Monitoring democratic institutions through public records
Government Worker Protections — Week of Dec 1, 2025
Are career government workers protected from being fired for political reasons? 'Schedule F' is a rule that could let the President fire thousands of workers who aren't loyal to him.
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AI two-pass review flags anomalous content with P2 corroboration. Monitoring increased.
On December 2, 2025, Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico delivered a speech on the House floor describing what she called the rise and fall of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. In ODE TO DOGE, she stated that DOGE had "conducted mass firings, canceled contracts, and mined the sensitive data of millions of American people" while operating outside normal legal processes. She also noted that OPM's own Director recently said the entity "doesn't exist" as a formal office.
This might matter because federal employees are legally protected from being fired for political reasons rather than job performance — a system designed to ensure the government serves the public regardless of which party holds power. If the mass firings described in this speech bypassed those protections, it could represent serious damage to the merit-based civil service system that has been a cornerstone of American governance since the 1880s.
There are important alternative explanations to consider. Most significantly, this is a speech by an opposition lawmaker, and such speeches often use strong language to criticize the other party — the characterization of actions as "illegal" reflects her political judgment, not a court ruling. Additionally, presidents have legitimate authority to reorganize government and reduce the workforce; not every personnel action is improper. The speech itself also suggests that public pressure and institutional checks may have worked, with DOGE's formal structure reportedly dissolved and its political support fractured.
Still, the specific events referenced — mass terminations, agency disruptions, and the eventual dissolution of DOGE's formal office — are consistent with developments reported throughout 2025. Rep. Stansbury warns that DOGE's functions may have simply been absorbed into individual agencies, potentially continuing the same work with less public visibility.
Limitations: This analysis is based on a single congressional speech from one political perspective. The claims made in the speech have not been independently verified through this process, and readers should seek additional sources before drawing conclusions.