ICYMI: Murray sends newsletter on Trump Administration’s “fork in the road” email
ICYMI: Murray, Colleagues send letter to OPM demanding answers on Trump’s deceptive, legally dubious “Deferred Resignation” scheme
Murray: “You all deserve so much better than to have a billionaire with no real understanding of what you do, come in, belittle your work, suggest he can do it better, and try to push you out the door.”
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is helping lead Senate Democrats in holding the Senate floor for a full 30 hours ahead of a final confirmation vote on Russell Vought to serve as Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
As Senator Murray delivered an hour-long floor speech on the Senate floor, she also specifically discussed the Trump Administration’s, “fork in the road” email to federal workers, and shared the stories she was hearing from Hanford workers back in Washington state, who are at threat of being laid off for no good reason:
“So here’s what is important for everyone to know: first, there is no guarantee workers who accept this offer will get paid through September 30 as promised. Not only is there no funding for that time frame right now, but I personally am deeply skeptical of any offer from a President like Donald Trump, who has so consistently shown he will try to stiff workers at every opportunity.
“Being given only nine days to decide something like this should already be setting off alarm bells. That is a short amount of time to consider all of the financial impacts of potentially accepting the offer—including if and where you’d be able to find a new job, how this would impact benefits like health insurance and retirement, and more—and we know scammers often pressure people to act immediately. “
“Additionally, the information being provided continues to change, and includes a lot of caveats. It claims you can rescind your resignation if you change your mind but that your job may no longer exist. If that happens, then tough luck. It claims that you aren’t expected to work if you accept the offer—expect in cases determined by each individual agency. It claims that you can stay in your current role—however there’s no guarantee your position will be needed.
“The lack of clear information and resources about exactly what will be allowed is rightfully creating confusion for the more than 56,000 federal workers across Washington state. To me, this leaves far too many questions unanswered.
[…]
“Here is my message to our federal workers. You do so much for our communities. And you all deserve so much better—than to have a billionaire with no real understanding of what you do come in, belittle your work, suggest he can do it better, and try to push you out the door. So, I hope you all will keep up the good work for the American people—and I will keep fighting for all of you as well.”
The full text of Senator Murray’s remarks on the Trump administration’s offer to push folks out can be found below, and video can be found HERE.
“And M. President, while I’m on the subject—I want to talk a bit about another scheme Elon Musk has cooked up. We are approaching the deadline set in the Trump Administration’s ‘Fork in the Road’ message, which claims—and I have to emphasize it merely claims—to give federal workers the option of a ‘deferred resignation’ that would allegedly allow workers to ‘retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30.’
“I want to speak directly to all of our federal workers about this right now—because they deserve better than to be pushed out the door with a nine-day pressure tactic that comes with no clarity, no details, and a lot of questions left unanswered.
“So here’s what is important for everyone to know: first, there is no guarantee workers who accept this offer will get paid through September 30 as promised. Not only is there no funding for that time frame right now, but I personally am deeply skeptical of any offer from a President like Donald Trump, who has so consistently shown he will try to stiff workers at every opportunity.
“Being given only nine days to decide something like this should already be setting off alarm bells. That is a short amount of time to consider all of the financial impacts of potentially accepting the offer—including if and where you’d be able to find a new job, how this would impact benefits like health insurance and retirement, and a lot more—and we all know scammers often pressure people to act immediately.
“Additionally, the information being provided continues to change, and includes, by the way, a lot of caveats. It claims you can rescind your resignation if you change your mind but that your job may no longer exist. If that happens, then tough luck.
“It claims that you aren’t expected to work if you accept the offer—except in cases determined by each individual agency.
“It claims that you can stay in your current role—however there is no guarantee your position will be needed.
“The lack of clear information and resources about exactly what will be allowed is rightfully creating confusion for the more than 56,000 federal workers in my state alone. To me, this leaves far too many questions unanswered.
“Finally, I want to express a real gratitude for the federal workers who power so many essential services provided by our government. The American government is not Twitter—people rely on our federal workers and sometimes their work can be the difference between life and death.
“Federal workers help inspect meat processing facilities, they make sure baby formula is safe, they approve lifesaving drugs and treatments, they manage our air traffic, help ensure clean drinking water, and there is so much more.
“Where this administration continues to show outright hostility toward many of our federal workers, I want you to know, I will continue to fight for federal workers—everyone from Hanford workers, and the scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, to the people who are making sure you get your Social Security check.
“M. President—I got a letter this week from a Hanford worker. They started last year—hoping it would be a stable job that would let them provide for their family while making a difference in their community.
“This employee has already been recognized several times for hard work—and then Elon Musk tried to push them out the door with his scammy buy out, and now they are on the list of employees who are at threat of being terminated for no good reason.
“That is an utter betrayal—it is a betrayal of a hard-working parent, who did nothing wrong, and a betrayal of my Hanford community where Trump is undermining important environmental cleanup work.
“Because at Hanford alone—which is already understaffed—there are nearly 30 people now on the chopping block: they are nuclear safety engineers, they are facility safety representatives, they are procurement and contracting personnel, they are attorneys, they are labor relations staff, and they are accountants.
“How is firing nuclear safety engineers supposed to make anyone safer? Or better off? M. President, there are so many more stories like this already happening—or just around the corner.
“I have heard Musk and Trump plan to cut workers at the Department of Energy by half. These are federal employees who put in long hours to support their families and to strengthen our country.
“And for all their years of service, for all their sacrifice—Elon Musk is showing them the door and saying ‘don’t let it hit you on the way out.’ It’s wrong. It is ungrateful.
“And for god’s sake—we’re talking about nuclear security here. Why on earth would anyone think it’s a good idea to cut corners!?
“So here is my message to our federal workers. You do so much for our communities. And you all deserve so much better—than to have a billionaire with no real understanding of what you do come in, belittle your work, suggest he can do it better, and push you out the door. So, I hope you all will keep up the good work for the American people—and I want you to know, we will keep fighting for you as well.”
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