This story is republished with permission from The Business Monthly serving Howard and Anne Arundel counties.
By George Berkheimer
The Business Monthly
Hundreds of federal workers from throughout the central Maryland region crammed the Smith Theater at Howard Community College on Feb. 4, invited there by Howard County Executive Calvin Ball to discuss uncertainty regarding their jobs and financial security in the wake of an unprecedented and allegedly unlawful buyout offered by the Trump administration.
Most of the speakers did not give their names, and the vast majority did not identify the office or agency which employed them. The comments expressed by 28 of the evening’s anonymous speakers follow below, edited for brevity.
“I have a suggestion: create some kind of liaison that could match federal employees’ job descriptions to open positions within the county, because my job is not going to translate 100% to a county position. For the representatives, we feel alone. We are not being supported. A video is not saving my job.”
“Within the last hour, all of the USAID employees have been put on administrative leave. In effect, USAID has been dissolved, and if you think this is the only agency that’s going to be dissolved, representing less than 1% of the U.S. government total budget, we are in for a huge surprise.”
“There needs to be some sort of recovery, some fix for everybody who has lost their jobs or taken this game show offer that’s been put in front of us because it’s coercion. In essence, if you sign this, you waive your right to whatever. It’s not right, people who are going to take it are people that don’t trust their future anymore.”
“To me, it looks like a test case for what can be done to other agencies. We are looking at thousands and thousands of layoffs and it’s not just USAID, not just the agencies in our government, [this action will extend to] normal Americans who also wanted to do good things, they are going to experience additional layoffs because of what’s happening here. I think there’s a misperception that USAID serves [those who are] not the American people, but I would say that is exactly what we do. USAID is intended to prevent threats from reaching American shores. We track viruses. We give vaccines. We stop spreads of outbreaks like Ebola, like bird flu. We work on humanitarian crises … and create goodwill around the world so that more countries want to work and partner with us, and their adversaries won’t be able to step into those gaps. Right now we’re opening up a lot of gaps, and there’s a lot of potential for our adversaries to step in and take a bigger stage.”
“It’s unconscionable that an entire agency is dissolved overnight and all those people are now unemployed. Now you have to think about the effect on housing, on food. What, if anything, is the county going to do in order to avoid increased homelessness? What is the county going to do to help people during this transition seeking employment other places, and what if anything can be done to ensure that we retain our federal careers that we’ve dedicated ourselves to, to provide for ourselves and our family and ensure that the public remains safe? I have a heightened level of anxiety. I was in 9/11 in New York, and I feel like I did when I made it home that day.”
“I’m going to beg all of you to get better at messaging. This is a national security issue, why isn’t that on the front page or the NBC Nightly News? If we don’t provide this aid to countries, China will step in and provide it for us, and they will ask them for a base in that country in return for that aid. We need to hire PR firms. We need to hire Hollywood writers. We need to get better at messaging.”
“I reached the minimum age for retirement, and this is what I am probably going to end up doing because none of us trusts this administration and their buyout. I’m still up against some problems, I can’t take anything out of my Thrift Savings Plan until I reach the age of 59 and a half. I need that money right now, and it’s locked up for another year and a half. If there were some way that law could be amended, we need that. I have a nice home, but I pay $7,000 a year in property taxes. Is there any way the county would consider giving those of us who are in this situation some kind of a break on that? I’m thinking about moving to Delaware where it’s cheaper. I’m not wild about it, but I’ll do it if I have to, for my own financial security. How do we know where all of this is going to end? Donald Trump and Elon Musk … could target the clergy next, people who are whatever they don’t like. We are living in a world like North Korea, like it or not, you don’t know what’s going to get into their minds. How do we live in a society like that, where we have to be so afraid?”
“I recently got into the federal space, just five months in, and it’s devastating. I quit my good job in the private sector because I thought I would have some kind of job security and insurance. One of my family members is not very well and needs surgery in the next couple of months. I’ve been crying and thinking about so many things like how will I pay my mortgage, how will I maintain health insurance. At this point I have to resign because I need the insurance and the job, so it will at least cover me until September, but I’m on probation and I have no idea if I’m eligible to resign and still get the benefits until the end of September, nobody at the agency is helping with that or giving me answers. I just want to work again and have a salary and health insurance until end of September and after that find another job.”
