Donald Trump’s recent round of federal employee cuts could make Americans less safe, Rep. Eric Swalwell said on CNN Friday. “When you get rid of the bird flu monitors who protect us against the chickens against bird flu and then keep the cost of aid down, that does not make us economically safe,” he explained.
“When you get rid of people at the FAA as planes are crashing in America, that makes us less safe,” Swalwell continued. “When you get rid of FBI agents who are supposed to watch out for terrorism, that makes us less safe. When you get rid of people at the CDC who are supposed to protect us from a measles outbreak in Texas, that makes us less safe.”
The Congressman also called out Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who fired the city’s police chief Friday. “So in California, when you get rid of firefighters at the Forest Service as we have unseasonable winds and the fires that have ravaged across Southern California and Northern California, that makes us less safe,” Swalwell asserted.
The Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has been responsible for hundreds of lost jobs at the federal level. Last week over 300 employees (out of a 2,000-member staff) of the National Nuclear Security Administration were fired — only for the Trump administration to attempt to re-hire the same people a day later.
The move prompted MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow to call on the Trump employees who made the call to resign from their own jobs. “Has it occurred to any of you to maybe resign?” she asked. “If you’re running a government this way on national nuclear security grounds alone? Have you considered resigning? People have resigned for much smaller sins and much less damage to their country than this.”
On Wednesday a former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official — who lost his job due to DOGE cuts — told CNN Americans should be worried about national security. “I do think the American public does need to be concerned about, you know, not only my firing but also the firing of so many public safety and national security professionals at the FAA,” Charles Spitzer-Standtlander said.
In California, Bass fired LAFD chief Kristin Crowley on Friday and blamed Crowley for mismanaging the city’s response to the devastating fires in the Los Angeles area last month.
“The heroism of our firefighters — during the Palisades fire and every single day — is without question,” Bass said. “Bringing new leadership to the Fire Department is what our city needs.”
You can watch part of the interview with Congressman Swalwell in the video.
