Some Minnesota lawmakers highlight plight of federal workers, while others defend firings
The federal government workforce remains in a state of flux as more workers are getting fired and others getting rehired.
Early in his address to Congress Tuesday night, President Donald Trump praised the work of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“DOGE… maybe you’ve heard of it,” the president said to applause from Republicans. “Headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight.”
It’s fair to say no Democrats in the U.S. House Chamber were cheering. In fact, many of them brought fired federal workers to the speech to highlight what they claim are firings not based on performance or the importance of what they do.
“This is a way for us to show Minnesotans and Americans the impact of the actions of Donald Trump and Elan Musk are taking,” Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minnesota, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS before the speech.
Smith’s guest was Kate Severson, a fired park ranger at Voyageur’s National Park. “Even two weeks before I was fired, I had a feeling I was on the chopping block,” she says, adding that the impact of her firing and others in the National Park Service will impact park visitors.
“We’re understaffed and park rangers and park staff are used to doing more with less. With my position gone that means other people are going to pick up a load.”
Republican House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer (R – 6th District) defends the Trump and DOGE actions as necessary to shrink a bloated federal government. “I think they’re going through every agency,” he told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. “They’re looking for excess, waste, fraud and abuse of (every) agency and they’re cleaning them up as they go.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minneapolis, brought a Minneapolis man who was fired from what he called his “dream job” with the Small Business Administration (SBA).
“I am not a number. I’m a real person,” Chris Wicker said in an online news conference with Omar on Tuesday. “Eight months into that position (at SBA), I was fired. I was unfired two days later. I was re-fired again the day after that.”
Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach (R-7th District) also defended the firings and said cutting the size of government is never easy. “I think what we’re getting at is the bloated federal bureaucracy and there needs to be cuts,” she said.
Minnesota has nearly 18,000 federal workers, but it’s unclear how many of them have been fired. Nationally, the number is also in flux as some workers are being fired and then rehired.
The number appears to be about 20,000 to 30,000 out of more than two million federal workers.