“Every day at my office is an 8 hour funeral”
Live today from Federal workers....
"Your next airplane flight is going to be less safe because of this. That's not political. I'm not sitting here telling you who to vote for in the next election or anything like that. I'm just talking about the safety of the American public."
- FAA employee
“I Do Solemnly Swear”, a project that launched today, provides a firsthand account of what the quiet dismantling of the backbone of the federal government will mean for all of us—straight from the voices of the workers who have worked on the frontlines of these critical programs.
All of us across the country rely on government services behind the scenes every day, whether we realize it or not—from veterans' healthcare to air traffic control to food safety. These departments were created for such silly reasons such as to protect the nation’s public health (CDC) and provide the infrastructure needed to make a country safe, stable, and functional (FAA, EPA, IRS, and so on). One look at places that have weak public health departments or other government services might convince you of their necessity, if these workers don’t. Countries with hollowed out government services are usually this way because of poverty or decades of civil war, and it isn’t pretty for citizens.
So what does it look like in America when some of these critical government agencies and departments are weakened, or even disappear?
Well, this collective of twelve federal workers are speaking out to tell you firsthand how DOGE cuts will affect you, no matter your politics. The interview series, directed by acclaimed filmmakers Laura Nix (Oscar and Emmy-nominated, Peabody-winner) and Marc Weiss (founder of PBS’s POV) and released in partnership with Federal Workers Against DOGE, reveals what these cuts will mean for us, government department by government department.
A few, er, lowlights:
An employee at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention says,
"The people who have been fired were protecting you from diseases that I'm glad you don't know about."
An employee at the Veterans Health Administration employee says,
"I had a patient who had to use the suicide hotline. And now he read somewhere that they're reducing the staff and he's like, what is it going to be like if I won't be able to get a hold of them?"
An employee at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health says,
"I think somebody calculated it out and to fund NIOSH for an entire year it costs two dollars and twenty cents per worker per year. I think that's a bargain. And without NIOSH, I really think that people are going to die."
An employee at the Internal Revenue Service says,
"It is easier now for high-income, high-wealth, multi-national corporations to absolutely cheat the tax law. It sends a huge signal that it's going to be okay to not have to pay your taxes."
An employee at the Social Security Office says,
"The systems that we use to do our work are less reliable as the IT staff has been removed or replaced. The effects so far are in the wait times for both the telephone line and the field offices and the website has crashed."
An employee at Heathcare.gov says,
"If we really wanted to be rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse, I would not be cutting the staff of divisions whose sole job is to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse."
An employee at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says,
"The amount that we have to communicate is mind-boggling. And if these communications are not available, then I think the danger is that people won't know what to trust."
An employee at the Environmental Protection Agency says,
"Our water, our air, our land are protected by people. It doesn't magically happen that these programs exist and people are healthy."
You can listen to each one-minute interview in full here, and help spread the word about what these cuts will mean to everyday Americans by sharing the reels on Instagram here. And if you’re a worker who is concerned about something you think other Americans might need to know, we can help. Find us here.