Rep. Neguse Slams Trump Administration’s Plan to Illegally Terminate Interior Department Employees Across Colorado

Lafayette, CO — Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse issued the following statement regarding a court filing from this morning in which President Donald Trump’s Department of Interior (DOI) told a federal judge the agency intends to fire more than 2,000 government employees through a reduction in force, or RIF. The now-halted RIF was set to illegally terminate roughly 200 positions held by Coloradans at public land agencies throughout the state, including the U.S. Geological Survey in Fort Collins and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and National Park Service (NPS) state and national offices. 

“The attempt to use a government shutdown to unlawfully terminate hard-working federal employees across Colorado is illegal, pure and simple. The Trump administration’s unlawful and politically motivated attacks on workers at our land management agencies — the NPS, BLM, USGS, and elsewhere — will inflict direct harm on both these civil servants and all Coloradans who treasure our lands and water. It is shameful. These acts of retribution are intended to stoke fear, and Democrats must use every legal and legislative tool to reverse these decisions and hold the administration accountable — which is exactly what we intend to do,” said Congressman Joe Neguse.

Neguse has been a vocal opponent of the administration’s abuse of the Reduction in Force (RIF) process, joining with top House Democrats to introduce a series of bills that would prevent the Trump White House from carrying out politically motivated mass firings across the Department of the Interior and U.S. Forest Service. Learn more about this effort here.