Fired Federal Workers Lobby for Assistance on Capitol Hill - is anyone Listening?

Fired federal employees lobby for help on Capitol Hill - is anybody listening?

Democrats have been receptive to the 'Tuesday Group' but the Republicans who control Congress are looking the other way

The Tuesday Group was feeling something familiar as its members crushed around a bank of elevators in the busy basement of a Senate office complex: rejection.

They had frequently been told no over the previous months - when the federal government relocated to fire them with Donald Trump's blessing, when judges declined difficulties to that choice and when the legislators who they have actually taken to finding on Capitol Hill once a week when Congress is in session would turn a deaf ear to their pleas.

More than 59,000 federal workers have lost their jobs since Trump took office, according to federal government information, but those in power have actually not their tune.

This Tuesday morning, it was staffers of Maine's Republican senator Susan Collins who had informed them no, even after they staged an unscripted sit-in in her office for the better part of a half hour. So they proceeded 5 floorings down to the basement of the Dirksen Senate Office complex, hoping that some senator - any senator - would offer them a minute of their time.

Then the elevator doors opened and who ought to come out however Collins. "Senator Collins!" somebody in the group shouted. Another attempted to present themselves: "I'm a fired federal employee." But the senator began waving her hands in front of her in an unmistakable indication of: I don't have time for this.

"Thank you," Collins stated, as she made her way down the hall.

"It's somewhat common," observed Whitt Masters, a previous USAID contractor who has actually been jobless since the end of March, when the business using him decided to declare insolvency after its customer began to shut down.

"You know, I don't anticipate every senator to stop and talk to us. I want she 'd been a bit more friendly, particularly since we had spent some time in her office earlier today."

What's been dubbed the Tuesday Group has come around the Capitol considering that mid-February, as Trump and Elon Musk's campaign to thin out the federal workforce began to bite. Some who reveal up have been fired, others are on paid leave while a judge considers whether it is legal to fire them, and those who work for USAID anticipate to officially lose their jobs next Tuesday, when the firm closes down.

Democrats typically welcome them, but when it comes to the Republicans who control Congress - and are weighing legislation to codify some cuts and make deeper ones in the next - the reception has been irregular. They've been overlooked, blown off and belittled - all things they would experience last Tuesday, their 17th check out to the Hill.

Their encounter with Collins unsuccessful, the group formed something of a gauntlet at the crossway of a corridor leading in between workplace structures and to the Senate subway, a place where lawmakers were sure to hand down a scorcher of a day.

They would call out to any face they recognized, but the group of 10 was nothing an identified senator couldn't manage. Montana Republican Tim Sheehy speed-walked by with a press reporter and cameraman in pursuit; Washington Democrat Patty Murray pounded past in sneakers; and Arkansas Republican John Boozman ambled through alone, displaying no sign that he knew the group was even there.

"Would you like to hear how we are affecting your constituents?" asked Stephie Duliepre, who was fired from her Science for Development fellowship program at USAID, when Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn occurred the corner. The senator pushed on, the answer apparently being no.

John Hoeven, a Republican Politician from North Dakota, exited a stairwell that transferred him right in the middle of the group. He appeared to acknowledge them - on a previous check out, participants stated that Hoeven had discussed his assistance for folding a major USAID food help program into the state department. "I see you're still dealing with it," he quipped, before heading off.

The Democrats they came across said words of support, and a couple of stopped to talk. "Don't quit," Dick Durbin of Illinois stated when he experienced the group. "I'm with you," Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin called out.

South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham attempted the quiet treatment as he came past, however Amelia Hertzberg, who was on administrative leave from her job in the Epa, was not having it. She followed him down the hall, and began bounding around to get his attention.

"You have a bright future," Hertzberg remembers the senator saying. "Well, I was going to have an intense future, and then I was fired," she responded.

The group found Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican and prominent Trump ally. "Senator Hawley, these are fired federal employees. Do you have a second to talk with them?" asked Melissa Byrne, a community organizer who had actually put together the group.

"No," he responded.

The group was aghast, however they 'd been treated even worse. When Mack Schroeder came across Indiana Republican Jim Banks one Tuesday and presented himself as having been fired from the Department of Health and Human Services, the senator replied, "You most likely deserved it," before calling him "a clown".

That was in April. The occurrence made the news, Banks refused to ask forgiveness, and the Tuesday Group kept appearing.

"I've spoken with the media and been on the radio. I've called my senators, my agents, and it feels a little bit like screaming into a void," stated Hertzberg, who has actually made about 12 sees to the Capitol now.