Hi Chris,

I totally respect you and your opinions on the DOGE actions regarding federal employees. I agree with you that there is plenty of fat to trim on the workforce and programs. I wanted to provide you with another perspective and some additional context. My wife is a federal employee, but she is not part of that fat. She is a very hard worker who takes a lot of pride in her work. She could be working a much higher paying job, but has chosen to stay with the government for the last 15 years because of the flexibility this provides her. She has enjoyed some level of telework since she started there 15 years ago, and was able to flex her hours to work four 10 hour days M-Th and get Fridays off. All of this flexibility has been used to help raise our 3 (soon to be 4) children. Her agency has been utilizing telework to save leased space. They had cut their space down by 1/3 about 8 years ago by having employees work remotely a few days a week, and go to a "hoteling" model in the office so they have much fewer desks than people. Since covid they increased telework and cut another 1/3 of their space. That space reduction is guaranteed cost savings for the government.
Now in an instant all of that has changed. No more telework, no more flexible schedule, no time to react. It is the middle of the school year, and we have no ability to add before or after care for our children. No exceptions have been granted. I work in the private sector and talked about this with my boss and he has allowed me to leave early when I need to in order to get my kids off the bus.
As for the buyout, my wife received an email from OPM with very little detail about the arrangement. So little detail that there is no way to trust that this was legal or would be followed through on. It requested that if interested she simply reply with "I resign". She has received several emails since them from the politically appointed head of her agency attempting to intimidate her and her coworkers into resigning. Still not presented with any contract or clarifying terms, except for one. They have said that if the buy-out resignation is accepted, the agency can keep you around to transition your responsibilities for as long as they see fit. These emails have threatened that if the offer is not accepted that she may lose her job anyway, or if she is able to keep her job, she could be forced to relocate elsewhere in the country.

In my opinion they are using an axe where they should be using something smaller. Maybe not quite a scalpel. Maybe a chefs knife. They have delayed the return to office because these newly appointed agency leaders have come to the understanding that they do not have enough space for everyone. They would need to cut 2/3 of her office to fit everyone in their current space. So it will be the status quo until March 1. I don't see the logic in spending millions to acquire, build out, and furnish new space just to be able to say everyone is back in the office five days a week.
And all of this in the name of what? Saving money? Reducing the deficit? You know better than I do the breakdown of the budget (I may have even learned it from you). They could eliminate the entire executive branch outside of Medicare and defense, and not put a dent in the deficit. I don't see a path to a trillion in savings here. I see a far more effective path of taking the time to review the efficiencies and inefficiencies of each agency and make thoughtful decisions on improvements. Which absolutely should include a reduction of the workforce.
My goal in writing to you was to attempt to convey the difference between the needs/goals and the methods being used to achieve them. I see the desire for trimming the fat and removing inefficiency, and I see the broad stroke, bullying methodology being used to get there.


Thanks for all that you do! I am a fan of LUP, Self hosted, Coder, and TWIB. All excellent shows! I'm disappointed with the break away of Coder, but can't say I didnt see a change coming. It hasn't seemed like Mike has been in to it for the last few months.
Take care,
-Monty