With 80% of its pending claims stuck in an evidence gathering phase, a congressional subcommittee wonders if there are enough humans left at the agency to stay…
Demonstrators gather outside of the offices of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. on March 13, 2025 to protest against mass layoffs and budget cuts at the agency, initiated by the Trump administration and DOGE. (Photo by Bryan Dozier / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by BRYAN DOZIER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Some sub-offices were left completely empty, the Office of the Inspector General found using Microsoft Teams, since the agency refused to supply staffing data.
While the shutdown resolution put a broad pause on workforce reduction actions, State told foreign service officers that their previously announced RIFs don’t count.
Fired US State Department workers push their belongings in a shopping cart as they leave the building in Washington, DC, on July 11, 2025. The US State Department began laying off more than 1,300 employees as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to massively downsize the federal government workforce. A State Department official said 1,107 members of the civil service and 246 Foreign Service employees were being informed that they were being fired. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Despite being announced before the shutdown, the bill’s prohibition on reduction-in-force activity encompasses the separation date for foreign service officers.
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 14: About 75 demostrators rally during a press conference outside the Department of Labor headquarters on April 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. Current and former Department of Labor workers and their supporters rallied in protest of the workforce cuts in the department’s Women’s Bureau, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Disability Employment Policy, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Employee Benefits Security Administration, and Bureau of International Labor Affairs by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – AUGUST 06: A general view of the Center for Disease Control headquarters is seen in Atlanta, Georgia, United States on August 06, 2022. (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Roughly half of the reduction-in-force notices sent to CDC staff last week were rolled back, workers and advocates said. The error adds to existing administrative disorder.
A sign for the U.S. Department of State is seen on the outside of the Harry S. Truman Federal Building on Oct. 8, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
That included notifications that roles were “excepted” during a shutdown. A spokesperson pointed to “minor data” discrepancies, which the agency worked to fix.
Russell Vought testifies before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on his second nomination to be OMB director, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 15, 2025. (Photo by JEMAL COUNTESS/AFP via Getty Images)
The other half that were sent termination notices in February had no performance rating on record, per the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
Scott Kupor during a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs regarding his nomination to be Director of the Office of Personnel Management on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Thursday April 3, 2025.
(Photo by Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
