Senate Democrats are calling on the Trump administration to provide information on how many military veterans have been caught up in its federal workforce firing spree.
Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and 11 other Senate Democrats sent a letter to Charles Ezell, the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, requesting a complete breakdown of all the buyouts offered and a list, by agency, of the federal employees who have received pink slips, including military veterans.
“More than 640,000 veterans were part of the federal workforce before Elon Musk and President Trump’s haphazard layoffs began, many of whom are losing their livelihoods after these layoffs and a legally questionable deferred resignation program,” the Democratic senators said in the letter.
“We are alarmed because it does not appear OPM conducted any meaningful assessment of how layoffs and the legally questionable ‘Fork in the Road’ deferred resignation offer would impact veterans,” they said. “We request information on what, if any, assessment OPM conducted on the impact the deferred resignation offer and mass layoffs will have on federal agencies’ ability to meet their missions and Congressional mandate, or the impact to the federal workforce, particularly on U.S. veterans.”
At least 100,000 federal employees have taken buyouts or been fired as the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency seeks to downsize the government’s 2.3 million-strong civilian workforce. Recently, thousands more layoff notices were sent to agencies such as the Education Department.
On Tuesday, the White House said the thousands of military veterans laid off as part of government downsizing were perhaps “unfit ” for employment.
DOCUMENT: Letter to the Office of Personnel Management
“We have a fiscal responsibility to use taxpayer dollars to pay people that actually work,” White House counselor Alina Habba told reporters. “That doesn’t mean we forget our veterans by any means.”
“We are going to care for them in the right way, but perhaps they’re not fit to have a job at this moment or not willing to come to work,” she said.
Mr. Trump has praised Mr. Musk and encouraged him to be more aggressive in his push to eliminate $1 trillion in federal spending.
Meanwhile, Democrats struggled over the first 40-plus days to slow the Trump agenda.
After a disappointing election cycle in which Americans voted against the status quo, they search for a unifying message to rally their troops.
They have gained some traction by tapping into the early blowback against the Trump administration’s downsizing efforts.
SEE ALSO: White House says fired veterans among federal workers are ‘perhaps’ not fit for the jobs
Democrats say Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk are operating in a haphazard fashion that fails to consider the impact on the vital work of the government agency and federal workers of all political stripes whose lives have been upended.
They have gone to great lengths to highlight the stories of veterans laid off.
Democrats invited some federal workers as guests to Mr. Trump’s first address to a Joint Session of Congress since being elected in November.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer was set to be joined by a disabled veteran who served 18 months in Afghanistan and recently lost her job at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“All federal employees deserve fair treatment and recognition for their service to the American people,” the Democratic senators said in their letter to OPM. “Veterans bring great value and skillsets earned through their military service to the federal government.
“To lay them off with no forethought is disrespectful to their service and damaging to our federal government,” they said.
• Jeff Mordock contributed to this report.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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