The campaign of President Donald Trump and his advisor Elon Musk for radical cuts to U.S. government employees expanded further on Friday with the loss of jobs for thousands of workers in various sectors, ranging from the country’s nuclear arsenal to veterans’ care.
Around 1,200 to 2,000 workers at the Department of Energy were cut, including hundreds of employees at the office overseeing nuclear weapon stockpiles, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
This added to the wave of cuts at departments such as Veterans Affairs, the Department of Education, and the Small Business Administration.
Officials from the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees federal employment, met with agencies on Thursday, advising them to lay off workers who were in probationary periods, according to someone familiar with the matter.
According to government data, approximately 280,000 employees, out of a total of 2.3 million civilian federal employees, were hired over the last two years, meaning most are still in probationary periods and can be more easily laid off.
Actions at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggest that a broader range of individuals are being targeted than just probationary workers, sources said, and contracts for some employees with fixed terms have been terminated.
President Trump argues that the federal government is too bloated and that much money has been lost through waste and fraud. The federal government’s debt is around $36 trillion, and it had a deficit of $1.8 trillion last year. There is also bipartisan agreement on the need for government reform.
However, Democratic lawmakers argue that President Trump is undermining the constitutional authority of the legislature over federal spending, even though his Republican colleagues, who hold majorities in both chambers of Congress, have largely supported the measures taken.
“I trust Secretary Collins when he says there will be no impact on providing care, benefits, and services to veterans with this plan,” said Republican Congressman Mike Bost, who chairs the House committee overseeing the Department of Veterans Affairs, in a statement on Friday, referring to the department’s leader, Secretary Doug Collins. The department said on Thursday that it was laying off over 1,000 workers.
The full extent of the layoffs is still unclear, but at least 6,000 employees in seven departments and agencies have been let go this week, according to reports from Reuters and other media outlets.
