The gutting of the federal workforce

Gregg Bafundo worked as a lead wilderness ranger in Washington state and used his basic firefighting training to help contain fires in the parks he worked in. Erin Williamson traveled to rural communities to help them get financing for essential services as part of her job with the U.S. Agriculture Department. Veteran Jared Blockus worked for a VA hospital in North Carolina ordering critical equipment. All of them were probationary workers fired a couple of weeks ago as part of the Trump administration’s plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce, along with thousands of others. Host Martine Powers speaks with reporter Kyle Swenson about these former federal workers and what their job loss means personally and for the public. Correction: A previous version of this episode mispronounced a source’s name. The error has been corrected.Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sam Bair.Subscribe to The Washington Post here.