By Stephen Dinan – The Washington Times – Friday, February 14, 2025

President Trump’s latest move against the federal bureaucracy came this week when the administration moved to fire thousands of recently hired employees still on probationary status.

The Veterans Affairs Department said it axed more than 1,000 nonunion workers who had been on the job for less than two years. The department said it stood to save $98 million a year from the layoffs, which it would pump back into services and benefits for veterans.

The General Services Administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Agriculture, Energy, Education and Interior departments also saw probationary employees nixed, according to news reports.

The Office of Personnel Management, the government’s chief human resources agency that directed the firings, also moved against its probationary employees.

Mr. Trump’s critics decried the workforce cuts.

“Massive layoffs of VA employees — including nurses, doctors, and positions already facing critical shortages nationwide — is nothing more than an attempt to balance the budget on the back of veterans,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat.

He said Mr. Trump went after probationary employees because they have fewer job protections, making them easier targets.

But he said it was short-sighted, saying the government invested significant resources in training the employees only to give up on them before they had a chance to deliver returns.

The layoffs are part of Mr. Trump’s full-scale assault on the federal bureaucracy. He’s made strategic ousters of senior leaders at the top, delivered warning shot firings of employees he saw as resisting his policy choices, and now has made money-saving cuts from the lower ranks.

He is also pursuing his “fork in the road” buyout plan for tens of thousands of federal workers, after a judge allowed the process to move forward this week.

While critics characterized the probationary layoffs as indiscriminate, the Trump administration indicated it was careful in its cutting.

The VA, for example, counts more than 400,000 total employees, both full and part-time, and says it has 43,000 probationary employees.

That means the 1,000 workers who were let go are just 2.3% of the probationary employees and less than a quarter of a percent of all department employees.

“This was a tough decision, but ultimately it’s the right call to better support the Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors the department exists to serve,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “To be perfectly clear: These moves will not negatively impact VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries.”