Workers with the Environmental Protection Agency will be laid off by the Trump administration amid the government shutdown, according to an email received by employees in the agency's Resource Conservation and Sustainability Division, according to The Hill.
"This notice is to inform you that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be conducting a Reduction in Force," Steven Cook, principal deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management, said in the email.
"This action is necessary to align our workforce with the Agency's current and future needs and to ensure the efficient and effective operation of our programs," he added.
Justin Chen, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, which represents EPA workers, in a statement said it was "appalling that the Trump administration is using the government shutdown as an excuse to fire federal workers, including dedicated EPA employees who provide critical services to communities across the country."
He said using EPA jobs "as political leverage is an unprecedented and illegal abuse of power," adding that they will weaken the agency workforce and thus pose a direct threat to public health and safety.
The Trump administration Friday announced it had begun "substantial" layoffs of federal workers as the government shutdown continues.
"The RIFs have begun," the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, posted on X Friday, day 10 of the shutdown.
RIFs refer to reduction-in-force plans.
It's unclear how many people were affected as Vought provided no further detail.
The AFGE, the largest federal employee union, replied to Vought on X, saying: "The lawsuit has been filed."
Asked about layoffs broadly, an EPA spokesperson told The Hill: "It's unfortunate that Democrats have chosen to shut down the government and brought about this outcome. If they want to reopen the government, they can choose to do so at any time."
An administration official told Politico that layoffs have also hit the following departments: Interior, Homeland Security, Treasury, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development.
A spokesperson with HHS told Axios on Friday that HHS employees "across multiple divisions have received reduction-in-force notices as a direct consequence of the Democrat-led government shutdown."
A spokesperson for HUD said the agency was "implementing a reduction in force to align our programs with the Administration's priorities and the appropriations available to the department."
Nicole Cantello, president of the AFGE Local 704 union, which represents EPA staffers in the Midwest, told The Hill the move was "the latest way that the Trump administration is weaponizing this furlough against federal employees, stopping them from serving the American people to the best of their ability."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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