RCMS students have been stressed out by the firing of the federal government because they are worried about their parents losing their jobs on March 5.
Tahlia Mohr, a seventh-grader on the Champions team’s family was affected by this firing of the government. She was impacted because her father got fired and they had to save money.
She said, “We had a hard time because we were on a budget cut.”
President Trump has begun to fire federal government employees across all of the United States of America because of his “Department of Government Efficiency” Initiative.
According to a Health and Human Services fact sheet, the following federal government agencies will decrease in full-time employee amounts: HHS, FDA, CDC, NIH, and CMS.
The HHS will be decreased by 20,000 full-time employees, 28 divisions will be combined to make 15, and 10 regional offices will turn into 5. These operations will be centralized: Human resources, Information technology, Procurement, External Affairs, and Policy.
The FDA is also being impacted by this reduction. The FDA’s workforce will decrease by 3,500 full-time employees. Six percent of federal workers work in person on a full-time basis.
Diya Pabba, a seventh-grader on the Champions team, is worried about this.
”My dad works for the FDA,” she said. ”He is at higher risk of losing his job.”
Trump signed an executive order that aims to enhance accountability, reduce waste, and promote innovation on Feb 19.
The freezing of federal civilians does not affect Social Security, Medicare, or veterans’ benefits.
Student parent would like to go anonymous,states that there are exemptions for hiring national security, public safety, and immigration enforcement personnel.
They say,“ I would prefer a hiring freeze over more RIFs [layoffs] of the current government staff. I don’t want to see more people lose their jobs. I am also pleased there are exemptions, particularly for Public Safety and National Security.”
According to a White House Fact sheet, the hiring freeze is limiting agencies to hire one employee per every four employees.
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, and the Administrator of the United States DOGE Service must submit a plan to reduce the federal government 90 days after the hiring freeze.
The federal government is spending a lot of money on payments to civilian employees. The federal government spent around $300 billion on this in 2022, not including retirement salary.
Ms. Amy Allen, a teacher on the Legacy team believes that these decisions are being made based on personal feelings and incomplete understanding of people’s roles rather than logic.
Ms. Allen said, “Just because someone feels a job is unnecessary doesn’t necessarily mean that it is unnecessary.”
