Laura Barron-Lopez:
Yes, there’s been a lot of chaos and confusion.
One example, RFK Jr., the new secretary of HHS, verbally rescinded the firings of more than 900 workers with the Indian Health Service. And that’s very similar to the Nuclear Security Administration, as we mentioned.
And I spoke to one of those fired workers who was in the field for the Nuclear Security Administration. They ended up getting their job back, but this worker said that they felt as though the firings were heartless and that they became a civil servant because they wanted to serve the country in this way, acknowledging that there’s usually more money in the private sector.
Across agencies, we should note, Geoff, that a lot of these workers got the exact same kind of termination letter, saying that their performance was not adequate, which those workers, a lot of the workers that I spoke to said they felt wasn’t fair because they had recent performance reviews that said that they were doing a good job.