When they are not running away from town halls, Republicans are busy insisting that the American people desired the cuts that President Donald Trump is delivering to the federal government.
According to a tally by the Associated Press, that includes potentially 220,000 federal workers who have been on the job less than one year — designated as probationary employees. It already includes approximately 1,000 employees in the Department of Veterans Affairs, 350 at the National Nuclear Security Administration, 700 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 405 at the Department of Homeland Security. The list goes on, with each federal department seeing or expecting major cuts.
Perhaps that is what the American people desired. Undoubtedly, there is room for improved efficiency within the federal government. But before cheering the machete approach to federal government, it is essential to acknowledge the reality of the situation.
While complaints about a bloated Washington, D.C., bureaucracy are common, the fact is that more than 80 percent of the 2.4 million people in the federal workforce are outside of the nation’s capital. The vast majority work in places such as Vancouver and Clark County and the state of Washington to ensure that our food, water and air are safe, that our goods and services get where they need to go, that our questions about taxes can be answered, that our veterans receive the care they need, and that our nation functions smoothly.
As a recent article in The Columbian detailed, cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration threaten a fleet of 100 coastal buoys that “enable national and regional weather forecasting, safe maritime navigation and tsunami warning systems.”
Some $31 billion in goods travel up and down the Columbia River each year, and the mouth of the river is so treacherous that specially trained pilots are required to navigate it. Putting that navigation at risk places our economy at risk.
As Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said, the firings are “putting communities in harm’s way. They also threaten our maritime commerce and endanger 1.7 million jobs that depend on commercial, recreational and tribal fisheries, including thousands in the state of Washington.”
Similar concerns touch upon every facet of the economy and public safety. The federal government pumps nearly $30 billion a year into the state of Washington, helping to fund and regulate freeways, schools, forests, airports, hospitals, waterways and agriculture. Trump has ceded decisions about funding to Elon Musk, and Republicans in Congress have acquiesced to the power claimed by the unelected billionaire.
Trump supporters like to compare Musk’s power to Hillary Clinton’s efforts to overhaul health care when Bill Clinton was president. It is an absurd comparison; Clinton’s health care makeover was soundly rejected when the legislative branch opted to do its job and represent the people.
Removing a broad swath of federal workers while ignoring the $181 billion handed out annually in corporate welfare poorly serves the public. Firing probationary employees will have a generational impact, eliminating people who would develop institutional knowledge and move into leadership roles in coming years.
Those losses will be felt in Vancouver, Clark County and throughout the state, not only in the other Washington. As the American people recognize the damaging costs, Republicans should be willing to answer face hard questions and defend their positions.