“Today they sent us letters saying, actually, we can neither confirm nor deny that you are still employed, so that’s hilarious. Some talking points you can use, 60 to 70 cents on the dollar of USAID spending actually comes back to American companies. Let’s make sure people hear that, because maybe those who were voting for this administration don’t necessarily know that, they think that money moves offshore. We’re about to have about 60 countries worth of expatriates from USAID repatriated by this Saturday. The administration is asking all our foreign service officers to come back. They will be bringing them back to the DC region, which means Maryland will be impacted. [These workers] have no families here, no homes. They live and work in the countries that they are posted to. So will the federal government support them so that the state and local governments don’t have to take that burden? Third, we get security briefings every morning. About two weeks ago those briefings were maybe one to two pages. This past week, they have been seven pages plus. There are things that are brewing out in the world that will be coming here. Will there be any tax relief for anyone who’s affected?”
“We received our admin leave letters with less than 30 minutes to be able to reply to it. They requested for us to send our personal email to them, and then we have no longer access to our [government] emails. I don’t know how we’re supposed to do that, especially when that was done after work hours.”
“We have been trying to keep in touch with federal employment lawyers to get some of these questions answered, but they are obviously busy, and a lot of the questions, I’m assuming, are very repetitive. If you can make any sort of resource available for the federal employment lawyers, specific questions or things that apply more generally across the board, and if that could be available tomorrow, I think that would help a lot of people make a much more informed decision and give us a little more understanding about the situation that we’re in.
“This is not just happening to USAID, but also the Department of State, there’s significant foreign assistance funds. All the contractors received stop orders, they have stopped working. And for federal employees like us, we were asked to provide our last performance review and our date of entry. It sounds alarming. What do they plan to do with that information? We are working on the prevention of trafficking in persons, prevention of conflicts in the world. This is very important work that we’re doing for the American people. I was not born in the U.S., and seeing the amount of illegal things that are happening right now is really scary and brings back memories of growing up in places with dictatorship. I want to urge you to treat it as the national emergency that this is because they are starting right now with civil servants. It started with USAID, and they will continue with the Department of State. They will continue with the Department of Education. This whole country will collapse. We are at a critical moment where we need you to put everything forward right now.”
“I have a child who is an elementary school student in a Title I school. Title I is taken care of this year, but I am concerned for the following year. I have [another] child with special needs who is getting extra care through the state, I don’t know if some of those funds intertwine with federal grants.”
“I hope that everyone who’s representing someone here from the government thinks it’s real now. This is a big deal. This has been a flood of things, it’s been overwhelming. And now that we’re hearing about the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) getting access to federal payment systems and OPM information, how much danger are we in with regard to our identities? I remember when the OPM had the breach from the Chinese. Remember how weird taxes got that year? You guys gotta step in and step up.”
“The defunding of Department of Education that’s coming, that they’re talking about, is really scary for parents here in our county. A lot of us are trying to figure out how to deal with our multiple children and still be able to face these challenges day in and day out.”
“I want strong people [fighting for me]. Maryland has such a huge population of federal workers, we need to be a very, very loud voice, because we are going to be deeply impacted. I work for Indian Country, and with the ICE raids that are currently happening, they’re targeting Native Americans. That isn’t our land, and that is ridiculous. We need strong people in federal government, and state government, for Maryland county government to stand up, speak up and raise their voice for us. Tell us what we need to do if we need to organize. Put contact numbers for our various representatives on [the County government] website and we will gladly flood those phone lines.”
“Communication seems to be what we need to do. This administration responds to poll numbers. The quick messaging that we could see on social media, on podcasts, I’ve seen none of it. This isn’t just federal workers, this is an assault on our democratic process, and I think that message needs to be seen a lot.”
“Federal workers are being required to go back to the office five days a week. MARC just shortened commuter lines two weeks ago, they took away a large number of buses on the routes, they’re coming more infrequently. It’s extending the workday [for commuters] by hours. It’s also a question of having actual physical space to work in their department. Some workers are hoteling. How can they be supported practically?”
“We’d like more vocalization to see our Maryland representatives our there on the news telling people do not take this resignation, call your union rep if you have one, or join the union. They have your back and we’re there for you.”
