seemed to me people who supported federal employees, but this is what they seem to put aside,” says a civil servant of the Ministry of Defense. According to this employee, democrats use federal workers as a lever for their political purposes. “It is upsetting me.”
Federal workers who explain less than 2% US civil labor force is often stereotyped as bureaucrats receiving six -digit salaries in the Washington area. In fact, federal employees live and work in the States throughout the country; Less than 20% of employees in the US personnel management database live in the district of Colombia, Virginia or Maryland. And more than one third are done from 50,000 to 89,000 dollars a year – comparable with The average salary of the United StatesSome people say that they will have to cancel their savings until the government opens again.
How typical, the Republicans and Democrats of Congress accuse each other in closing. The short -term bill on expenses, adopted by the Republicans of the House of Representatives, known as the ongoing decision, will simply extend the current levels of expenses for seven weeks, leaving the government open, while both parties continue to negotiate the budget. But the bill needs bicaparty support for adoption in the Senate, and the Democrats there refused to support it, unless the Republicans do not agree to cancel the Medicaid reduction in one large beautiful bill and extend expirational subsidies to the law on affordable medical care.
Sites of agencies and emails are accused of democrats
However, it is not typical is how agencies seem to participate in politics.
An employee of patents in the USA and the office on trademarks says that the email that arrived in his mailbox on Tuesday in the afternoon in preparation for disconnecting was “more political” than such emails that he received in relation to previous disconnuses for almost two decades in the agency. “President Trump is opposed to the closure of the government,” the employees of the Department of Commerce began, according to a copy of the monitor. “Unfortunately, the Democrats block this constant resolution in the US Senate from unrelated political requirements.”
Similar Jabs appeared on the web sites of the agency this week. “The radical left in the Congress closed the government,” the banner reads on the web site of the Ministry of Housing and Urban DevelopmentThe field “Democrats closed the government”, repeats one more on the web site of the Ministry of JusticeThe field of several employees of the Department of Education informed NBC News that their answers by e -mail outside the office were Changed without their permission to obvious partisan messagesThe Democrats say that all this is in a clear violation Hatch law which prohibits federal employees to participate in foreign political activity.
“Why should I be a pawn in all this budget?” He asks an employee of the patent office. “This is just one drama after another. This is tiring. “
Personnel management department that the federal government will shed 300,000 employees By the end of the year, including 150,000, which took the option of a voluntary ransom proposed in the electronic letter “Vilka on the road” and whose last day was September 30. If these figures are correct, this will mean that the Trump administration will supplant 12.5% of the federal civil labor force. But the exact numbers were difficult to determine, because some Employees later quit From the need or trial. The administration said that its goal is greater efficiency, but federal workers say that the turmoil of the last few months was unlikely to be effective. 150,000 federal employees who accepted the proposal of redemption were paid for several months so as not to work, and hundreds of thousands that were in the cold, as long as the government opened up, will return for the fact that the time spent did not work. Instead of eliminating waste and fraud, some federal employees inform the monitoring of indistinct dismissals caused by the “brain leak” of some of the best government staff.
“Morality is not very good,” says an employee of the Ministry of Defense, who began to look for work outside the government due to a “hidden threat” of notifications of reduction. “People have come to terms with the fact that this is new normal.”
For some, such as an employee of the patent office, the stop was the last straw in this new normal order. He was already thinking about leaving the government; By Thursday, he accepted a new job in the private sector.
Employees Simon Montlak and Linda Feldmann contributed to this report.
