WASHINGTON — As the U.S. DOGE Service terminates tens of thousands of federal government workers, many of them took to Capitol Hill Tuesday to protest the agency’s cost cutting.

Recently fired employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development staged a job fair with sit-ins at Senate offices while members of various labor unions held a rally outside the Health and Human Services building to protest President Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze for health research and education.

What You Need To Know

  • Federal workers in Washington, D.C., protested Elon Musk and the U.S. DOGE Service at various events Tuesday

  • Recently fired employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development staged a job fair with sit-ins at Senate offices

  • Members of various labor unions held a rally outside the Health and Human Services building to protest President Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze for health research and education

  • Twenty-one civil service employees resigned from the U.S. DOGE Service Tuesday, saying they refused to use their expertise to “dismantle critical public services” 

“This isn’t about cutting waste. It’s about consolidating power,” American Association of University Professors president Todd Wolfson said at a rally outside HHS. “We are here today because we refuse to stand by while Trump and his billionaire allies destroy the institutions that keep people alive.”

Wolfson said Trump’s executive orders have hollowed out several institutions that provide grants for research on everything from diabetes and cancer to Alzheimer’s and depression. In January, the Trump administration halted $1 billion in medical research funding for the National Institutes of Health. 

“These cuts mean doctors and scientists are forced to abandon research that could cure the next deadly disease,” he said.

Wolfson was one of a half dozen labor unions represented at the rally, including the United Auto Workers, Communications Workers of America and the American Federation of Teachers, many of whom held signs and chanted “we are mad scientists” and “hands off our healthcare.”

“We are standing here today to both educate and to advocate union members, researchers, scientists, to cry out, to make sure Americans know that we are going to fight for their future, fight for their freedom, fight for their healthcare regardless of what happens to any of us,” American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten said at the rally. “That is what a labor movement does.”

At a separate event staged by the activist group Fork Off Coalition, recently fired USAID workers staged a job fair at Senate offices. 

“I loved my job. I loved my co-workers. I loved my team. I loved the mission of this agency, so trying to find something that fits all of that is really challenging,” said Sara Nettleton, who worked on operations continuity and operational readiness for USAID for almost five years until she received a termination notice Monday night. “Trying to look at my resume, I have this wealth of experience that I don’t know where to put it. It’s been really stressful.”

It is unclear how many federal workers have lost their jobs as a result of the U.S. DOGE Service and its efforts to reduce government spending. About 75,000 federal employees had accepted a White House offer of “deferred resignation” in exchange for paid leave before a federal judge blocked the plan. According to the Office of Personnel Management, about 220,000 federal employees are considered probationary employees with less than a year of job experience and are subject to layoffs. 

Earlier on Tuesday, 21 civil service employees resigned from the U.S. DOGE Service, saying they refused to use their expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled the last name of the AAUP president. The error has been corrected. (February 26, 2025)