'Utter incompetence': Federal agency rehires crucial workers after 'accidentally' firing them — again
February 19, 2025
ALTERNET
The latest workers to come in the crosshairs as the Trump administration moves to cut the federal government through mass firings and funding freezes are workers at the Department of Agriculture. NBC News reported Tuesday that the agency fired “several” employees over the weekend and is now trying to rehire them.
The fired employees have been working on the H5N1 avian flu outbreak, or bird flu.
"Although several positions supporting [bird flu efforts] were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters," a USDA spokesperson told NBC News in a statement.
“They need to be more cautious,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who is part of the Agriculture Committee, told NBC News of the Department of Government Accountability, which is the group carrying out the firings. “There’s an old saying, ‘Measure twice, cut once.’ Well, they are measuring once and having to cut twice. Some of this stuff they’re going to have to return back. I just wish they’d make a better decision up front.”
“You don’t accidentally fire someone,” CNN commentator and former South Carolina Rep. Bakari Sellers posted on X. “You don’t accidentally fire [people] working on bird flu or [people] who oversee our nuclear arsenal. What you are seeing is incompetence, utter incompetence. This isn’t DEI or wokeness, this is stupidity for the sake of being l stupid. Now please make your excuses below…”
Last week, the Trump administration fired people working at the National Nuclear Security Administration, sparking national security concerns. They quickly reversed the firings.
“Understand USDA is now fast tracking to rehire front line employees working on bird flu outbreaks. They were ‘accidentally’ fired by the administration. Translation: Nice job [Elon] Musk! You and your friends will still get your tax breaks, but higher egg prices for everyone else,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) posted on Bluesky.
Musk has been working with Trump on the cuts, although his official role is unclear.
“Egg prices are SKYROCKETING because the government can't contain bird flu. Then Musk and Trump FIRED the top bird flu experts -- because they had no idea what vital work they did. Now they're scrambling to undo their massive mistake,” lawyer Tristan Snell posted on X.
The USDA said over the weekend that egg prices have reached record highs’; a dozen eggs now costs $7.44. And according to the USDA, 23 million birds have been affected by bird flu.
“If bird flu escalates into a pandemic, with this kind of leadership, we are going to be toast,” scientist Dr. Lucky Tran posted on Bluesky.
The latest workers to come in the crosshairs as the Trump administration moves to cut the federal government through mass firings and funding freezes are workers at the Department of Agriculture. NBC News reported Tuesday that the agency fired “several” employees over the weekend and is now trying to rehire them.
The fired employees have been working on the H5N1 avian flu outbreak, or bird flu.
"Although several positions supporting [bird flu efforts] were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters," a USDA spokesperson told NBC News in a statement.
“They need to be more cautious,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who is part of the Agriculture Committee, told NBC News of the Department of Government Accountability, which is the group carrying out the firings. “There’s an old saying, ‘Measure twice, cut once.’ Well, they are measuring once and having to cut twice. Some of this stuff they’re going to have to return back. I just wish they’d make a better decision up front.”
“You don’t accidentally fire someone,” CNN commentator and former South Carolina Rep. Bakari Sellers posted on X. “You don’t accidentally fire [people] working on bird flu or [people] who oversee our nuclear arsenal. What you are seeing is incompetence, utter incompetence. This isn’t DEI or wokeness, this is stupidity for the sake of being l stupid. Now please make your excuses below…”
Last week, the Trump administration fired people working at the National Nuclear Security Administration, sparking national security concerns. They quickly reversed the firings.
“Understand USDA is now fast tracking to rehire front line employees working on bird flu outbreaks. They were ‘accidentally’ fired by the administration. Translation: Nice job [Elon] Musk! You and your friends will still get your tax breaks, but higher egg prices for everyone else,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) posted on Bluesky.
Musk has been working with Trump on the cuts, although his official role is unclear.
“Egg prices are SKYROCKETING because the government can't contain bird flu. Then Musk and Trump FIRED the top bird flu experts -- because they had no idea what vital work they did. Now they're scrambling to undo their massive mistake,” lawyer Tristan Snell posted on X.
The USDA said over the weekend that egg prices have reached record highs’; a dozen eggs now costs $7.44. And according to the USDA, 23 million birds have been affected by bird flu.
