In a new report from the AFL-CIO’s Department of People Who Work for a Living’s field hearings across the country, thousands of people urge Congress to stop the harmful DOGE agenda
(Washington, D.C.) – Following a series of field hearings across the country, a new report from the AFL-CIO’s Department of People Who Work for a Living (DPWL) finds that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) mass firings, cuts to essential services, and attacks on worker protections, safety and the people who enforce them are already having serious consequences for working people and communities across the country.
The report outlines how DOGE is implementing the Project 2025 agenda based on new testimony from workers, veterans, farmers and people across the country. The hearings uplifted concerns around delayed veterans’ care, missing Social Security checks and dangerous gaps in worker safety. The new publication comes as NIOSH workers flood Capitol Hill this week to put the findings directly in lawmakers’ hands and urge Congress to fully restore the lifesaving programs the agency provides.
“This is a warning from the workers across the country who keep Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid working, our veterans cared for and our jobsites safe. If the DOGE agenda keeps moving forward, our communities will pay the price,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “This report gives Congress a clear choice: stand with the workers who put you in office, or let the Trump administration and an unelected billionaire dismantle the essential services that millions of hardworking Americans count on.”
Since January, thousands of federal workers have been fired or pushed out of their jobs, in line with the Project 2025 approach to gut the federal workforce. Eighty-five percent of federal workers live outside the Washington, D.C., metro area. Workers who process disability claims, staff VA hospitals, maintain food safety and more are warning that if Congress approves a budget that doubles down on this agenda, service disruptions could grow and the job loss could ripple across local economies.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:
- ALASKA: “We have every possible disaster threat you could think of, from volcanoes to hurricanes to tsunamis, earthquakes, fires, floods—you name it. Do they think those disasters will stop? I got a news flash for you. They’re going to keep happening. So who is going to help our communities repair our roads, our bridges, our buildings, our dams and our seawalls and everything else?” said Mike Macans of AFGE Local 1110.
- ARIZONA: “To make this more real and close to home, two grants were taken from Tucson’s own Pima County Health District preemptively. One grant to address COVID-19 health disparities, funding nine full-time employees. The second grant promoted vaccine equity, funding 14 full-time positions, three licensed practical nurses and 25 other positions. This is just the beginning of the 539 jobs Arizona stands to lose if these cuts go through,” said Liliana Jordan, from National Nurses United/National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNU/NNOC).
- GEORGIA: “Cutting Medicaid doesn’t just put their health at risk—it eliminates jobs. Hospitals in rural areas—already hanging by a thread—could close. Clinics will shut their doors. In Georgia alone, Medicaid supports over 68,000 jobs,” said Kristen Kiefer of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
- ILLINOIS: “The research that comes out of NIOSH is something that we rely on….There [were] 873 jobs nationally that served over a million firefighters. And that's gone….If we're not safe, we can't get there to help you. And if we can't get there to help you, people will die,” said Erik Steinmetz of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 2.
- MAINE: “The proposed reduction in workforce—a reduction in staffing bringing us [the VA] back to pre-2020 levels—will have devastating consequences. It will cause further delays in both health care services and processing service-connected disability compensation and pension claims….[P]ending disability claims have soared—from 353,072 in 2019 to 935,732 in 2025. Backlogged claims—pending more than 125 days—have nearly tripled,” said Liz Harkins of AFGE Local 2604.
- NEW YORK: “The attack on Social Security weakens the very infrastructure that ensures checks arrive on time, that investigates real fraud…that makes sure those who paid into the system get what they earned with their labor, their blood, sweat and tears,” said Jessica Sweet of AFGE Local 3343.
- NORTH CAROLINA: “DOGE has set the stage for a total collapse of the [Social Security Administration] system. Wait times for phone and in-person appointments have already skyrocketed. Many people attempting to use the online portal crashed the system four times last month,” said Christine Surrette, from AFGE District 4.
With budget negotiations ongoing, this report spotlights the stakes of DOGE’s cuts to jobs and essential services for the people who make government work and the communities that depend on them. The report is part of DPWL’s ongoing work to ensure that their government is responsive to working people, not unelected billionaires, including organizing town halls and rallies nationwide, driving targeted call campaigns demanding Congress reverse the DOGE agenda, and amplifying people’s stories to keep workers and local communities at the center of this fight.
Read the full report here.
Contact: Onotse Omoyeni, 202-637-5018