Trump Mass Firing of Federal Workers Is a Very Local Issue, Warns Watchdog

While mass layoffs of federal workers and draconian cost-cutting by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency may seem like a distant issue to many Americans, a leading influence-monitoring watchdog warned Thursday that the Trump administration's sweeping cuts "are coming to your city services next."

"President Donald Trump and Elon Musk haven't just been taking a chainsaw through federal departments in Washington, D.C. Their crusade against regular Americans, and the services they depend on, has found its latest target: public servants directly serving in communities across the country," Accountable.US said in a statement.

The group noted that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) "has taken aim at workers across the country who are providing critical services ranging from veterans' care, administration of Social Security benefits, public health, forest service management, and more."

"That's because at least 80% of all federal workers live outside of the Beltway, with federal field offices facing cuts which will lead to degraded services in communities in every state," Accountable.US added. "Already, Americans are feeling the impact of office closures and the elimination of jobs."

For example, in Pennsylvania, DOGE is closing Rural Housing Service, Internal Revenue Service, and Fish and Wildlife Service field offices that employ and serve local residents. In Michigan, hundreds of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration workers have been laid off. In Nevada, federal office building maintenance staffers in Las Vegas and Reno have been let go. The list goes on and on.

"What Donald Trump and Elon Musk aren't telling you is that under the banner of DOGE they are gutting Americans' jobs and eliminating their essential services all across the country," Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk said Thursday.

"From veterans' services to Social Security benefits, the administration is recklessly playing politics with benefits Americans depend on," Carrk continued. "It's all in service of paying for tax cuts which will benefit Trump, Musk, and their wealthy friends' pocketbooks, but push regular Americans further behind."

On Friday, Carrk further called the Trump-Musk cuts "a slap in the face to workers across the country, who get up everyday and serve others in their community."

"The fact these unnecessary job cuts are in service of paying for tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, makes it all the more despicable," he added.

In many cases, people who enthusiastically voted for Trump have been fired, including disabled Air Force veteran Nathan Hooven, who was terminated last month from his job at a Virginia medical center for veterans. As Common Dreams reported Wednesday, up to 83,000 Department of Veterans Affairs jobs are on the Trump-Musk chopping block.

"I think a lot of other veterans voted the same way, and we have been betrayed," Hooven told The Associated Press Wednesday. "I feel like my life and the lives of so many like me, so many that have sacrificed so much for this country, are being destroyed."

Despite efforts like the "New York Wants You" campaign to hire laid off federal workers, finding new employment can be a tremendous challenge, especially for older workers and people with disabilities. There are approximately 3 million federal employees, more than 50% of whom are age 45 or older.

"Federal workers all across the country are starting to look, and it's impacting people everywhere," Cory Stahle, an economist at the job search platform Indeed, told The New York Times Friday. "It's hard to think this isn't going to stress test the labor market in the coming months."

The Trump-Musk purge has many targeted workers shaking their heads in disbelief.

"Why are government employees suddenly the enemy?" Timothy Nicolazzi, a program analyst at the Department of Housing and Urban Development facing the loss of his job, told the Louisville Courier Journal Friday.

"A lot of us took these positions because we wanted to continue serving our country in a different capacity," the veteran added. "We just keep asking why, why is this happening to us? When did we become the enemy? When did serving our country become the wrong thing to do?"