In the past 3 months, around 24,000 federal employees have been fired under the Trump
Administration. This is mostly being executed under the new, unofficial, government department,
the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The goal of DOGE is to reduce waste and
inefficiency in the government, headed by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Despite the efforts to attempt to increase government efficiency, many federal employees are
being rehired. Mr. Adam Buseck says, “Some federal employees are not being ‘renewed’, some
are being fired and then because of the hurried pace of those decisions, it comes to light that
some employees are ‘essential’ or fired wrongly.”
Camden O. ’26, states “a lot of these people have gone to court, and the judges have issued a
mandate that they have to go back to work and that the firings were unconstitutional.”
Rehiring can actually reduce government efficiency, as federal employees that DOGE fired are
getting back pay and are going back to work. However, many more employees remain newly
unemployed as firings continue, some government departments are targeted more by DOGE
than others.
Camden discusses the more affected departments, saying that the threatened departments
include “the Department of Education, the Department of Commerce, which regulates trade,
nuclear workers, and the USDA.”
Mr. Michael Schreiber brings up some fears that are present amid these mass firings. “In five,
ten, 15 years, [America] will be behind the curve when it comes to certain research, whether it
be on cancer or energy, if you don’t have [researchers] in place.”
Reducing researchers leads to fears of being behind in medical, energy and other scientific or
technological research, which may lead to falling behind in our nation’s development. As
countries such as China, those in the EU, Russia, and others continue to improve military
equipment, increase sustainable development, and continue making advancements in medicine,
we will stay where we are now. This could possibly jeopardize our global standings.
While there are things to be wary of, Schreiber continues, “The government’s spending less
money not employing these people, and is also talking about getting rid of properties, like leases
on buildings we don’t use anymore.” If this benefit outweighs the cons, it can only be found out
in the future.
Federal jobs will continue to fluctuate in this uncertain time, as more departments are being
targeted and DOGE heads realize mistakes were made. This is an ongoing event, staying
informed is important for all Americans.