A group of Democratic lawmakers joined members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and community activists on Tuesday in rallying to evict Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., along with Reps. Don Beyer, D-Va., Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., Glenn Ivey, D-Md., and Johnny Olszewski Jr., D-Md., spoke at Tuesday’s rally outside of OPM’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to lift up Federal employees while condoning Musk and DOGE’s “illegal directives” to Federal agencies.
“We’re here today to stand with the patriotic Federal employees here at OPM and other places around the government, and we’re also here to say we will not stand for Elon Musk’s illegal operation,” Sen. Van Hollen said.
“We have to shut down this illegal operation,” he said, adding, “We’re going to do it in the courts, and I want to thank AFGE and all the others who are bringing those cases. We’re working with them. We’re going to do it in Congress through every means we have … and we’re going to do this in communities all over the country.”
Sen. Van Hollen stressed that DOGE “has nothing to do with efficiency.” He explained that if DOGE were after efficiency, it wouldn’t have started by firing inspectors general whose jobs are to look for waste, fraud, and abuse within the Federal government.
“The other reason we know this has nothing to do with government efficiency, is they’re talking about step two, replacing merit-based Federal employees with political hacks,” the senator said. “That’s not about efficiency, that’s about political cronyism.”
Randy Erwin, the national president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, said that 175,000 Federal workers have now either been laid off or “forced into a deferred resignation.” Erwin also noted that over 50,000 veterans are now jobless due to the Trump administration.
OPM confirmed to MeriTalk that about 75,000 Federal employees accepted the Trump administration’s “deferred resignation” offer. The offer allows Federal employees to resign but be paid through Sept. 30.
Separately, the Trump administration has called for widespread “reductions in force” – more commonly known as layoffs – across the Federal civilian government. These layoffs have largely targeted probationary employees, whose civil service protections have yet to kick in.
“A lot of these folks that were probationary workers were only probationary workers because they got promoted into new positions. Some of them have been with the Federal government for decades. They’re the best and brightest,” Erwin said. “This is not a recipe for efficiency, this is a recipe for disaster.”
Rep. Beyer agreed, saying that if he were Elon Musk, he would be taking “the exact opposite” approach.
“I’d be coming to [AFGE] asking how do we make this workforce happy, productive, respected, well paid, and lifting up every service that we provide to the American people,” Rep. Beyer said.
Nevertheless, the congressman said, “We’re fighting as hard as we know how on Capitol Hill,” adding that they’ve already won over 25 lawsuits against DOGE and Musk’s operation.
Several court cases have been brought against DOGE, with mixed results. Some Federal judges have restricted DOGE’s access to Federal systems – such as the Treasury Department’s payment systems – while others have allowed DOGE to continue accessing data at other agencies.
“Please be hopeful. We’re not going to lose this,” Rep. Beyer said. “We have to be hopeful. We have to be courageous. We have to fight back in every way that we do and when we do that, we’re going to send Elon back to South Africa.”
“Let’s do one thing if we don’t do anything else, remind America that Federal employees are the heart blood of this nation,” added Rep. Mfume. “People are upset because they recognize this is an illegal action … This notion of getting rid of people without due process is about as anti-American as you can ever get.”
Reps. Beyer and Mfume – among others – said they will not be in attendance at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address tonight, saying that Musk and Trump are “destroying the State of the Union.”
“DOGE stands for ‘Disrespecting our Government Employees,’” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. “In my 44 years with AFGE, I have never seen the blatant disdain and disrespect for Federal employees that we’re seeing here today.”
“We all deserve better. Our employees deserve better. Americans deserve better,” added Rep. Olszewski. “I say, it’s time we send DOGE and Elon Musk packing.”
“When we fight, we win, and we’re winning,” said Rep. Ivey. “The tide’s turning … We’re going to keep going to the people because we know the people are coming with us. And we’re winning in the courts too.”
