Dozens of former government employees whom the Trump administration has fired — including some from the departments of Agriculture and the Interior — will be in the audience Tuesday night when President Donald Trump delivers his first address to Congress in five years.
Congressional Democrats are giving their coveted guest passes for Trump’s speech to former civil servants and other Americans from their districts who have been harmed by the administration’s unprecedented cost-cutting moves.
Among them are former park rangers, fired National Science Foundation workers, wildland firefighters, farmers and labor leaders.
The coordinated effort is Democrats’ latest attempt to force Republicans — and now Trump himself — to reckon with the impacts that the administration’s sweeping funding freezes and firings are having on government operations, businesses, nonprofits and individuals.