“The first emails said you’re all eligible for deferred resignation, then later they said no, we’re going to exclude people who work front line, the public-facing people. The problem is that those who are not public facing do things like updating systems that public-facing people use to process cases and help the public. I imagine this is probably happening in other agencies, excluding public-facing people so the public doesn’t cry out too much.”
“[Elon] Musk should probably be arrested. I am not allowed to install a thumb drive into a computer, but he attached a server and exported a bunch of personal information about a whole lot of people. Who knows what he’s doing with that stuff and how he might hold it over our heads? Resign, or else I will give all of your personal information to the Dark Web. And I wonder about what happens if you don’t take the resign offer. Is there some avenue for getting a class-action suit going for unlawful termination?”
“For some of us, this is also about personal security [in addition to job security]. This afternoon, some group released a DEI watch list for a series of agencies … that included names and photographs of individual federal employees. I need you to understand that there are people in this state, in your districts, in this county, who are on that list, and we are worried about whether or not we are safe, whether or not our children are safe in their beds tonight. One of the things we need is resources for where people can call if they are on that list and they are concerned. You have a lot of health care related agencies here and a lot of [those employees] are worried about physical personal safety tonight.”
“I’m a wealth manager, and I represent a fair amount of federal employees. What I hear tonight is so much worse than I ever could have imagined – [the] insult that you can go to the private sector and do something more productive, you have potentially an opportunity to receive income through September but it’s only funded through March, you’re not actually quitting, it’s so big and so ridiculous the way it’s written, this is obviously a dismantling of the federal government. The danger is now. People are being asked to make a decision in the next 48 hours, if they don’t make it they don’t know what the future will hold, and if they do make it they’re talking about legal recourse and a class-action suit in the future. Who’s going to hear that class action suit? Our redefined Supreme Court? I just have to know that there is some legal process, something that would suggest that we can take some action now, the equivalent to a cease and desist. At what level is that decided, and who do we communicate with immediately so we can take action tomorrow? I also am concerned that it’s not in the media. You guys hear it because you’re in the middle of it. If I talk to my neighbors, if they’re not federal government, they have no clue.”
“I’m not a federal employee, but I have worked in international development. My company is Maryland-based and has furloughed or laid off, at this point, about 75% of our staff. I am one of the lucky ones, I was furloughed last Thursday, my colleagues are being laid off. I am not at all confident that my company can survive this. I’m not at all confident that I will get my job back. I don’t know how we’re going to pay for our mortgage. It is estimated that because of the dismantling of USAID, 52,000 American jobs will be lost in 39 states, and rising. I know I can pivot to another industry, but so do the 52,000 other people in my situation and I don’t think the workforce can absorb all of us.”
“I don’t think all these people who voted the way they did were voting for Elon Musk and they weren’t voting for what’s happening now. If they were made aware of what is actually happening to their personal information and their benefits and their rights and all of the things that they are due as citizens of the United States, they would align with us, unite with us, and understand where we’re coming from and fight for us. We’re voting in these nominees that aren’t qualified, people who are doing things and getting confirmed for positions, and if I did that, I would lose my job yesterday.”
“I was one of the military people that got all of my information leaked at OPM, my social security number, my personal email, my work email, my affiliation, my security clearance, all of that. I never thought that I would see it again done from our own government. It is disgusting. This is people’s personal information, the things you need in order to get a passport or get a loan or qualify for your benefits. These people have our information for our payment. They have our information for our identities. I would never have thought that I would survive to see something that was considered an unprecedented data leak happening now. It’s disgusting, and the messaging needs to change, and it needs to be driven home that this is our lives on the line.”
“Our offer expires at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going to happen at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, that’s when we can probably expect to see the next wave of administrative leave happen. One of my worst fears is that as the Department of Health and Human Services is disassembled … the state and local government are going to have to step in to fulfill the obligations to public health. You need to be thinking about that and planning for that when [HHS] is not here to provide that support to our residents, because public health touches everyone in our community.”
“My colleagues should not feel inferior or intimidated. Be sure that you print out your Standard Form 50, all of your pertinent information in your electronic personnel file, it may disappear at any moment, it may be scrubbed, you may not find this documentation later. If you have access to it, do it now.”
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