Press Releases

Washington, D.C. — Rep. Becca Balint spoke on the House floor on Wednesday evening to call out President Trump’s attack on the federal workforce. Vermont is home to 8,000 federal workers. By purging federal workers, President Trump and Elon Musk are trying to create chaos and confusion that will harm Americans.

View the speech here. 

Her remarks below:

I'm here today to stand with our federal workers and civil servants and to tell them that we will fight these illegal actions.

The Trump administration is treating our federal workforce as if they are the enemy. These are regular Americans who work important jobs all over the country, not just in D.C. but in all of our districts.

In fact, 85% of the nonpartisan civil servants are spread around the country. Vermont is home to 8,000 of these federal workers. They're part of the 2 million federal workers that operate our national parks.

They're scientists at the FDA. They work at hospitals, at NASA. They protect our national security. In fact, 70% work on behalf of our national security and defense.

And I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned that the illegal purge of our civil servants at the Department of Justice and at the FBI will lead to another 9/11 terrorist attack.

And Americans, I ask you, do we really want to put our nation at risk so that billionaires can get a massive tax cut? Follow the money. That's what this is about. Firing our federal workforce to fund tax cuts for billionaires.

Don't keep, don't be fooled by what's happening here. It is about the money. Follow the money.

Our federal workers are civil servants because they're here to serve the people. They are hired on a nonpartisan basis because they keep our country running. They keep us safe. 

This, what is happening, is an illegal takeover of our government. Our government.

By locking them out of their jobs, firing them illegally, and bullying them out of a job, Trump and Musk are trying to create chaos and confusion and it will harm Americans. Not just the people who are being fired illegally, but it will harm all of those Americans in our districts who seek services from these workers.

And none of this, none of this is about making our government work better for Americans. 

It is a well worn tactic used by authoritarians and dictators like Orban in Hungary and Bolsonaro and Brazil. And they do it to destroy government services so that they create chaos and they create confusion and then we turn against each other.

This administration is using chaos and cruelty to amass power and wealth, but not for us, not for Americans. Only for them.

I yield back.

###