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Fired federal workers lobby for aid on Capitol Hill - is anybody listening?

Democrats have been responsive to the 'Tuesday Group' however the Republicans who control Congress are looking the other way
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The Tuesday Group was feeling something familiar as its members milled around a bank of elevators in the bustling basement of a Senate office complex: rejection.

They had actually frequently been told no over the previous months - when the federal government relocated to fire them with Donald Trump's true blessing, when judges declined difficulties to that decision and when the legislators who they have actually taken to finding on Capitol Hill when a week when Congress is in session would turn a deaf ear to their pleas.

More than 59,000 federal employees have lost their jobs given that Trump took workplace, according to federal government information, however those in power have not altered their tune.

This Tuesday early morning, it was staffers of Maine's Republican senator Susan Collins who had told them no, even after they staged an impromptu sit-in in her office for the better part of a half hour. So they proceeded five floorings down to the basement of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, hoping that some senator - any senator - would provide a moment of their time.

Then the elevator doors opened and who should come out however Collins. "Senator Collins!" someone in the group shouted. Another attempted to introduce themselves: "I'm a fired federal worker." But the senator began waving her hands in front of her in an unmistakable sign of: I do not have time for this.

"Thank you," Collins stated, as she made her way down the hall.

"It's somewhat typical," observed Whitt Masters, a former USAID professional who has been jobless since the end of March, when the business using him decided to declare bankruptcy after its customer began to shut down.

"You understand, I do not anticipate every senator to stop and speak to us. I wish she 'd been a bit more approachable, especially considering that we had actually spent a long time in her office earlier today."

What's been called the Tuesday Group has actually happened the Capitol considering that mid-February, as Trump and Elon Musk's campaign to thin out the federal workforce began to bite. Some who reveal up have actually been fired, others are on paid leave while a judge considers whether it is legal to fire them, and those who work for USAID anticipate to formally lose their tasks next Tuesday, when the agency closes down.

Democrats frequently invite them, however when it concerns the Republicans who control Congress - and are weighing legislation to codify some cuts and make deeper ones in the next - the reception has been unequal. They've been neglected, blown off and belittled - all things they would experience last Tuesday, their 17th visit to the Hill.

Their encounter with Collins unsuccessful, the group formed something of a gauntlet at the crossway of a corridor leading in between office buildings and to the Senate train, a location where legislators made sure to hand down a scorcher of a day.

They would call out to any face they acknowledged, however the group of 10 was nothing a determined senator couldn't deal with. Montana Republican Tim Sheehy speed-walked by with a press reporter and cameraman in pursuit; Patty Murray pounded past in tennis shoes; and Arkansas Republican John Boozman ambled through alone, showing no sign that he understood the group was even there.

"Would you like to hear how we are impacting your constituents?" asked Stephie Duliepre, who was fired from her Science for Development fellowship program at USAID, when Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn came around the corner. The senator pushed on, the answer apparently being no.

John Hoeven, a Republican from North Dakota, exited a stairwell that transferred him right in the middle of the group. He appeared to acknowledge them - on a previous see, attendees stated that Hoeven had actually discussed his assistance for folding a major USAID food help program into the state department. "I see you're still working on it," he quipped, before avoiding.

The Democrats they encountered uttered words of support, and a few stopped to talk. "Don't quit," Dick Durbin of Illinois stated when he experienced the group. "I'm with you," Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin called out.

South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham attempted the quiet treatment as he came past, but Amelia Hertzberg, who was on administrative leave from her task in the Environmental Protection Agency, was not having it. She followed him down the hall, and started bounding around to get his attention.

"You have an intense future," Hertzberg recalls the senator saying. "Well, I was going to have an intense future, and then I was fired," she replied.

The group identified Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican and prominent Trump ally. "Senator Hawley, these are fired federal workers. Do you have a second to speak to them?" asked Melissa Byrne, a community organizer who had assembled the group.

"No," he responded.

The group was aghast, however they 'd been dealt with even worse. When Mack Schroeder encountered Indiana Republican Jim Banks one Tuesday and presented himself as having actually been fired from the Department of Health and Human Services, the senator replied, "You most likely deserved it," before calling him "a clown".

That remained in April. The incident made the news, Banks declined to say sorry, and the Tuesday Group kept appearing.

"I've spoken with the media and been on the radio. I have actually called my senators, my representatives, and it feels a little bit like shouting into a void," said Hertzberg, who has actually made about 12 sees to the Capitol now.