Fired Federal Workers from the Fork Off Coalition participated in a sit-in at the Capitol on May 20 to make their illegal terminations more visible and in calling to be rehired by their respective agencies, along with continued funding for their vital work. After a short meeting at the Hart Senate Office Building, the group walked to the Capitol only to be held up on the street due to President Trump’s meeting with House Republicans to press them in passing his “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” It was reported that during a closed-door session, Trump chastised them for not voting as a block, threatening them by saying that anyone who voted against the bill “wouldn’t be a Republican much longer.”
Afterward leaving a brief interaction with the press, when turning to leave Trump almost walked into a wall before Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) redirected him into the hallway. The video posted on X referred to it as “Trump’s senior moment.”
Once on the Capitol steps the group was met by several Democratic lawmakers, including Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD) who both made the point of initiating conversations regarding the impact their terminations and furloughs have had on them personally and how the firings have negatively affected their various programs and agencies. This in contrast to the few passing Republicans who completely ignored the fired federal employees.
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) referred to their employment as civil servants in various capacities as “critically important work.” In responding to a worker regarding Social Security and Veterans Affairs benefits, she reflected on the incomprehensible nature of firing “…all the people who know how the system works, who correct the mistakes” in asking “what happens to somebody who does not get their social security check on time,” describing it as yet another way of negatively affecting “hard-working American people.”
Dr. Peter Kerndt M.D. formerly of USAID told Warren of the project he was involved in regarding “…the strategy at USAID of eliminating TB by 2030. There are a million and a half deaths every year. Four thousand a day die, and we had a strategy to introduce new technology that finds those cases and treats those people. It’s treatable, curable, preventable. TB is the major killer globally.”
Warren said that project was “…a reminder of the money that is spent overseas” and that, “ultimately, we can pat ourselves on the back in our generosity. The reality is that it helps us as well. Stability around the world is a lot better than a bigger army.”
Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told the workers that DOGE had “fired seed corn” by eliminating early career workers who would eventually replace older workers and that their firings in turn would threaten all our futures by creating a gap in the workforce.
One woman who formerly worked at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) told the congressman how the recent severe weather that swept across the Midwest and South resulted in the loss of 27 lives because the now understaffed agency was unable to issue early storm warnings. With hurricane season about to begin, she expressed fear that many more lives will be lost and property will be at risk due to the reduced work force and the agency’s continued inability to issue critical lifesaving warnings.
Another worker, who “managed programs that helped people recover from disasters,” said that she had been terminated, thus adding to the burden that victims will have to endure as part of the worsening effects of global warming and natural disasters in losing the vital government assistance in their time of displacement and extreme need.
When asked by Hoyer how many workers still were being paid, only a few of the 50 raised their hands while most said that their termination meant they lost their income in April. One gentleman told Congressman Hoyer that he was given a choice to “retire early or be fired” and lose everything. In response, Hoyer told a staff member to retrieve the man’s information because he was going to “look into it,” describing the threat as “illegal.”
Mike Thompson (D-CA) who represents the Napa Valley region in California responded to a sign held by a worker asking, “What Would Jesus Defund?” by saying: “I know what Jesus would defund, Republicans.”
He went on to tell how the GOP through DOGE’s actions gutted the big investment in renewable energy that would put the US at a “distinct disadvantage to the Chinese who are our main competitors; and so, they’re going to out-business us, they’re going to out-PR us, they’re going to out- invest us, in countries where we need allies and they need us.”
Elon Musk, the perpetrator of all this through DOGE, now that the damage has been done, is taking a lower profile and recently announced that in the future he won’t be spending large amounts of money on elections and is headed back to spend more time with TESLA.
While TESLA continues to lose market share in EV sales, both domestically and abroad, Musk was seen in the background of Trump’s recent state visit to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf where he managed to strike several deals: one in Saudi Arabia for his Starlink company where he gained approval to provide high-speed internet connectivity for aviation and maritime use, and another in Abu Dhabi for his Neuralink neurotechnology company where, according to news reports, the company “aims to develop implantable brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to treat a range of neurological conditions.”
Report and photos by Phil Pasquini
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