Trump barely mentions federal workers in speech to Congress
The first few weeks of President Donald Trump's second term has focused on efforts to reshape the federal government largely through mass firings of federal workers. But he rarely mentioned them in his address to Congress Tuesday night.
"We ordered all federal workers to return to the office. They will either show up for work in person or be removed from their job," Trump said early in his speech.
The White House has not provided specifics on how many federal employees have been laid off, but it is estimated to be in the tens of thousands across the country.
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has aggressively downsized or eliminated agencies and cut more than 100,000 probationary employees nationwide from the federal workforce, a group of mostly new or recently promoted employees.
After a buyout offer was accepted by fewer federal employees than expected, tens of thousands of federal workers on probation have already been laid off.
The firings have affected all 50 states and include employees at agencies that Americans frequently interact with, including the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Internal Revenue Service, National Institutes of Health and many others.
Some have been laid off and then quickly rehired.
Firings of permanent employees with full civil service protection, not just probationary workers, is expected to begin later this month.
Trump said Americans have given Republicans a mandate for "bold and profound change" and that the federal bureaucracy has grown too large.
"Any federal bureaucrat who resists this change will be removed from office immediately," Trump said. "Because we are draining the swamp. It's very simple, and the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over."
Democrats respond
Several of those newly unemployed workers looked back at Trump in the House chamber Tuesday night. Some Democratic lawmakers invited federal workers as their guests to the speech.
And freshman Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan directly addressed them when she gave the Democratic rebuttal speech.
"You want to cut waste? I'll help you do it. But change doesn't need to be chaotic or make us less safe," she said. "The mindless firing of people who work to protect our nuclear weapons, keep our planes from crashing and conduct the research that finds the cure for cancer, only to rehire them two days later? No CEO in America could do that without being summarily fired."
A change in policy
The firings have also brought multiple lawsuits. Last week Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern California District ordered the Office of Personnel Management ― the federal government's human resources agency, which has ordered the mass firings ― to stop firing probationary employees. He ruled that the Office had no authority to fire employees. Alsup did not order the fired employees to be reinstated, and the Office of Personnel Management did not tell department heads to rehire probationary employees.
Hours before Tuesday's speech, the Office of Personnel Management revised its policy, telling departments that any firings of their probationary workers are up to the agencies themselves.