WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Gary Peters (D-MI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and 10 colleagues in sending a letter to White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Office of Personnel Management Acting Director Charles Ezell, pressing the officials for answers on the Trump Administration’s intent to fire large swaths of merit-based federal workers through reduction in force (RIF) plans. In their letter, the Senators raise serious concerns about the potential hollowing out of the federal workforce on a massive scale – and they ask the officials for responses to a series of questions regarding the legality of these plans and how they will impact essential public services for the American people if carried out.
“We write to request information about the reduction in force (RIF) plans that aim to terminate hundreds of thousands of employees at federal agencies across the country at the purported direction of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE),” the Senators wrote. “The executive order and guidance memo make clear that the Administration is working toward massive, across-the-board layoffs for the sake of layoffs, rather than a true effort to improve agency efficiency.
“Federal employees provide critical services for the American people including supporting our veterans, coordinating disaster response, preventing wildfires, helping farmers improve crop yields, managing health benefits for 9/11 first responders, researching treatments and cures for diseases, keeping air travel safe, processing tax returns, and staffing our national parks. These dedicated public servants include experts in their field and veterans seeking to continue their service to our country out of uniform,” the lawmakers continued.
“Every indication suggests that these mass terminations amount to a catastrophic, strategic hollowing out of the federal workforce. The ultimate goal is clear: weaken the federal government to serve the President’s politics rather than the needs of the American people. After federal agencies are gutted, we fear the Administration will replace the dedicated, nonpartisan civil servants with political loyalists and sell agencies for parts to unaccountable corporations that will profit off the backs of taxpayers, privatizing critical services from Social Security benefits to air traffic control,” the Senators wrote, going on to list a series of questions for the Administration’s response – including the involvement of DOGE in these efforts; whether they are considering military veteran-civil servants’ status as required under RIF procedure; and how they are measuring the impact of these large-scale cuts on the delivery of essential services, national security, and public safety.
In addition to Senators Hirono, Van Hollen, Schumer, Peters, and Blumentha, the letter was also signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Mark Warner (D-VA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
Dear Mr. Ezell and Mr. Vought:
We write to request information about the reduction in force (RIF) plans that aim to terminate hundreds of thousands of employees at federal agencies across the country at the purported direction of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
On February 11, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order entitled Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Workforce Optimization Initiative that directs agencies to initiate large-scale RIFs. It calls for agencies to use their staffing plans for skeleton operations during a government shutdown as a blueprint for the RIFs, which could mean cuts to the magnitude of 700,000 employees. On February 26, 2025, OPM and OMB released a memo that states RIF plans should include a significant reduction in full-time positions, while implausibly increasing productivity and providing better service for the American people. The executive order and joint OPM-OMB memo underscore that agencies should significantly reduce the number of full-time positions, using their shutdown operations plans “as the starting point for making this determination.” The executive order and guidance memo make clear that the Administration is working toward massive, across-the-board layoffs for the sake of layoffs, rather than a true effort to improve agency efficiency.
As you know, in order to conduct a legal RIF, an agency must follow strict regulations, including considering veteran status, in order to determine whether a position is eliminated and whether the employee in an eliminated position has a right to a different position as detailed in Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Additionally, RIFs are expensive and time consuming. If the agencies are following the regulations, the process takes considerable manpower and resources.
Given the complex and methodical legal process required for RIFs, we are concerned about the Administration’s ability to conduct proper RIFs due to their recent haphazard efforts to terminate probationary employees en masse. The Administration realized that their own efforts were indiscriminate to a fault as made evident by their subsequent scrambling to rehire fired workers who were responding to the bird flu, maintaining the nuclear arsenal, and ensuring food and medical device safety.
Further, the size and scope of the reported RIF plans are clearly not about government efficiency. The Department of Education has announced layoffs of 50% and the Department of Veterans Affairs has proposed cuts of over 80,000 employees. The Department of Defense is seeking to reduce its civilian workforce by 5-8%, or 61,000 employees, and the IRS reportedly plans to cut around 25% of its workforce, or 20,000 employees. On April 1, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services began the process of firing 10,000 employees, in addition to 10,000 employees who left their positions through the deferred resignation program and other downsizing efforts. Two days later, Secretary Kennedy suggested that 20% of these terminations could be mistakes. The Secretary stated, “[p]ersonnel that should not have been cut were cut… that was always the plan. Part of the DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning, is we’re going to do 80% cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstated, because we’ll make mistakes.” The Social Security Administration (SSA) has already lost over 7,000 employees through terminations and resignations since February and closed 6 of 10 regional offices, leading to increased wait times and multiple website crashes over the past month—yet SSA plans to cut thousands more.
Federal employees provide critical services for the American people including supporting our veterans, coordinating disaster response, preventing wildfires, helping farmers improve crop yields, managing health benefits for 9/11 first responders, researching treatments and cures for diseases, keeping air travel safe, processing tax returns, and staffing our national parks. These dedicated public servants include experts in their field and veterans seeking to continue their service to our country out of uniform. Every indication suggests that these mass terminations amount to a catastrophic, strategic hollowing out of the federal workforce. The ultimate goal is clear: weaken the federal government to serve the President’s politics rather than the needs of the American people. After federal agencies are gutted, we fear the Administration will replace the dedicated, nonpartisan civil servants with political loyalists and sell agencies for parts to unaccountable corporations that will profit off the backs of taxpayers, privatizing critical services from Social Security benefits to air traffic control.
As the Administration has already taken careless and transparently illegal actions against federal workers, we request by April 21, 2025 detailed answers to the following questions to better understand the impact of the planned mass terminations.
By April 21, 2025, and with weekly updates thereafter, provide:
Thank you for addressing our grave concerns regarding the unwarranted and possibly illegal termination of hundreds of thousands of civil servants. Please respond to us no later than April 21, 2025.
Sincerely,
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