Moderate Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has come out in opposition to President Donald Trump’s efforts to dramatically downsize the federal government at a moment when he can use all of his party’s support to fend off opposition from Democrats and Democrat-led legal groups.
In comments last week, Murkowski voiced concerns, particularly over how the downsizing could impact her state.
The White House carried out a sweeping purge of probationary federal employees across multiple agencies on Thursday and Friday. Probationary employees are typically those hired within the past two years, the Washington Times noted.
Under the president’s directive, thousands of workers have been dismissed. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican frequently at odds with Trump, expressed concern that “potentially over 100” employees have been fired in her state alone.
“Dozens of Alaskans – potentially over 100 in total – are being fired as part of the Trump administration’s reduction-in-force order for the federal government,” she wrote.
“Many of these abrupt terminations will do more harm than good, stunting opportunities in Alaska and leaving holes in our communities. We can’t realize our potential for responsible energy and mineral development if we can’t permit projects. We will be less prepared to manage summer wildfires if we can’t support those on the front lines. Our tourism economy will be damaged if we don’t maintain our world-class national parks and forests,” she added.
“I share the administration’s goal of reducing the size of the federal government, but this approach is bringing confusion, anxiety, and now trauma to our civil servants—some of whom moved their families and packed up their whole lives to come here. Indiscriminate workforce cuts aren’t efficient and won’t fix the federal budget, but they will hurt good people who have answered the call to public service to do important work for our nation,” Murkowski’s post continued.
“My staff and I are in close touch with agency and department officials, trying to get answers about the impact of these terminations. Our goal is to forestall unnecessary harm—for people and Alaska’s federal priorities—but the response so far has been evasive and inadequate,” she concluded.
Trump’s push to reduce the federal workforce followed his offer to federal employees to resign this month. Approximately 75,000 workers, or 3.3% of the government workforce, accepted the buyout offer.
In addition to downsizing the federal workforce and number of agencies, Trump has brought in several Cabinet members whose goal will be to dramatically reform their departments.
One of them – Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – has pledged to be the “disrupter” that agency has needed for years.
“We are 4.2 percent of the world’s population. We buy 70 percent of the pharmaceutical drugs on earth,” he told host Laura Ingraham last week. “We spend two to three times what other countries spend for healthcare, and we have the worst health outcomes.
“We literally have the sickest population in the world. Those are the people that got us there,” he continued, referencing the nation’s big pharmaceutical companies. “We do need a break. We need somebody different who can come in and say, ‘I’m a disrupter.’ I’m not gonna let the food industry and the pharmaceutical industry run health policy anymore.”
He noted further: “We’re gonna turn health policy over to people who are actually concerned with public health.”
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In an email announcing his confirmation by the full Senate on Thursday, Kennedy’s team wrote, “The future of public health is about to change forever. This is a turning point for our nation. With RFK Jr. at the helm, the battle for accountability and real health reform is just getting started.”
Also Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating the Make America Healthy Again Commission, which will be led by Kennedy, Fox News Digital exclusively reported.