As a state legislator, and your Delegate, I am busy in Richmond working for my constituents and the Commonwealth. Nevertheless, I am deeply concerned about what is happening across the river and the impact of Elon Musk’s reckless firing spree, which violates the U.S. Constitution. These mass layoffs undermine the rule of law, threaten government accountability, undermine public trust in our federal agencies, and directly harm hard-working Americans. The consequences are especially severe for our local communities, where abrupt staffing cuts to USAID, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and many more agencies will hit families hard.
Here in Virginia, these cuts are more than just numbers on a page — they affect real people. Foreign Service, Civil Service, veterans, and everyday Virginians rely on these essential services. For each government job lost, we lose over three government contractors, further harming government reliability and institutional trust.
Our Speaker of the House, Don Scott, recently established the House Emergency Committee on the Impacts of Federal Workforce and Funding Reductions. This emergency committee will be chaired by my friend and colleague, Del. David Bulova, to ensure continued support for Virginia’s vulnerable federal workers. There are 145,000 civilian federal employees in Virginia and more than $106 billion in federal contracts in our state. The committee will begin meeting once the Virginia General Assembly session concludes next week. Furthermore, our Democratic leadership in the General Assembly is working on emergency legislation to expand unemployment benefits to impacted federal workers and contractors.
We’ve heard empty promises from President Trump. He claimed he would lower costs for Americans but has so far failed to act. In an Aug. 15 campaign speech, he told voters that if he won, he would “immediately bring prices down, starting on day one.” After his election, all he could offer was a weak statement during a TIME Magazine interview about how “[i]t’s hard to bring things down once they’re up.” Instead of lowering prices, President Trump has proposed 25% tariffs on our closest neighbors and allies that will further raise prices during this cost-of-living crisis. Meanwhile, Governor Youngkin doesn’t protest as Washington prioritizes unelected billionaires over working families.
Effective governance relies on established rules, ethical standards, and the expectation of norms, with proper consequences if they aren’t followed. Mr. Musk’s extensive access to critical government institutions raise important concerns about accountability. Prior to his appointment as a “special government employee,” his companies were reportedly promised “$3 billion across nearly 100 different contracts last year with 17 [different] federal agencies,” per the New York Times. Conversely, Mr. Musk’s companies have been targeted in at least 20 recent federal regulatory investigations. Particularly troubling is Mr. Musk’s access to the federal payment system, which might expose details on “public contractors who compete directly with Musk,” as noted by the Campaign Legal Center. Responsible spending of taxpayer funds is essential, but so is protecting the security, stability, and integrity of these government institutions and their rules and ethics.
Let me be clear. These dramatic cuts are not just bad policy, they are an abuse of power. In spite of this, our community is fortunate to have strong leadership during this volatile time, and I commend Congressman Don Beyer and our Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine for speaking out and standing up for our constituents in Mount Vernon and Franconia.
We must continue to resist these reckless and harmful decisions and fight for the programs that hardworking Virginians depend on. Let us stand together for our families, our communities, and future generations. We must not allow unelected Elon Musk to dismantle our federal workforce and profit at the expense of the rest of us.