“If bird flu escalates into a pandemic, with this kind of leadership, we are going to be toast,” scientist Dr. Lucky Tran posted on Bluesky.
WHY NOT LAYOFFS INSTEAD?!
THAT'S LEGAL!
FIRING IS OF COURSE HIS 'BRAND'
February 19, 2025
ALTERNET
Less than a month into his second term, President Donald Trump has already had to scramble to undo some of his mass firings of federal workers at critical agencies.
On Tuesday, NBC News reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now attempting to undo the administration's decision to fire multiple USDA officials working on the federal government's response to the H5N1 avian flu outbreak. The agency stated that it considered the fired Food Safety and Inspection Service frontline staff "public safety" employees, and that it "continues to prioritize the response to highly pathogenic avian influenza." The ongoing bird flu crisis has been a major contributor in the price of eggs skyrocketing to new record highs.
During a recent segment on MSNBC, former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) slammed the administration's abrupt reversal of its mass firings, calling it "a level of incompetence that we've never seen before in government."
"When Donald Trump first came in in 2017, he at least had people surrounding him that ... understood government, understood the workings of government and what people in civil service do. These guys don't. They don't have a clue," Jones said. "They think that just by cutting individuals they're somehow cutting waste and abuse, and they're not ... They're cutting out so many programs that are vital to so many Americans across this country. Whether it is NIH grants, whether its defense contracts, you name it. It is really, truly an incompetent level of government."
The reversed mass firings at the USDA come just one day after the Trump administration fired Department of Energy employees who manage the United States' stockpile of nuclear weapons – including some who build nuclear warheads. White House officials have reportedly been attempting to reach out to the fired workers to rehire them, but because their government email accounts were disabled, the administration has lost the ability to contact some of them.
Trump has deputized centabillionaire Elon Musk and his "Department of Government Efficiency," or DOGE (which is not yet an official federal agency authorized by Congress) to go into federal agencies and make sweeping changes to both headcount and how money is spent. Administration officials have since argued in court that Musk is not the administrator of DOGE, but who supposedly runs the initiative is currently unknown. Jones asserted that it isn't Trump calling the shots, but Musk himself.
"To say that Elon Musk is not running the United States right now is really a fallacy," Jones said. "Donald Trump is just basically a yes man right now for everything that Elon Musk is doing."
Watch the video of Jones' comments below, or by clicking this link.
Less than a month into his second term, President Donald Trump has already had to scramble to undo some of his mass firings of federal workers at critical agencies.
On Tuesday, NBC News reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now attempting to undo the administration's decision to fire multiple USDA officials working on the federal government's response to the H5N1 avian flu outbreak. The agency stated that it considered the fired Food Safety and Inspection Service frontline staff "public safety" employees, and that it "continues to prioritize the response to highly pathogenic avian influenza." The ongoing bird flu crisis has been a major contributor in the price of eggs skyrocketing to new record highs.
During a recent segment on MSNBC, former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) slammed the administration's abrupt reversal of its mass firings, calling it "a level of incompetence that we've never seen before in government."
"When Donald Trump first came in in 2017, he at least had people surrounding him that ... understood government, understood the workings of government and what people in civil service do. These guys don't. They don't have a clue," Jones said. "They think that just by cutting individuals they're somehow cutting waste and abuse, and they're not ... They're cutting out so many programs that are vital to so many Americans across this country. Whether it is NIH grants, whether its defense contracts, you name it. It is really, truly an incompetent level of government."
The reversed mass firings at the USDA come just one day after the Trump administration fired Department of Energy employees who manage the United States' stockpile of nuclear weapons – including some who build nuclear warheads. White House officials have reportedly been attempting to reach out to the fired workers to rehire them, but because their government email accounts were disabled, the administration has lost the ability to contact some of them.
Trump has deputized centabillionaire Elon Musk and his "Department of Government Efficiency," or DOGE (which is not yet an official federal agency authorized by Congress) to go into federal agencies and make sweeping changes to both headcount and how money is spent. Administration officials have since argued in court that Musk is not the administrator of DOGE, but who supposedly runs the initiative is currently unknown. Jones asserted that it isn't Trump calling the shots, but Musk himself.
"To say that Elon Musk is not running the United States right now is really a fallacy," Jones said. "Donald Trump is just basically a yes man right now for everything that Elon Musk is doing."
Watch the video of Jones' comments below, or by clicking this link.
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