By Mark Gruenberg
WASHINGTON DC: Erroneous weather forecasts, staffing shortages affecting services, an increase in heat-related worker fatalities, rising pollution leading to higher asthma rates and unsafe drinking water, reduced school lunch programs with no provisions during summer, veterans struggling to receive VA healthcare, an uptick in hate crimes, and weakened labor laws and enforcement.
These are just a few of the real-world consequences expected from the proposed cuts by Republican President-elect Donald Trump. This information is derived from the GOP agenda, known as Project 2025, as well as reports from the nation’s largest federal workers union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), along with insights from the co-chairs of Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency”—billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
“Federal employees and our union have already faced severe repercussions during Trump’s first term, with damages to union contracts and agency functions,” AFGE said in a statement addressing inquiries from People’s World. “Another term under Trump would exacerbate these assaults on our union rights and the overall ability to serve the American public.”
AFGE President Everett Kelley noted, “We’ve dealt with challenges like this before and understand what’s at stake. We anticipate the upcoming battle and will be better prepared this time around.” However, he cautions, “This means the American public should prepare for reduced benefits and services if President-elect Trump pushes through his anti-family policies.”
As congressional Democrats flounder, preparing for a February leadership clash between two former mayors—Rahm Emanuel, unpopular in Chicago, and Martin O’Malley, favored in Baltimore—government workers are bracing for Trump’s potential cuts. AFGE warns that these changes could convert top 50,000 civil service positions into a system rooted in favoritism and lead to widespread layoffs.
Trump’s chosen corporate executives leading his “department” intend to go even further. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, they stated, “Our primary focus will be on initiating change via executive action utilizing existing legislation, rather than pursuing new laws.”
They further explained that they would compile a list of regulations for President Trump to unilaterally suspend and review via executive action—claiming this would liberate individuals and businesses from what they deem as excessive regulations. However, they do not clarify what constitutes “excessive.” The trio—Trump, Musk, and Ramaswamy—are prominent figures within a corporate class that largely views all regulations as unnecessary. Even Adam Smith acknowledged the need for government regulations to protect consumers from market harms.
Project 2025 proposes to dismantle job safety regulations, diminishing enforcement or eliminating it entirely. AFGE pointed out that the Biden administration’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has recently proposed measures aimed at safeguarding workers from extreme heat, a critical concern for laborers in industries like agriculture and warehousing.
“Typically, it takes OSHA several months to review comments on a proposed rule before finalizing it after the comment deadline on December 30,” AFGE explained. “It’s improbable that Trump’s OSHA will issue the rule as proposed and it may be significantly weakened if it is enacted. The infectious disease standard is also unlikely to materialize.” OSHA sent the proposal to Biden’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, but it may not be presented under the new administration at all.
“In the absence of OSHA’s oversight, employers will likely neglect worker safety and evade accountability for legal violations,” AFGE stated. While it did not elaborate, similar scenarios occurred during the pandemic when OSHA inspections switched to phone and Zoom calls, with few complaints being addressed. The agency was also reportedly under informal orders to refrain from establishing new rules.
Although AFGE did not delve deeply into this topic, Trump acted on it during his first term, appointing corporate executives and anti-labor advocates to key positions within the Labor Department and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB’s budget remained stagnant, mirroring the five years preceding his term. The NLRB’s General Counsel expressed intentions to roll back labor protections by a century. Additionally, Trump’s labor board for federal workers complied with his directives, dismantling a small union for immigration judges on the grounds that they were considered “supervisors.”
AFGE highlighted that before Ramaswamy exited the presidential race to endorse Trump, he called for the termination of three-fourths of federal staff, asserting that such employees were responsible for creating federal regulations and seeking to halt all rule-making activities while repealing long-established laws—something the corporate sector applauds.
Supreme Court rulings would enable “Trump to establish various ‘rules governing the competitive service’ that would address administrative expansion, potentially leading to mass firings or relocating federal agencies out of Washington D.C.,” Musk and Ramaswamy elaborated in their op-ed.
“Mandating that federal employees report to the office five days a week would likely trigger a wave of voluntary resignations—a welcome outcome. If these employees don’t wish to work on-site, American taxpayers shouldn’t subsidize their remote work,” they argued.
Trump attempted similar initiatives during his first term, and Congress—including Democrats—cooperated amidst rising scandals, notably with veterans failing to receive adequate VA care while Trump’s corporate “advisers” obscured the issue. AFGE, which represents VA employees alongside National Nurses United, raised alarms about these situations.
The solution was a greater shift towards “outsourcing” veterans’ care, contrary to their preferences, to private practitioners unfamiliar with the complex health issues veterans face, including exposure to toxic “burn pits” in Iraq, consequences of Agent Orange, PTSD, and severe brain injuries.
Trump’s agenda envisions further outsourcing, with Project 2025 specifically calling for the displacement of senior career civil servants from key VA positions “on his first day in office” to guarantee “political oversight of the VA.”
In a period marked by escalating and increasingly severe climate change, this represents a significant threat to housing, food security, and human life. Trump famously claimed that Hurricane Dorian was heading for Alabama, inaccurately illustrating its path with a black Sharpie, while the storm actually veered toward Florida.
“National Weather Service forecasters had to correct his error, prompting their parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to release a statement contradicting its forecast, following pressure from the White House,” AFGE noted, emphasizing Trump’s denial of climate change.
“The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration should be disassembled, with many of its tasks reassigned to other agencies, privatized, or managed at the state level,” advocated right-wing ideologies within the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.
According to AFGE, “Under Trump’s first term, hate crimes spiked nationwide”—a fact supported by FBI statistics. “Since then, he and his allies have escalated their divisive rhetoric—accusing immigrants of tainting the nation, implying that prioritizing hiring women and minority candidates has undermined professional standards, threatening to deport protestors, and questioning the inherent dignity of transgender individuals.” These statements have ignited widespread backlash among women, communities of color, and the LGBTQ+ community.
“Marginalized groups are preparing for Trump’s ambitions to dismantle federal initiatives aimed at combating racism and advancing gender equity. This includes plans to dissolve diversity programs in education and stifle academic discourse surrounding race and gender.”
Trump’s agenda also entails dismantling the Education Department, dismissing employees he labels as “radicals, zealots, and Marxists,” and establishing a new credentialing process for schools mandating that history and other subjects be taught according to standards set by the Trump administration. (IPA Service)
Source: People’s World
