Virginia’s U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, who represents a Northern Virginia district containing one of the largest concentrations of federal employees in the U.S. House, issued the following statement Tuesday on Donald Trump’s “workforce optimization initiative,” an Executive Order pairing mass purges of the federal workforce with a directive that all new hiring be vetted by a fake, unauthorized agency headed by the President’s billionaire donor Elon Musk:
“The Musk-Trump Administration’s purge of the federal civil service is illegal, terrible for the country, and paves the way for increased corruption.
“Federal workers and their expertise are vital to Americans’ health and security. They work everyday to protect us from disease, crime, and threats foreign and domestic. They ensure our seniors have Social Security and Medicare, they provide care to veterans, and they deliver our mail. Trump’s plan to massively reduce the workforce providing those services will severely damage the delivery of those services.
“Congress passed laws to ensure that the federal civil service is a professional, career workforce selected and promoted based on skill and merit, not on political loyalty. Trump’s illegal purge, which is already singling out workers for political reasons, is coupled with a similarly illegal requirement that Elon Musk and his team of political commissars at ‘DOGE’ vet all potential hires.
“Musk is personally profiting from government contracts and using a position he bought with over $250 million in donations to Donald Trump to increase his own power and wealth. Turning every individual hiring decision over to him when he won’t even disclose his business holdings and investments to the American people is ridiculously corrupt.
“While Musk and Trump are distracting their followers with supposed ‘savings’ from these mass layoffs, which my Republican colleagues correctly note are a tiny fraction of all federal spending, they are preparing to enact tax cuts that will shower hundreds of times as much money on the rich. None of this is about saving money, it is about Musk and Trump enriching themselves and their wealthy friends while making huge cuts to services Americans depend on.”
In another statement issued Tuesday, Virginia U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Fairfax County, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, said, “The facade of who runs the government is gone. Yesterday, we saw something that has never happened before. Elon Musk stood behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, answering questions from reporters as if he were the president himself. He wasn’t just sitting in on a meeting — he was running it.”
“That has never happened before in American history,” Connolly added.”And what was he doing? Justifying his illegal cuts to government agencies, explaining away his blatant conflicts of interest, and, without a hint of irony, calling hard-working civil servants in the bureaucracy an ‘unelected fourth branch.’ But here’s the truth: Elon Musk is the unelected one. And now he’s making decisions that impact all of us.”
In yet another development, the Trump White House blocked an Associated Press reporter from an event in the Oval Office Tuesday after demanding the news agency alter its style on the Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump has ordered renamed the Gulf of America.
The reporter tried to enter the White House event as usual Tuesday afternoon and was turned away. Later, a second AP reporter was barred from a late-evening event in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room.
Julie Pace, AP’s senior vice president and executive editor, called the administration’s move “unacceptable.”
Eugene Daniels, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, stated, “The White House cannot dictate how news organizations report the news, nor should it penalize working journalists because it is unhappy with their editors’ decisions. The move by the administration to bar a reporter from the Associated Press from an official event open to news coverage today is unacceptable. The WHCA stands with the Associated Press and calls on the administration to immediately change course.”
Yesterday, Virginia U.S. Senator Tim Kaine issued a statement following his “no” vote on the confirmation of Tulsi Gabbard as the U.S. Director of National Intelligence.
Kaine wrote, “I voted no, and I want to talk briefly about why: the safety of America’s communities and our national securities are my top priority, as they should be for any senator.
With that in mind, I simply could not support Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to this role — one of the principal advisors to the President on national security matters trusted to safeguard our nation’s most sensitive secrets. It leads 18 intelligence agencies composed of men and women who have devoted their lives to the security of the United States.
He added, “Tulsi Gabbard is not the right person to hold this position — especially as we face rising threats from China, Russia, Iran, and other bad actors around the world. Gabbard has praised Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad. She supported Edward Snowden. I held, and still hold, serious questions about her ability to do this job. All of that is why I, along with every one of my Democratic colleagues, cast a definitive ‘no’ vote on her confirmation.
Kaine went on, “There’s something else that is of great significance and concern: Many of my Republican colleagues shared my concerns — and expressed deep reservations behind closed doors about Tulsi Gabbard holding this position.
“:So by confirming her to this post, we are shown yet another example of the GOP inability to stand up to President Trump — even in defense of our national security.
When faced with this reality — leaders who are unwilling to put America first, continued evidence of extremism taking root, downright chaos — I know it can be easy to feel disheartened.
“But right now, more than ever before, we must continue to speak out together about the failures of the Trump Administration and the Republican congressional majority.”
