On the eve of the deadline for a government shutdown, a crowd of current and former federal employees convened outside the Supreme Court in downtown Washington, D.C., to make their voices heard.

The Monday evening press conference, led by a grassroots group of federal employees who call themselves the Civil Servants Coalition, urged Senate Democrats to vote down the GOP’s stopgap funding measure — unless it includes stipulations to mitigate some impacts of the Trump administration this year.

Several current federal employees, speaking in their personal capacity, described the “terrible toll” the Trump administration has imposed on the federal workforce over the last several months.

“We have all had our lives turned upside down by this administration,” Charlotte Slaiman, an anti-trust lawyer at the Federal Trade Commission, told the crowd. “When I saw the [Office of Management and Budget] memo threatening to fire more federal workers if Congress didn’t agree to their budget, I was scared … [But] we realized Donald Trump and Russell Vought want us to be scared.”

]]>

“This is just a political stunt, and we’re not buying it,” Slaiman added, also telling Democrats, “Do not give up for us. Fight for us.”

Alexis Goldstein, a member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s chapter of the National Treasury Employees Union, similarly urged Democrats to push back against the Trump administration.

“The way you stand up to a bully is not to cave to the bully. The way you stand up to the bully is to say no to the bully,” Goldstein said. “So if you say no, we will have your backs.”

Alexis Goldstein, a member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s chapter of the National Treasury Employees Union, speaks at a press conference outside the Supreme Court on Monday. Goldstein, in her personal capacity, joined several federal colleagues in urging Democrats to “say no to the bully.” The event, organized by the Civil Servants Coalition, criticized the Trump administration’s federal workforce overhauls this year. (Photo by Drew Friedman, Federal News Network)

Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), as well as Reps. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) and Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) all spoke at the employee-led event, to both blast the Trump administration’s actions and express support for federal civil servants.

“Thank all of you for what you do for the American people, and thank you for being here to express your views,” Van Hollen told employees gathered at Monday’s conference.

The Maryland senator also criticized and questioned the legality of the message last week from OMB telling agencies to conduct further reductions in force in the event of a government shutdown. Guidance from the Office of Personnel Management subsequently green-lit agencies to work on RIFs both leading up to and during a potential shutdown. OPM stated that all RIF-related work should be considered “excepted activities” for the purposes of a government shutdown.

“They certainly should not be excepted activities in a shutdown, but we are dealing with a lawless administration,” Van Hollen said.

]]>

Paul Osadebe, a now former Department of Housing and Urban Development employee, who said he was fired this week after filing a whistleblower complaint, saw OMB’s memo as more of the same from the Trump administration.

“We were already being shut down. We were already not being allowed to do our jobs. We were already being fired. We were already being retaliated against,” Osadebe told Federal News Network at the press conference.

Despite the largely negative impacts a funding lapse would have, Osadebe said he saw somewhat of a silver lining in the possibility of a government shutdown as well.

“It’s unfortunate that that would be the way to get there, if that’s the way that it happens,” Osadebe said. “But it is an opportunity for people to stop and see that what’s happening right now is not normal.”

“We don’t want to shut down — we want a budget that keeps the government working. But we also don’t want to lie down,” added Sarah Kobrin, an employee at the National Cancer Institute who spoke to Federal News Network in her personal capacity.

Within the Civil Servants Coalition, Kobrin described a broad range of comfort levels from federal employees, in how willing they are to speak out about what they have experienced this year.

“We’re on the inside. We can see what’s happening. We’re watching the destruction [that is] fully underway,” Kobrin said. “People keep asking me, ‘Are you scared?’ But I’ve been scared for nine months. This just isn’t any worse. In fact, it’s an opportunity for us to speak out more clearly.”

If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email drew.friedman@federalnewsnetwork.com or reach out on Signal at drewfriedman.11

Copyright
© 2025 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.