Thousands of people surrounded the reflecting pool in front of the U.S. Capitol building on Presidents’ Day to protest the Trump administration’s terminations of recently hired federal employees and billionaire ally Elon Musk’s inroads into troves of sensitive federal systems through his Department of Government Efficiency.
Many participants who were at Monday’s gatherings are current or freshly dismissed federal workers who joined from the surrounding D.C. area, concerned that recent moves from the White House — including the decision to mass fire thousands of employees over the past week and offer a deferred resignation package to feds in moves to reduce purported taxpayer spending “waste” — are unfair, illegal and create risks for Americans and allies nationwide.
“It’s a lot of people,” said a current Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employee, referring to dozens of their probationary colleagues fired this past Tuesday, which they said included veterans and participants in agency rotational programs for recent college graduates. Employees on probationary periods are typically those who were hired into government within the last one or two years, though some affected feds have said they are longtime government employees that were recently hired or promoted into new positions.
“It’s f****** nonpartisan,” said the CFPB employee, referring to the nonpolitical nature of many civil servants’ work. “All I ask is that [the White House] follow f****** federal employment...
In its continuing action against fraudulent tax deductions, the Income Tax (I-T) Department has found fresh cases of manipulation even after taxpayers were given the opportunity to correct their r...