US massively cuts federal staff

After tens of thousands of employees voluntarily quit, the US continues its plan to streamline its apparatus by massively laying off employees in many fields.

The Trump administration laid off at least 9,500 federal employees this week, an unprecedented effort that shows no signs of slowing down to reduce the size of the bureaucracy of about 2.3 million employees.

The cuts are mainly aimed at employees who have been hired for less than a year, which has few restrictions, according to Reuters. The layoffs come after about 75,000 employees voluntarily took severance pay.

drastic move

The wave of layoffs began on February 13 (local time) at agencies including the federal Office of Personnel Management and the Small Business Administration, with dozens of employees being laid off at each agency.

By the evening of February 13 and the following day, the pace accelerated. Sources said that about 2,300 employees at the Interior Department were laid off, including about 800 at the Bureau of Land Management. At the Department of Energy, about 1,200 to 2,000 were laid off, including more than 300 at the National Nuclear Security Administration. Notably, according to POLITICO , the Forest Service under the Department of Agriculture laid off about 3,400 employees, equivalent to nearly 10% of its staff. In addition, the Department of Agriculture also cut staff at research and lending agencies, but the specific numbers are unclear.

Protests outside the Capitol on February 11 against the policies of Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk

In the welfare sector, about 45 percent of new hires who were considered probationary at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were laid off. The AP previously reported that the CDC was laying off about 1,300 employees, or 10 percent of its workforce. In addition, more than 1,000 of the 450,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs were laid off. At the Department of Education, at least 160 new hires were given notice to leave. Trump has called for the agency, which has 4,400 employees, to be dissolved, but Congress needs to approve it.

Surprise, concern

The cuts over the past few days have caused confusion, as well as concerns about the impact on related sectors. On February 14, an employee at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development left the bathroom to find that he had been fired. When he returned to his desk a few minutes later, he was blocked from all computer systems.

Many are also concerned about the negative impact on many agency operations. According to The Washington Post , many Democrats and conservationists are concerned that the reduction in staff at the National Park Service, part of the Department of the Interior, will leave national parks short-staffed next summer, when they are expected to welcome more than 100 million visitors. At the Environmental Protection Agency, officials said 388 people have been laid off, raising concerns about how the cuts will affect efforts to protect people from toxic chemicals or natural disasters like the recent California wildfires.

Some of the cuts have hit the administration’s priorities, with at least five immigration judges laid off on February 14, even though each judge handles about 500 to 700 cases a year, most of them involving deportations.

Legal battle

Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington DC on February 14 began hearing arguments from the parties on a request to block billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) he runs from accessing data from federal agencies and firing employees, according to AP. Currently, Mr. Musk and DOGE are being sued in 14 states for exercising "nearly unchecked" power. In New York, Judge Jeanette Vargas said she would continue to block individuals related to DOGE from accessing sensitive Treasury Department records.

Meanwhile, some Republican lawmakers have vowed to introduce articles of impeachment against judges who have blocked federal government actions, and have backed billionaire Musk's call for a "wave of judicial impeachment."

According to The Hill , Rep. Eli Crane said he is drafting articles of impeachment against Judge Paul Engelmayer of New York for temporarily blocking Mr. Musk and DOGE from accessing the Treasury Department's payment system. Rep. Taylor Greene pledged to hold Judge Engelmayer and others accountable for "attempting to thwart the will of the people and their elected leaders." In addition, Rep. Andrew Clyde is preparing a resolution to impeach Judge John McConnell Jr. of Rhode Island for his ruling blocking the government's federal funding freeze.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/my-o-at-cat-giam-nhan-su-lien-bang-18525021521271063.htm