After Request from Warren and Senators, Government Watchdog Opens Investigation into How Trump’s Purge of Workers Harms Americans’ Health and Safety
Washington, D.C. – Following a request from U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the Government Accountability Office (GAO) agreed to open an investigation into how the Trump administration’s firing of probationary federal workers will impact Americans’ health and safety.
Thousands of these recently fired federal employees were responsible for protecting Americans’ health and safety, across areas like air travel, flood and wildfire response, infectious disease control, nuclear safety, veterans’ healthcare and benefits, food safety, and managing the opioid epidemic.
In recent weeks, courts have ordered the Trump administration to reinstate probationary employees, only for many of the employees to be reinstated and immediately placed on administrative leave, still leaving the health and safety of Americans at risk.
On March 6, 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren led 10 Democratic senators in writing to the Government Accountability Office requesting an investigation into how the recent mass firings of probationary federal workers have impacted Americans’ health and safety.
“GAO accepts your request as work that is within the scope of its authority,” wrote agency officials, noting that the work would begin “shortly.” GAO’s investigation is set to investigate how the recent firings of probationary federal workers affect the health and safety of Americans.
Senator Warren has been a leader in standing up for federal workers amidst Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s government takeover:
- On March 20, 2025, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) led a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon regarding the Trump Administration’s decision to slash the capacity of Federal Student Aid to handle student aid complaints.
- On March 19, 2025, at a town hall in Lowell, MA, Senator Elizabeth Warren laid out her strategy, including fighting the illegal mass firings in the courts, to fight Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s dangerous government takeover, which is hurting Massachusetts families, and she invited neighbors from Lowell to join her in the fight.
- On March 3, 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren announced Doug Kowalewski, a National Science Foundation employee who was fired unexpectedly as part of Elon Musk’s and the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) gutting of the federal workforce, as her guest at the 2025 State of the Union. Senator Warren brought Doug “to force Trump to confront the federal workers he fired – the people who make this country run.”
- On February 20, 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren secured an investigation by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Inspector General into how the Acting Chairman rescinding more than 200 job offers to bank examiners impacts the U.S. banking system.
- On February 18, 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren led a letter demanding that the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Scott Turner, halt any further staff cuts at the agency, noting that additional staffing reductions would further exacerbate the housing crisis and would likely prevent HUD from being able to meet critical functions like supporting disaster recovery efforts.
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