Guest Spot: Federal workers are not your enemies

I’m sitting with my pop as he tells me (for the 100th time) about his days as a military man in Limestone, Maine. He jokes about the boys hanging salamis from the rafters and how he’s just a stone’s throw from Canada. I tell him (for the 100th time) it’s a wonderful story, and he says he can’t hear me — his hearing aid is dead and needs a new battery. Like 15 million other veterans in the U.S., he relies on VA hospitals and clinics for his health care. Those 400,000 federal employees are providing essential services to your family, your neighbors, your friends. Now, we’re seeing people in power fire those employees, and it’s being praised as saving taxpayer money.

It’s 2012. You wake up and check your phone for the weather — Hurricane Sandy is coming to Riverhead. The bay floods, trees and power lines are knocked down and your basement is underwater. How did we know Hurricane Sandy was coming? Who prepared our disaster response? Federal employees. Meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and responders at FEMA warned us, helped us prepare and rebuild. I remember playing with the neighborhood kids in our fallen weeping willow tree, but I also remember the $15 billion in federal aid that helped Long Island recover.

This isn’t to say the federal bureaucracy is perfect. There’s room for reshaping and auditing, but indiscriminately firing employees across agencies — and then scrambling to rehire them when we realize they’re essential — isn’t the answer. When the Department of Defense pays $150,000 for a soap dispenser or Boeing charges an extra 8,000% for spare plane parts, someone should absolutely step in. But by and large, federal employees aren’t wasting your taxpayer dollars. They’re providing critical services that keep our communities running.

As an intern at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — essentially the HR department for the federal government — I saw firsthand how understaffed teams worked tirelessly to support federal employees and improve government efficiency. I worked on projects like the Federal Intern Program to help college students and young professionals get jobs. It was rewarding, but it was also eye-opening. In any other organization, my supervisor would have had a team of experienced employees. Instead, he had two interns learning on the job.

Later, in the Office of Communications at OPM, I helped create a website to provide resources for job seekers, federal employees and veterans. Some might call this wasteful, but isn’t it more wasteful to keep funding outdated systems that fail to serve the public? In the 21st century, a technologically advanced government isn’t a luxury — it’s a necessity.

I recognize there are places where spending can be reined in. But consider the human cost of cutting these jobs. Consider me. I was your neighbor. I went to your high school. I volunteered at Maureen’s Haven. My mother is a volunteer firefighter and my father served on the Riverhead Free Library board. I grew up believing that giving back to my community was the highest honor, and I chose a career in public service because of that belief. Now, I’m told that my pursuit of public service was selfish — that I was just trying to take taxpayer funds. Like my 20 colleagues in the Office of Communications, I’ve lost my job because those in power don’t see the value in serving our communities.

They don’t want my pop to have easy access to VA health care. They don’t want FEMA and the National Guard to respond to natural disasters. They don’t want your community to come together to help each other.

I ask you now to consider what’s at stake when we say public service is a waste of money. I gladly pay taxes so my friends hit by Hurricane Harvey can get emergency relief, veterans like my pop can have health care and our youth can go to school, read books and learn to advance our nation. These are the services those in power are cutting.

Federal funding impacts our daily lives. It’s the water you drink and the air you breathe. It’s the beaches we lie on in the summer and the jetties holding them together. You all know someone in government service. A teacher. A firefighter. Someone who works at a nonprofit. Our economy is built on providing services to the public, grounded in the principles of community. Those in power tell you public service is wasteful and tax cuts to the rich make rents lower, that trickle down economics will finally trickle down to us. Well it’s been over 40 years of trickle down and we’ve only seen the reverse happen. Meanwhile, billionaires like Elon Musk give themselves millions in bonuses while labeling essential programs like Social Security and Medicare as “Ponzi schemes.” If he paid his fair share in taxes, we could fund these programs for decades. Instead, he’s firing 83,000 VA employees who provide actual services to veterans while protecting his own contracts.

This isn’t a Democratic or Republican issue. It’s about the elite in this country versus the rest of us. It’s about the rich and powerful prioritizing their profits over the people just trying to afford eggs.

When the next hurricane hits Long Island and there’s no FEMA money to aid us, what will we do? When the VA closes clinics because they don’t have enough employees, what will we do? When the Department of State closes consulates and embassies, leaving travelers stranded without help, what will we do? When the Department of Education closes and property taxes skyrocket to fund our schools, what will we do?

Federal employees go to work every day because they believe in serving their communities. I got up every morning because I believed — and still believe — that giving back to Riverhead is the greatest thing I can do. Don’t let billionaires tell you that people helping your community are the reason your taxes are high or eggs are expensive. They’re the reason your community thrives.

Call Rep. Nick LaLota and tell him to protect federal jobs and hold wasteful contractors accountable. Call Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and demand they prioritize funding for essential services like FEMA, the VA and public education. This is our community — and it’s worth fighting for.

Dominic Bossey is a resident of Aquebogue and a 2019 graduate of Riverhead High School.