WASHINGTON—House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) headlined dozens of Democratic lawmakers on Feb. 11, gathered at a rally against the Trump administration’s proposed downsizing of the federal government.
“It’s an all-hands-on-deck effort, and we’re fighting on your behalf in the Congress,” Jeffries said, speaking to members of the American Federation of Government Employees outside the Senate Russell building. “We’re fighting on your behalf in the courts, and we’re going to make sure we do what we need to do in the community.”
The American Federation of Government Employees is the largest union of government employees, boasting over 800,000 members.
One after another, the lawmakers decried the shrinking of the federal government, while touting the virtues of civil servants and unions.
“What’s disgusting?” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) chanted. “Union busting!” the crowd answered.
The controversial changes are being led by President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a newly created agency whose aim is to shrink the government workforce, eliminate bureaucratic redundancy, and cut spending.
As part of its efforts, government workers have been offered a buyout allowing them to resign with eight months of continued pay and benefits. The deadline to accept the offer was originally Feb. 7, but has been extended twice by a federal judge in Massachusetts.
The buyout offer and other downsizing efforts were described by Jeffries as an “attack” on civil servants.
Explaining the move, Trump told reporters at the Oval Office on Feb. 11, “What we’re trying to do is reduce government, we have too many people.”
“We have office space that’s occupied by four percent. Nobody’s showing up to work, because they were told not to.”
The president was joined in that press conference by Musk, who highlighted in detail examples of waste and fraud uncovered by his team, including social security payments being made to individuals who were purportedly 150 years old.
Musk said the DOGE efforts are what American voters wanted to see.
“The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what people are going to get,” he said.
Backlash from the government sector against Trump, Musk, and DOGE has intensified following the administration’s attempt to close down or reorganize entire government agencies.
Around 2,200 employees of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) were set to be placed on paid leave at midnight on Feb. 7, until that order was also halted by a D.C. federal judge hours before it took effect.
Trump and Musk have also targeted the Department of Education, citing large expenditures and poor academic outcomes.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said on Feb. 9 that she would like to see the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) shut down, or reorganized in such a way that aid distribution is handled by the states.
The administration’s efforts have been met with a flurry of lawsuits, as well as public demonstrations by Democrat members of Congress.
Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Feb. 10 unveiled a plan to oppose the government cuts, and other changes being imposed by the Trump administration.
His four-part strategy includes extra oversight by members of Congress, more lawsuits, withholding Democrat support on funding legislation, and rallying public support.
