Uncertainty grips Maryland as Trump administration fires thousands in federal job purge

Ben Mause, The Baltimore Sun on Oct 14, 2025

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration instituted reductions in force on Friday. Maryland is home to some of the terminated federal employees. But for now, it’s hard to quantify how many people, and which agencies, were most affected in the state.

“We’re still trying to understand the impact in Maryland,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen told The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday.

Multiple lawmakers told The Sun that they had heard from workers who were hit by the RIFs, which were announced on Friday by Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought. Roughly 4,200 positions were terminated, though about 600 of those were later rehired.

The reductions were initiated by seven departments: Treasury, Health and Human Services, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Energy and Homeland Security. Of those, the largest RIFs happened at the Departments of Treasury — 1,446 — and Health and Human Services — 600.

On Tuesday, Democratic members of the Maryland and Virginia delegations held a press conference outside the OMB office building to express frustration with the situation. They were joined by a crowd of current and former federal employees.

“These recent actions are not layoffs; they’re not reorganizations,” Rep. Johnny Olszewski Jr., a Baltimore County Democrat, said during the news conference. “These are political purges, and they will make us weaker as a country.”

“Calls are picking up about the impact on employees and folks who are having difficulty accessing services,” Olszewski told The Sun.

During the first week of the shutdown, Vought announced holds on funds for state infrastructure projects and canceled funding for several green energy ventures as the administration threatened to terminate federal worker positions if the government wasn’t reopened. The threat was realized on Friday.

“OMB is making every preparation to batten down the hatches and ride out the Democrats’ intransigence,” the office posted on Tuesday. “Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue the RIFs, and wait.”

A spokesperson for Rep. Sarah Elfreth, an Anne Arundel and Howard County Democrat, said that they had heard from constituents who were RIFed from HHS. Other offices said they were hoping to know more as the week progressed.

“It’s been a moving target,” Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Prince George’s County Democrat, said. “I’m definitely getting calls.”

One federal worker from Ivey’s district, who requested anonymity in case of retribution, told The Sun they were among the people RIFed from the Department of Education on Friday, after being furloughed at the start of the shutdown.

The worker said they have yet to receive an official notice due to not having access to their laptop during the shutdown, but learned from teammates and their supervisor. The worker remained hopeful that the RIF would be overturned by the courts.

Rob Shriver, managing director of Democracy Forward’s Civil Service Strong program, said during the press conference that the organization filed an emergency motion to stop the RIFs as soon as Vought announced them. The hearing on the motion is on Wednesday.

Maryland residents and agencies based in the state have experienced a number of cuts and terminations this year. The National Institutes of Health, headquartered in Bethesda, was particularly hit hard earlier this year.

“The firings on Friday compounded the larger issue that we’re really trying to struggle to take care of on the local government level,” Izola Shaw, a member of the Rockville City Council, told The Sun.

Shaw was a federal worker for 20 years. She worked in the communications department at the National Cancer Institute as part of NIH. Her entire department — over 100 people — were RIFed in May.

“I know it’s incredibly challenging,” Shaw said, referring to the workers who were terminated last week. “It’s really important to support our constituents and connect them with resources.”

The parties remain at an impasse over government funding. The Senate has continued to vote on a clean funding extension that the House passed on Sept. 19. Two Senate Democrats and one independent have joined Republicans to support the bill, leaving it five votes short of passage.

Members were confident that there were legal grounds to reverse the terminations.

“The creation of a government shutdown confers upon them no new authority to fire anybody,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Montgomery County Democrat, said. “It’s not like they have new powers to fire anyone.”

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