CONGRESS MUST ACT TO PROTECT FEDERAL WORKERS
QUICK READ: The Trump administration’s efforts, outlined in Project 2025, to decimate our government’s ability to work for the people, will harm not only the federal workforce but also individuals and communities across America. So far, at least 30,000 have been purged from 26 Departments and agencies, but Musk and Russell Vought are just getting started. These mass purges are meant to destroy a civil service beholden to the Constitution and the American people, not to any political party or president. Congress must stop this illegal, unconstitutional power grab.
CONTENTS:
BACKGROUND
Although Trump was not elected with a mandate to decimate the federal workforce, he’s following the Project 2025 playbook, whose aim is to hollow out the federal workforce at all levels, destroy its civil service protections, and replace those purged with at-will, Trump sycophants.
There are 2.2 million civil servants—one-quarter in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia and the rest in every community across the country, where they represent 5%-7% of a congressional district’s workforce—working on military bases, in national parks, for the IRS and SSA and many other federal agencies serving the American people. They protect our public health, the environment, our food and water, our forests and public lands, and the safety of our airspace and of the products we use.
At last count, at least 30,000 probationary and other federal workers, whose activities in 26 Departments and agencies are deemed to violate Project 2025, have been purged—not including contract workers, unreported firings, and the 5,400 Pentagon employees being terminated this week of the 61,000 it plans to eliminate.
And, some of them aren’t even funded by taxpayers.
Everyone will suffer from these illegal firings—discharged workers, local governments losing part of their tax bases and paying unemployment compensation, local businesses selling less, government agencies losing expertise, and American taxpayers paying to compensate suing workers and for attorneys defending these lawsuits.
Our MoCs must stop this illegal, unconstitutional power grab—exposing it through hearings and daily publicity about its victims’ suffering, upholding expertise and the rule of law, and ensuring that the government functions for everyone.
ACTION One: Call the Senate.
Script for Oregon Senators
SEN. MERKLEY: Portland office: 503-326-3386 | D.C. office: 202-224-3753
My name is [--] and I'm a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
As your constituent, I am calling on you to organize your colleagues to expose these illegalities and the expertise being lost and ensure that the government functions for everyone. At a minimum you must : (1) push for hearings to expose these illegalities, (2) publicize daily the victims’ stories and the expertise being lost, the inability of affected agencies to perform their constitutionally mandated functions, and the US-wide ripple effects caused by these senseless firings; (3) introduce legislation that gets rid of Musk, returns the government to the status quo, and protects the civil service from Trump’s illegal, authoritarian actions. If Republicans refuse to join this effort, Dems must force the GOP, which controls both Houses of Congress and the White House, to take the blame for shutting down the government and failing to raise the debt ceiling.
SEN. WYDEN:
Portland office: 503-326-7525 | D.C. office: 202-224-5244
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
As your constituent, I am calling on you to organize your colleagues to expose these illegalities and the expertise being lost and ensure that the government functions for everyone. At a minimum you all must : (1) push for hearings to expose these illegalities, (2) publicize daily the victims’ stories and the expertise being lost, the inability of affected agencies to perform their constitutionally mandated functions, and the US-wide ripple effects caused by these senseless firings; (3) introduce legislation that gets rid of Musk, returns the government to the status quo, and protects the civil service from Trump’s illegal, authoritarian actions. If Republicans refuse to join this effort, Dems must force the GOP, which controls both Houses of Congress and the White House, to take the blame for shutting down the government and failing to raise the debt ceiling.
Script for Republican Senators
D.C switchboard: 202-224-3121
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], [state], [zip code].
By refusing to stop Trump’s illegal power grab and Musk’s destructive efforts to fire many thousands of government employees, you are betraying your oath of office and selling out your constituents, and you’ll have to own the consequences of your nonaction. Unless you find your backbone and reassert your power over the purse and your oversight powers, you will soon find yourself unemployed.
ACTION TWO: Call the House.
Script for Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)
Oregon office: 503-469-6010 | DC office: 202-225-0855
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
As your constituent, I am calling on you to organize your colleagues to expose these illegalities and the expertise being lost and ensure that the government functions for everyone. At a minimum you must : (1) push for hearings to expose these illegalities, (2) publicize daily the victims’ stories and the expertise being lost, the inability of affected agencies to perform their constitutionally mandated functions, and the US-wide ripple effects caused by these senseless firings; (3) introduce legislation that gets rid of Musk, returns the government to the status quo, and protects the civil service from Trump’s illegal, authoritarian actions. If Republicans refuse to join this effort, Dems must force the GOP, which controls both Houses of Congress and the White House, to take the blame for shutting down the government and failing to raise the debt ceiling.
