LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Recent cuts by the Trump administration sent many Americans job hunting.
Here in the valley, local organizations in the federal workforce hosted a town hall to raise awareness on the impact from the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, and the services that are available to help.
The mood of that meeting was a bit of fear and uncertainty. Take it from Social Security claims representative, Toyea Perkins.
“It’s a very scary thought when you think that all your income is going to go away just because they’re trying to cut back,” Perkins said.
Perkins is a third-generation federal employee. She’s been with the Social Security Administration for nearly three decades. But Perkins knows things are changing.
“With us not being secure, we’re not coming to work and being, oh, we’re going to do this. When we go to work, it’s more of is our pin card going to work in our computer? Are we going to be able to sign in,” Perkins said.
She says looming cuts by the Trump administration in a bid to shrink the size of the federal government leaves her in a gray area.
“I’ve never been this scared in my whole entire life and I’ve been through a lot of different administrations in my 29 years and this administration has me scared to death and I never want to be scared about my job and my livelihood,” Perkins said.
The government workers heard from Democratic Representative, Dina Titus about next steps in D.C.
The Congresswoman explains why Social Security cuts will directly affect those in the valley.
“We got more and more seniors moving here, so it’ll make it harder for them to get services,” Titus said.
People from several agencies were at the meeting, including those with the TSA and Veterans Affairs office, like Robert Olson. He explains the domino effect of the cuts, after a group of 20 that delivers supplies to the hospital to take care of vets was let go.
“One of the unique things is when we make the cuts, we’re directly affecting their care,” Olson said. “Because if we don’t enough doctors, nurses and professional staff and our workers there, we can’t be seen!”
Congresswoman Titus explains the Trump administration isn’t thinking about the repercussions of the cuts.
“Not yet, but I think more and more people like you see here, a room full tonight are starting to have some buyers remorse and thinking, well, I didn’t know it meant my job. And the more noise they make, the more perhaps they’ll listen,” Titus said.
The message from the American Federation of Government Employees, which is the largest federal employee union is that programs and services aren’t going to get better if you cut your way to being more efficient.
On the other hand, the Department of Government Efficiency was created by the Trump administration to streamline government, eliminate waste, and upgrade critical infrastructure. So far, DOGE says its eliminated billions of dollars by cutting some government contracts and grants.
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