1. United States
2. Mo.
3. Letter

I am writing to ask a simple question: Why are you continuing to stand with an administration that has repeatedly undermined the federal civil service and weakened the very institutions Americans rely upon? Recent reporting has shown that staffing reductions have left many of our nation’s federal statistical agencies severely strained. These agencies provide the objective data that Congress, businesses, researchers, farmers, and the American public depend on to make informed decisions. When experienced career employees are pushed out and institutional knowledge is lost, the consequences extend far beyond Washington. They affect the quality, reliability, and integrity of the information that guides our nation’s policies and economy. I am especially troubled by the continued role of Russell Vought in advancing policies that target career civil servants and aggressively shrink federal agencies. Rather than strengthening the federal workforce, his agenda has focused on dismantling longstanding institutions, eliminating experienced employees, and concentrating greater political control over agencies that were designed to serve the American people, not partisan interests. These actions threaten the stability, expertise, and independence of the federal government. Federal employees are not political enemies. They are veterans, scientists, economists, analysts, investigators, claims specialists, engineers, and countless other public servants who dedicate their careers to serving the American people regardless of which political party occupies the White House. They deserve respect, not constant attacks and efforts to portray them as obstacles to be removed. Congress has a constitutional responsibility to provide oversight of the Executive Branch. Yet many members of Congress have remained silent while this administration has pursued sweeping changes to the civil service and federal agencies that many legal experts, employee organizations, and former public officials have argued conflict with existing law and the intent of Congress. Instead of defending the rule of law and the merit based civil service, too many elected officials have chosen to enable these actions. I ask you directly. Do you believe dismantling federal agencies, driving out experienced public servants, and weakening the government’s ability to collect reliable data serves your constituents? If so, please explain why. If not, then why have you failed to speak out? The American people deserve a government that functions effectively, follows the law, respects the professional civil service, and protects the institutions that have served this country for generations. Congress should be standing up for those principles, not enabling their erosion. I urge you to reject these continued attacks on federal employees, condemn Russell Vought’s efforts to politicize and weaken the civil service, exercise meaningful oversight of this administration, and put the interests of the American people ahead of partisan loyalty.