Federal Workers Skip July 4 Celebrations After Trump Cut 278,000 Jobs
Updated
Updated · CNN · Jul 3
Federal Workers Skip July 4 Celebrations After Trump Cut 278,000 Jobs
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Jul 3
Summary
Some federal employees are sitting out U.S. 250th-birthday festivities, saying Trump’s second-term overhaul left them too angry, burned out and ashamed to celebrate.
More than 278,000 federal jobs were cut in 2025 through firings, retirements and resignations, while surviving staff absorbed heavier workloads and, in some cases, shutdown-related financial strain.
Social Security and TSA workers told CNN morale has cratered after staffing losses, reassignments and missed paychecks, making high-profile holiday spending feel disconnected from their daily reality.
The discontent reaches far beyond Washington because over 85% of the nation’s 2 million-plus federal workers live outside the capital, including more than 100,000 each in Florida, Texas and California.
As tall ships, a 110-foot Ferris wheel and other semiquincentennial events proceed, some workers say the celebrations now symbolize colleagues they believe were wronged.