After weeks of speculation, unelected co-president Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency bully squad have begun terminating federal workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an essential government agency that issues weather forecasts and warnings.
The Hill reports that more than 10% of NOAA’s 11,758-member workforce is believed to be on the chopping block. Hundreds of workers received termination letters late Thursday afternoon, but layoffs are expected to continue through Friday. These initial firings are believed to primarily affect probationary workers who have fewer legal protections, including those who were newly hired or recently promoted.
U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman released a statement condemning the move and calling it a “sham.”
“People nationwide depend on NOAA for free, accurate forecasts, severe weather alerts, and emergency information,” said the Democrat from California. “Purging the government of scientists, experts, and career civil servants and slashing fundamental programs will cost lives.”
Huffman added, “My Democratic colleagues and I will keep fighting back in state and federal courts, in the halls of Congress, and the court of public opinion. This is a betrayal of the American people, and it will not stand.”
This is just another example of Donald Trump empowering the world’s richest man to use the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 playbook to dismantle a government agency that extreme conservatives aim to privatize while Musk and his fellow oligarchs just get richer.
The power-mad DOGE dorks coupled with Trump’s federal hiring freeze continue to hamper the administrative state, likely leading to severe consequences for the country. After Musk forced the head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign and Trump gutted an aviation safety advisory committee, the administration blamed a subsequent and tragic air collision that took the lives of 67 people on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. On Thursday, Musk attempted to crowdsource retired air traffic controllers to make up for a shortage he and his DOGE minions have only made worse.
While Musk and DOGE have been unable to prove they have found any fraud or provided taxpayers with any meaningful savings, the San Francisco Chronicle points out that while the National Weather Service’s budget is around $1.4 billion, which averages to around $4 per tax payer, it is estimated to provide Americans with $102.1 billion in benefits.
That's a lot of bang for the buck, according to any metric. You could even call it a model of “efficiency.”
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