Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees decried the latest move by the Trump administration to drastically reduce the federal workforce, writing in a statement Wednesday that AFGE will not stand idly by as President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their lackeys "run roughshod over the Constitution, federal law, and basic human decency."
"Laying off potentially hundreds of thousands of federal workers will mean fewer services at higher costs for the American taxpayer," said Kelley, whose union represents 800,000 federal and D.C. government workers and has been active challenging Trump administration measures in court.
Kelley's comments came in response to a Wednesday memo released by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management, which gave agency leaders guidance on how to come up with "large-scale" reduction in force and reorganization plans that are due March 13.
"Agencies should also seek to consolidate areas of the agency organization chart that are duplicative; consolidate management layers where unnecessary layers exist; [and] seek reductions in components and positions that are noncritical," according to the memo, which also touches on reducing "real property footprint," "increased productivity," and other goals.
The guidance in the directive does not apply to positions that "are necessary to meet law enforcement, border security, national security, immigration enforcement, or public safety responsibilities," according to the memo, which outlines a few other exemptions as well.
Trump told agencies to prepare for "large-scale" workforce layoffs in an executive order this month.
Although pushback is expected, and courts have blocked some of the administration's actions to date, the latest move underscores just how far Trump and his allies are willing to go to radically reshape the federal government.
"Once you do this damage, it's going to be incredibly hard to rebuild the capacity of these organizations," Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, toldThe Associated Press. "It's not like you can turn the switch back on and everything is going to be the way it was before."
The Trump administration—with the help of billionaire Elon Musk's advisory group the Department of Government Efficiency—have targeted various agencies with the aim of reducing budget and staff. On Wednesday, during a Cabinet meeting, Trump signaled his continued support for Musk and his efforts to reshape government.
So far, the Trump administration has culled some 30,000 federal employees, according to an analysis from Bloomberg Law.
"This administration has targeted every single federal worker and does not seem to care how much turmoil they cause for either the employees or the American public," said Kelley. "The chaos is the point."
