[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 188 (Wednesday, December 18, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H7329-H7330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     IN SUPPORT OF FEDERAL WORKERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in strong support of more than 
2.3 million dedicated civil servants that make up our Federal 
workforce, including nearly 30,000 Federal employees who work in my own 
congressional district.
  As a former union president of Iron Workers Local 7, I am also proud 
to stand in solidarity with the American Federation of Government 
Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union, our postal employee 
unions, and over 30 other labor organizations that tirelessly advocate 
for fair wages, safe working conditions, and quality healthcare and 
pensions for our Federal workers.
  With less than 40 days until the Presidential Inauguration, the new 
Trump administration has already announced its intent to target and 
scapegoat Federal employees, all in the name of cost reduction while at 
the same time extending trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the 
richest Americans.
  This reflects a blatant disregard for the sacrifices made by Federal 
workers at the VA and elsewhere and the critical services that they 
deliver to the American people.

  According to President-elect Trump, America's Federal workforce is 
full of: deep-state rogue bureaucrats, crooked and dishonest people who 
are destroying this country and who are going to be held accountable.
  To this end, he is seeking to revive schedule F, a punitive 
employment classification that will strip career Federal employees of 
their due process rights and other statutory civil service protections. 
This new category would also pave the way for the administration to 
fire these nonpartisan workers at will and replace them with political 
loyalists.
  President-elect Trump has also recently announced the creation of a 
so-called Department on Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Commission, an 
unofficial advisory panel that would purportedly serve to dismantle the 
government bureaucracy.
  The co-chairs of this alleged department are two billionaires, Elon 
Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have vowed to conduct mass layoffs and 
employee relocations in order to reduce the size of Federal Government. 
As they tell it, most Federal employees don't even show up to work 
anyway.
  These unwarranted attacks against our Federal workforce only serve to 
perpetuate false narratives that greatly undermine the value of public 
service and undermine the morale and ability of Federal employees to 
deliver essential services to the American people.
  As former chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations and 
the Federal Workforce, I can attest that these Federal workers are not 
rogue bureaucrats or deep-state actors. Rather, many, many of them are 
patriotic military veterans.
  In fact, our Federal workforce consists of nearly 650,000 U.S. armed 
service veterans, or more than 30 percent of all Federal employees. In 
fact, the vast majority of Federal employees work in service to care 
for 18 million veterans and their families who are served and cared for 
by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which employees nearly 490,000 
doctors, nurses, medical staff, social workers, and other healthcare 
professionals, caring for our Nation's veterans.

                              {time}  1115

  Our Federal workforce also consistently shows up to work, even during 
national emergencies, as reported by the Partnership for Public 
Service. Frontline Federal employees are deployed in the field 
nationwide as Border Patrol agents, food inspectors, postal workers, 
TSA officers, forest firefighters, FEMA disaster response personnel, 
clinical biologists, and other jobs that support public safety in times 
of crisis.
  According to the Office of Personnel Management, only 15 percent of 
Federal workers actually live in the D.C. area with 85 percent of 
Federal workers stationed in communities across our Nation.
  In stark contrast to President-elect Trump and his billionaire DOGE 
co-chairs, Federal employees are not looking to get rich. The Federal 
Salary Council reports that in 2024, Federal workers earned nearly 25 
percent less on average than their private sector counterparts. Recent 
strikes by the autoworkers, UPS Teamsters, Kaiser healthcare personnel, 
and other private sector workers have resulted in historic and well-
deserved wage increases, in some cases more than 20 percent.
  Meanwhile, to ensure the continuity of government services, Federal 
workers are expressly prohibited by statute from participating in a 
strike. They must stay on the job. Asserting the right to strike and 
even belonging to a union that asserts the right to strike against the 
Federal Government is a violation and a felony and punishable by 
imprisonment. In the interest of public safety, frontline Federal 
employees also stay on the job without pay for the duration of every 
government shutdown.
  Nevertheless, every Federal worker proudly takes an oath of office 
that reflects their commitment to our Nation, to public service, and 
dedication to carrying out their agency mission on behalf of the 
American people.
  Mr. Speaker, sadly, Elon Musk has even resorted to publicly naming 
Federal employees who he would like to fire on social media. Our 
Federal workforce deserves better. I urge my colleagues on both sides 
of the aisle to join me in strong support of America's

[[Page H7330]]

Federal workers in the face of escalating threats on their service.

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