Trump campaigned on reducing the size of the government.
The Trump administration fired thousands of workers across several government agencies after the deadline for employees to accept a buyout had passed.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was among the agencies to confirm it had fired workers to comply with directives from President Donald Trump.
“EPA has terminated 388 probationary employees after a thorough review of agency functions in accordance with President Trump’s executive orders,” a spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.
Some 1,165 employees at the National Institutes of Health, part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), have been fired, according to an internal email. An HHS spokesperson did not return a request for comment. A spokesperson for the agency previously confirmed that the agency had been terminating workers but declined to say how many have been fired.
Several hundred workers on probationary status have been fired by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), according to the union of Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS), AFL-CIO.
PASS National President David Spero said in a statement that “it is shameful to toss aside dedicated public servants who have chosen to work on behalf of their fellow Americans.”
The FAA did not respond to a request for comment.
The Department of Energy told news outlets over the weekend that dozens of staffers at its National Nuclear Security Administration were let go. The former employees had all been on probationary status and had primarily held roles dealing with administrative and clerical functions. The terminations across the department reached 1,800, according to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
The Department of Agriculture announced on Feb. 14 that it is “eliminating positions that are no longer necessary” as part of “an aggressive plan” to optimize its workforce. The agency did not return a request for more details.
“The Agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest,” a letter sent to terminated employees stated.
At least 160 recent hires at the Department of Education have been notified of their termination, according to an internal letter.
“The Department does not comment on specific personnel matters due to privacy,” a Department of Education spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.
The cuts are in addition to the terminations of more than 1,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs, firings at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and layoffs at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
OPM officials met with officials from other agencies on Feb. 13 and advised them to lay off probationary employees, many of whom have been with the government for less than a year, a source familiar with the meetings told The Epoch Times.
About 217,000 federal employees had been with the government for less than one year as of March 2024, the last month for which data were available, out of the full-time workforce of about 2.3 million.
Officials were also firing Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees, but a federal judge recently ordered the Trump administration to halt the terminations with an exception “for cause related to the specific employee’s performance or conduct.”
