Over the past two weeks, nearly 300,000 federal workers have lost their jobs. When all is said and done, it could amount to the largest job cut in American history.
The Trump administration — notably Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency — has described these firings as cutting the fat within the federal government. In reality, they are likely to have a more destabilizing effect, fundamentally and perhaps irretrievably weakening the federal government and its workforce. What is being touted as an effort to make the government more streamlined and efficient will likely have the opposite effect.
When all is said and done, it could amount to the largest job cut in American history.
I spoke to Max Stier, the founder and president of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan nonprofit group that advocates for the federal workforce and public service, about these changes. Stier was practically apoplectic about the damage that Musk and his unvetted and unaccountable DOGE workers have already wrought. “If there were a real ‘Department of Government Efficiency,’ the number one thing that would be on their list to cut is what DOGE is currently doing. They have harassed and undermined the people who are doing the work of the federal government without any understanding of the consequences. There is no legitimate reason for any of this.”
Indeed, of all the places to look for savings in the federal budget, the government workforce is probably the single worst place.
Wages and benefits for the federal workforce equals about $270 billion. That seems like a lot of money, but when one considers that the total federal budget last year was close to $7 trillion, it’s around 4% of what the government spends annually. Quite simply, the benefits in terms of saving taxpayer dollars associated with laying off 300,000 employees are more than outweighed by the huge costs — both now and in the future.
DOGE’s indiscriminate job cuts, which appear to have no rhyme or reason other than reducing the number of federal workers by any means necessary, are already reaping an ugly whirlwind.
Employee reductions at the Veterans Administration could mean that veterans are stuck with longer waits for medical care. And since military veterans make up nearly one-third of the federal workforce, they are already paying a disproportionate price for Musk’s firing spree. Social Security claims could go unanswered. Food and drug inspections may not occur. Cuts to the Federal Housing Association could mean delays in mortgage approvals for potential homeowners.
Federal parks are already seeing longer lines and fewer services for visitors. The planned firing of nearly 7,000 IRS employees in the midst of tax season could mean longer phone waits and delayed refunds for taxpayers. For the rich and well connected, there is less chance of getting caught if they pay less than their fair share in taxes.
At the National Institutes of Health, where an estimated 1,200 employees have been laid off, 10 percent of the staff at NIH’s Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias were let go. The impact on research focused on developing a cure for this disease is almost too awful to consider.
From a global standpoint, the near-total decimation of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s workforce has stopped the provision of life-saving foreign aid. It’s not hyperbole to suggest that many people around the world will die as a result.
One of the paradoxes of Musk’s firing spree is that pushing out newly promoted workers will undermine DOGE’s stated goals.
Musk’s DOGE has taken direct aim at the federal government’s probationary employees, or those with less than two years of federal service. The reason they are being targeted is not hard to discern: They are the easiest employees to fire.
But when you consider that the federal government spends $5,000 to $10,000 in recruiting and hiring federal employees, DOGE is squandering millions of dollars already spent to push these employees out the door.
But probationary employees are not just the youngest and freshest new hires across the federal government; this group also includes workers who have been promoted to new positions — the best and brightest of the federal bureaucracy.
One of the paradoxes of Musk’s firing spree is that pushing out newly promoted workers — and in such a callous and inhumane manner — will undermine DOGE’s stated goals. These individuals can likely find good jobs in the private sector. Those with fewer options outside the federal government, who are more likely to view public service as little more than a steady paycheck rather than a calling, will be the ones who remain. Even more difficult to explain is Trump’s decision this month to end the Presidential Management Fellows Program, a nearly 50-year-old federal initiative that brings talented graduate students into the civil service. How is closing off a pipeline of top-level talent serving the American people or enabling a more effective federal workforce? Getting rid of the fellows program — like so many of the firings that have already taken place — makes no sense. It is destruction for the purpose, it seems, of being destructive. Indeed, while the near-term impact of all these firings is uniformly negative, the longer-term effect will likely be worse. As Stier pointed out, with these firings, “you lose incredible institutional knowledge and relationship capital.” Musk is pushing out the “people who know how to get stuff done across the federal government.” Who will want to remain in a workplace where those in charge treat you with such glaring disrespect? Who will want to enter a workplace in which an unelected billionaire is sending out late-night, weekend emails demanding that federal employees list five things that they’ve accomplished that week — and failing to do so means getting axed? While the near-term impact of all these firings is uniformly negative, the longer-term effect will likely be worse. But the frustration for many federal workers runs deeper. As in every workforce, there is dead weight and employees merely going through the motions. However, those who sign up to work for the government eschew better-paying private-sector jobs out of a commitment to public service. I spoke to a current federal employee, who said: “What many feds find so frustrating is that we all know the score and understand that the president gets to set the agenda. We’ve signed up to execute it and willingly did so during Trump 1.0 and are prepared to do it again. If you don’t ask us to break the law, we are at your service.” It seems, however, that Trump and Musk simply don’t care. Six decades ago, a newly elected president challenged Americans to “ask what you can do for your country.” But now the president and the richest man in the world are essentially telling America’s would-be civil servants that they don’t respect them or their work — and that the most talented among them ought to do something else with their careers.
Michael A. Cohen is a political writer and a fellow with the Eurasia Group Foundation. 
