There are federal employees A certain kind of fear has become accustomed over the past year. 2025 has been nonstop: first came the “fork” email from Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, followed by multiple layoffs from the Trump administration.
As of July, more than 150,000 federal workers have resigned from their roles since President Donald Trump took office for a second term. According to The Washington Post. Several thousand were also fired.
For the past few months, it seemed like the bleeding was over—but that all changed on Friday.
Thousands of employees at eight government agencies were subjected to RIFs, or reductions in force — the government’s formal process for laying off federal workers. According to information filed with the court From the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Friday, this latest round of layoffs affects more than 4,000 federal employees. The court filing also claims that the administration targeted the Treasury and the Departments of Health and Human Services hardest, hacking a combined 2,500 jobs at the two agencies and The entire Washington, DC, office of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Department of Education has killed almost its entire team to manage special education. CNN reported the information on Tuesday. From one of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Dozens to hundreds of jobsAccording to the same filing.
Every day is an adventure
“People are scared. Who says their goal is to hurt people?” An IRS employee said, References to personal lectures given by Russell Voughtwho was the head of OMB and a key architect of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 public face Job cuts “If an ordinary person says ‘my goal is to hurt families,’ that person should have the police on their doorstep.”
“It’s pretty disappointing,” a Food and Drug Administration employee told Wired “It’s clear that they don’t want to make the agencies or offices that this administrator will be operating illegally suffer any more.” (The Trump administration has used government resources such as websites to blame Democrats for the shutdown, which critics claim is a violation. Hatch LawA law prohibiting the use of public resources to transmit political messages.)
“Every day is an adventure: new EOs, new memos,” said a Department of Homeland Security official. “There’s constant monitoring of where to pivot and what to stop, start and sustain.” (All of these employees have been granted anonymity so they can speak candidly about their experiences.)