Script for Cliff Bentz (OR-02)
Medford office: 541-776-4646 | DC office: 202-225-6730
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
By refusing to stop Trump’s illegal power grab and Musk’s destructive efforts to fire many thousands of government employees, you are betraying your oath of office and selling out your constituents, and you’ll have to own the consequences of your nonaction. Unless you find your backbone and reassert your power over the purse and your oversight powers, you will soon find yourself unemployed.
Script for Maxine Dexter (OR-03)
Oregon office: 503-231-2300 | DC office: 202-225-4811
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
As your constituent, I am calling on you to organize your colleagues to expose these illegalities and the expertise being lost and ensure that the government functions for everyone. At a minimum you must : (1) push for hearings to expose these illegalities, (2) publicize daily the victims’ stories and the expertise being lost, the inability of affected agencies to perform their constitutionally mandated functions, and the US-wide ripple effects caused by these senseless firings; (3) introduce legislation that gets rid of Musk, returns the government to the status quo, and protects the civil service from Trump’s illegal, authoritarian actions. If Republicans refuse to join this effort, Dems must force the GOP, which controls both Houses of Congress and the White House, to take the blame for shutting down the government and failing to raise the debt ceiling.
Script for Val Hoyle (OR-04)
Eugene office: 541-465-6732 | DC office: 202-225-6416
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
As your constituent, I am calling on you to organize your colleagues to expose these illegalities and the expertise being lost and ensure that the government functions for everyone. At a minimum you must : (1) push for hearings to expose these illegalities, (2) publicize daily the victims’ stories and the expertise being lost, the inability of affected agencies to perform their constitutionally mandated functions, and the US-wide ripple effects caused by these senseless firings; (3) introduce legislation that gets rid of Musk, returns the government to the status quo, and protects the civil service from Trump’s illegal, authoritarian actions. If Republicans refuse to join this effort, Dems must force the GOP, which controls both Houses of Congress and the White House, to take the blame for shutting down the government and failing to raise the debt ceiling.
SCRIPT FOR Janelle Bynum (OR-05)
DC office: 202-225-5711
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
As your constituent, I am calling on you to organize your colleagues to expose these illegalities and the expertise being lost and ensure that the government functions for everyone. At a minimum you must : (1) push for hearings to expose these illegalities, (2) publicize daily the victims’ stories and the expertise being lost, the inability of affected agencies to perform their constitutionally mandated functions, and the US-wide ripple effects caused by these senseless firings; (3) introduce legislation that gets rid of Musk, returns the government to the status quo, and protects the civil service from Trump’s illegal, authoritarian actions. If Republicans refuse to join this effort, Dems must force the GOP, which controls both Houses of Congress and the White House, to take the blame for shutting down the government and failing to raise the debt ceiling.
Script for Andrea Salinas (OR-06)
Salem office: 503-385-0906 | DC office: 202-225-5643
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
As your constituent, I am calling on you to organize your colleagues to expose these illegalities and the expertise being lost and ensure that the government functions for everyone. At a minimum you must : (1) push for hearings to expose these illegalities, (2) publicize daily the victims’ stories and the expertise being lost, the inability of affected agencies to perform their constitutionally mandated functions, and the US-wide ripple effects caused by these senseless firings; (3) introduce legislation that gets rid of Musk, returns the government to the status quo, and protects the civil service from Trump’s illegal, authoritarian actions. If Republicans refuse to join this effort, Dems must force the GOP, which controls both Houses of Congress and the White House, to take the blame for shutting down the government and failing to raise the debt ceiling.
FURTHER READING
Where Trump, Musk and DOGE Have Cut Federal Workers So Far
Here are all the federal agencies where workers are being fired
How Trump’s federal worker layoffs will hit beyond Washington
Trump’s Firing Frenzy Is Hitting the GOP Where It Hurts
From weather apps to taxes: the trickle-down effects of Trump’s federal worker firings
Impacts of federal layoffs will be felt for years to come, good government group warns
Trump’s cuts to federal wildfire crews could have ‘scary’ consequences
What the Last Four Weeks Have Wrought
Many Trump Administration Personnel Actions Are Unlawful
Donald Trump’s Next Diversity Target: People With Disabilities
