February 22, 2025

Duckworth Hosts Roundtable with Local Chicago Federal Employees Impacted by Trump’s Mass Federal Layoffs

 

[CHICAGO, IL] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today hosted a roundtable discussion with local Chicago-based federal employees from seven different agencies who have been affected by Trump’s chaotic federal layoffs and Elon Musk’s reckless funding cuts, including multiple probationary employees who have been terminated. During the roundtable, Duckworth also highlighted the ways she is working to push back on Trump’s lawlessness at the federal level. 

“In the wake of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s mass federal layoffs, I’m continuing to hear from local federal employees across Illinois who suddenly found themselves jobless,” Duckworth said. “While Trump and Musk can keep claiming that they’re working to weed out waste and save money, we know that these mass federal layoffs and funding cuts are ultimately their attempts to fund tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy—and stick hardworking Illinoisans with the bill. By gutting our fraud enforcement agencies, Americans will have no one left to weed out the real fraud and hold Trump accountable, costing taxpayers even more in the long run. Trump’s federal purge is a slap in the face to those who’ve devoted their lives to public service and I’ll continue using my power as a U.S. Senator to push back against this lawlessness.”

“We are grateful for Senator Duckworth’s leadership and advocacy on behalf of federal workers,” said Nicole Cantello, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 704. “Every day, U.S. EPA employees work to keep Illinoisans safe from toxic pollutants in their air, water and soil. We need every senator standing strongly behind us and firmly opposing these cynical, self-serving efforts from the Trump administration.”

Prior to these reductions, nearly 53,000 federal employees were based in Chicago. The five largest federal agencies by employment in Illinois are the Department of Veterans Affairs (16,200), the Department of the Army (7,075), the Department of Homeland Security (5,043), the Department of Justice (3,628) and the Department of the Air Force (3,490).

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