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What's Old is New Again. In defense of federal workers and their work from May, 2018 [1]
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Date: 2025-03-05
Their work doesn’t just happen in a crisis, although that may be where we notice it, it’s also the day to day work of keeping the U.S. government rolling along. Think about the Federal employees who are working hard this time of year dealing with your tax return, providing weather updates to your phone, processing SS and Medicare applications, supplying us important information about erupting volcanoes and earthquakes, making sure the products we buy are safe to use or eat. According to the Partnership for Public Service, there have been at least 69 winners of the Nobel Prize who were federal employees. That’s impressive work being done in our name.
Unfortunately, the current administration doesn’t necessarily see it that way which brings us to the next piece of inspiration for this diary.
Some of you may have seen the recent article in the New Yorker, titled Trump Vs. The “Deep State.” It’s an intense and thought provoking and worth the read if you see it. I don’t want to discuss it too much because it’s depressing as it describes Steve Bannon’s plan to “deconstruct the administrative state.” The article says,
A real-estate baron, with the wealthiest Cabinet in U.S. history, Trump is at peace with the plutocracy but at war with the clerks — the apparatchiks who, he claims, are seeking to nullify the election by denying the prerogatives of his Administration.
We see this war every day. It’s disturbing and discouraging even for those of us who aren’t Federal employees. Imagine how the staff at the Agencies feel seeing the loss of their co-workers, and the dismantling of their agencies.
The article did make me think about one particular federal employee I know, my former husband and the father of my daughters. He’s one of 2.8 million civilian federal employees, across 250 agencies. He is a multi-decade long employee of the EPA, and currently works in the Region 9 Headquarters in San Francisco. He agreed to answer a few questions for this diary to provide us with a more personal insight in to what’s happening in the EPA, under Pruitt.
What kind of damage is being done that is different than under other Republican presidents?
Pretty severe damage at my agency. The war on science was there under Bush 2, but it was not nearly so blatant, and we actually did pretty well under Bush 1. Under Reagan and Anne Gorsuch things were also very bad, but the "undoing" of past progress was not nearly so comprehensive. Too many examples to list! But one thing that's clear is that virtually anything signed off by Obama is targeted as "bad" just because it was associated with Obama, without even trying to understand it. Morale is very bad too, worse across-the-board than I recall during Reagan/Gorsuch. Mainly due to (a) the war on science, and (b) the ethics issues of Scott Pruitt. Staff are disgusted and embarrassed by him, and his antics and continued presence saps their energy to come to work and do a good, ethical job ourselves.
How is your work impacted day-to-day?
My regional office is the last one in the country to get a political appointee to lead it (although we're about to get one: the guy who coined "Lock her up!"). So we've been a bit lucky up until now. In my particular work there hasn't yet been much direct "interference" although I see it all around me. From having to get HQ pre-approval to speak in public on any topic, to banned words (like climate change), to new reporting requirements on any number of daily matters. The "Cooperative Federalism" push, "regulatory streamlining" efforts, and the "Lean" management system that is being implemented promise to tie our hands substantially in daily work, because they are really euphemisms for letting states do whatever they want, going easier on business and taking less care in being transparent with the public. It will get much worse than it has been! *Hmm, I don’t think he got approval for these remarks ;)
Once there's a Democratic president, how much time do you think it will take to return to a more normal "normal"?
Quite a while. First, hundreds of senior staff have already left in disgust, and such a brain drain will be a lasting detriment even if a new administration were to come in today. Second, many of the rules and policies that have been undone will not easily or quickly be re-instated. Before much repair can happen, there needs to be a wholesale reversal of (the effectiveness of) the anti-science mindset that has come to the fore in the US. Unfortunately I don't see that happening quickly. A new administration will still face those kinds of headwinds (including in Congress) for some time, so I don't see big changes happening quickly.
What is your most proud personal achievement as a Federal employee?
It's not so much that I'm proud of specific achievements, as I am happy to have been able to bring a "problem solving" attitude to regulating industry and protecting the environment. In my programs at EPA I have not felt very "bureaucratic" in that I (and most of the people I know in the agency) work to help people comply with the laws while still doing the projects they need to do. I'm proud that I've had a small part in maintaining a great environment while at the same time the US economy has grown by leaps and bounds. What's hard is that the current administration is so openly hostile and very blindly (ideologically) sees us all as "bad" and "job killers" despite the facts! *I think the work you did with a very large environmental accident was amazing. I don’t want to go into more detail otherwise it could identify who you are to the administration.
What is your agency's most important achievement?
People forget that before EPA, rivers were on fire, more kids were dying of lead poisoning, agricultural workers and consumers were exposed to high levels of pesticides, air quality was much worse, eagles/pelicans/and more species were on the verge of extinction from pollution, far fewer people had safe drinking water, etc., etc. All of these achievements came about while the economy grew and grew. So EPA’s most important achievement in my mind has been proving that the US can have both a healthy environment and a healthy economy. That understanding by the public has been systematically and cynically - and successfully - attacked by the Trump administration. *Emphasis, mine.
What is the best thing/s that we can do to resist the damage done by Pruitt and his team?
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