Amid President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s mass firings of federal employees, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) suggested during a hearing last month that federal employees “do not deserve a paycheck.”
Addressing Democrats, Greene said, “You can protest all you want outside of departments of this government, you can protest all you want, but the American people disagree with you,” Greene said, “You’re protecting the bureaucracy. The bureaucracy is not a business. Those are not real jobs producing federal revenue, by the way. They’re consuming taxpayer dollars. Those jobs are paid for by the American tax people, who work real jobs, earn real income, pay federal taxes, and then pay these federal employees. Federal employees do not deserve their jobs. Federal employees do not deserve their paychecks. And these are jobs that can be fired at will.”
Concerning producing federal revenue, how about the IRS? Also, how about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has returned $17.5 billion to the US and its citizens?
In addition to air traffic control (FAA), weather warnings (NOAA), and military defense (DOD), what about the role of federal employees doing other things to save lives? For instance, what about the 342,000 health workers of PEPFAR?
Since 2003, the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), administered by USAID, has provided support for people living with HIV, saving 26 million lives and enabling 7.8 million babies to be born HIV-free. In 2024 alone, PEPFAR provided nearly 84 million people with HIV testing services.
With the current problematic “America First” doctrine, some may care less about saving foreign lives, raising the question, “Well then, what about American lives?” The relevant agencies saving American lives are too numerous to address here.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) employs more than 80,000 people and runs 13 supporting agencies. Besides CDC, agencies include the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Through CMS the Department also provides health coverage for nearly half the country through Medicare and Medicaid. Its staff includes scientists, researchers, doctors, and other officials. It oversees research on vaccines, diseases, and cures. It regulates the medications in medicine cabinets and inspects the foods in cupboards.
The CDC is charged with protecting Americans from outbreaks and other public health threats. Historically, it has been seen as a global leader in disease control and a reliable source of health information, boasting some of the top experts in the world. The staff is heavy with scientists—60 percent have master’s degrees or doctorates.
CDC tracks and responds to emerging health threats, from infectious disease outbreaks to chronic health conditions. In collaboration with federal, state, and local partners, the CDC has been actively engaged in a coordinated response, responding to outbreaks of avian influenza A (H5N1) (“H5N1 bird flu”) in the United States since early 2024. These outbreaks in poultry, dairy cows, and other animals have caused sporadic human infections resulting primarily from exposures to infected animals. Approximately 50% of known cases worldwide have been fatal.
Look at just one of the Institutes in NIH—the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), led by the renowned Dr. Anthony Fauci. After decades of conducting and supporting related research, when NIAID researchers got the analysis of this new virus, they went into the laboratory that weekend and laid the groundwork for developing the vaccines in the first 100 days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is saving lives in addition to running the government—important stuff. Consequentially, there must be some reason so many critical jobs are being cut. Are Rep. Greene’s opinions what they think about federal employees? Or is this just an isolated, ignorant statement?
Some say Rep. Greene is just speaking from personal experience as a federal government employee. Whatever the reason, these wholesale, uninformed job cuts are injurious to the future operations of the US Government as well as our health.
It is apparent that Trump and the Republicans in Congress do not care about HHS and the saving of lives with the appointment of Robert Kennedy, Jr., as Secretary since he denies the science behind much of the Department’s work.