What’s being lost with the DOGE cuts? These fired feds can tell you.
The Washington Post spoke to workers who explained their roles — and what the country is losing with the elimination of those jobs. Today at 6:00 a.m. EDT, 15 min
Clockwise from top left: Jared Blockus lost his job as an administrative officer in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Erin Williamson was a month into her job when she was let go. Neesha Regmi Schnepf is a former research scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey. Arielle Kane lost her job at the Department of Health and Human Services. (For The Washington Post)
One was the person behind the welcome desk at a Massachusetts Veterans Affairs outreach center, the first face struggling veterans saw when they came for help. Another was the Energy Department employee responsible for knowing the thousand-page permit required for the disposal of hazardous waste. Another, the U.S. Forest Service employee responsible for hiring local teenagers each summer to keep national park trails clean.
Doctors and scientific researchers. Data analysts looking for spending efficiencies at the Education Department. Building managers responsible for finding the best air filters for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention campus in Georgia. All these people, along with tens of thousands of other federal workers, lost their jobs in recent weeks as the Trump administration has rapidly shrunk the federal workforce in the name of cutting “fraud, waste and abuse.”
Spearheaded by Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, the first round of dismissals hit probationary federal employees on Feb. 13. Many found out via emails that told them their jobs were no longer “in the public interest.” DOGE has since ordered large-scale reductions in force that would also terminate senior staff.
