Fox News host Harris Faulkner told former Democratic Rep. Pat Murphy of Pennsylvania on Thursday that his party seemed to be “barking to the wind” about layoffs of federal government employees.
Since President Donald Trump established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and tasked it with reducing the level of fiscal waste within the federal government, thousands of employees have been laid off from several agencies, including 50% of the workforce at the Department of Education and thousands of probationary workers.
Murphy claimed that DOGE’s layoffs caused the firing of over 10,000 veterans before Faulkner questioned him about his party’s response to the cuts.
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“What is your party doing other than barking to the wind? And look, I had on this very program recently the secretary of Veterans Affairs and what they are doing with the 400-plus thousand people that they have yet,” Faulkner told Murphy, who served two terms in the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011. “The benefits for veterans are going so slowly. They’re trying to speed up that number. They’re getting rid of people in the chain that don’t add to the benefits of veterans. So I want to look at a harder list of numbers than what you’ve just given the audience to really see. So, I’m going let you say what you say and then I’ll fact check it.”
The Trump administration made it clear from day one its intention to reduce the size of the federal government in an effort to remove waste and red tape, starting first with workforce reductions at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in February.
Democratic members of Congress joined protests outside the headquarters of the USAID and the Treasury Department Feb. 4 after DOGE head Elon Musk announced plans to close down USAID following a brief Jan. 31 standoff between USAID employees and DOGE staffers.
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Since beginning its cost-cutting initiatives, DOGE has identified an estimated $115 billion in savings, an average of $714.29 per taxpayer, according to its website.
There are reports of the Trump administration planning to cut around 80,000 employees from the Department of Veterans Affairs, but Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins previously assured Faulkner in a separate segment that no benefits would be cut.
“One in three federal workers are veterans, right?” Murphy said, “And again, I’m for cuts, I said, but we gotta be smart.”
“I hear what you are saying,” Faulkner responded. “But you know me. I will let you say it but don’t be surprised if you don’t get a text.”
Roughly one in every four federal employees in 2024 were veterans, according to PBS.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
