From Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08)’s office:
Trump Orders Illegal Workforce Purges To Pave The Way For Increased Corruption
February 11, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) – Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), who represents a Northern Virginia district containing one of the largest concentrations of federal employees in the U.S. House, issued the following statement today on Donald Trump’s “workforce optimization initiative,” an Executive Order pairing mass purges of the federal workforce with a directive that all new hiring be vetted by a fake, unauthorized agency headed by the President’s billionaire donor Elon Musk:
“The Musk-Trump Administration’s purge of the federal civil service is illegal, terrible for the country, and paves the way for increased corruption.
“Federal workers and their expertise are vital to Americans’ health and security. They work everyday to protect us from disease, crime, and threats foreign and domestic. They ensure our seniors have Social Security and Medicare, they provide care to veterans, and they deliver our mail. Trump’s plan to massively reduce the workforce providing those services will severely damage the delivery of those services.
“Congress passed laws to ensure that the federal civil service is a professional, career workforce selected and promoted based on skill and merit, not on political loyalty. Trump’s illegal purge, which is already singling out workers for political reasons, is coupled with a similarly illegal requirement that Elon Musk and his team of political commissars at ‘DOGE’ vet all potential hires. Musk is personally profiting from government contracts and using a position he bought with over $250 million in donations to Donald Trump to increase his own power and wealth. Turning every individual hiring decision over to him when he won’t even disclose his business holdings and investments to the American people is ridiculously corrupt.
“Finally, while Musk and Trump are distracting their followers with supposed ‘savings’ from these mass layoffs, which my Republican colleagues correctly note are a tiny fraction of all federal spending, they are preparing to enact tax cuts that will shower hundreds of times as much money on the rich. None of this is about saving money, it is about Musk and Trump enriching themselves and their wealthy friends while making huge cuts to services Americans depend on.”
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