Democratic lawmakers participated in a roundtable discussion last week hosted by Congressmen Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Gerry Connolly of Virginia with major federal employee groups.
Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, who represents Virginia’s Fourth District, joined the roundtable with civil service organizations to coordinate a united front against Elon Musk and the Trump-Vance administration’s unprecedented assault on the federal workforce and the critical services they provide for Americans.
The roundtable followed Musk and Trump’s blatant attempts to seize power by issuing illegal deferred resignation offers to federal employees and implementing a federal hiring freeze. Their swift efforts include the attempted dismantlement of USAID and plans to reduce the OPM workforce by 70 percent, purge the FBI and politicize the federal workforce by replacing career civil servants with loyalists.
“From day one, the Musk-Trump-Vance administration has demonstrated a blatant disregard for America’s civil servants who dedicate their lives to serving the American people. From offering federal employees a dubious buyout that they cannot guarantee to shuttering independent executive agencies and cutting off crucial funding for lifesaving programs, Musk and Trump are actively dismantling our federal workforce and undermining their ability to complete crucial job responsibilities. I continue to hear firsthand from hundreds of constituents concerned about the detrimental impacts these actions will have. I will continue working with my congressional colleagues to uplift their stories and oppose these shortsighted and illegal attacks by this Administration,” McClellan said.
Participants in the roundtable included U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine, Gerry Connolly, Don Beyer and Robert C. “Bobby” Scott of Virginia, other members of Congress, and representatives from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Democracy Forward, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
Kaine posted on X today: “Trump and Musk’s illegal attempt to destroy USAID emboldens China and Russia, harms American families, and is causing immense human suffering for millions around the world. That’s wrong. I’m introducing legislation to enforce congressional oversight of this lawless and damaging behavior.”
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Rebecca Barnabi
