U.S. Sen. Mark Warner criticized Elon Musk’s and the Department of Government Efficiency’s “willy nilly” firing of federal employees as part of the Trump Administration’s efforts to dramatically cut spending, and highlighted the impact this could have on the Hampton Roads economy during a call with reporters Wednesday morning.
Virginia’s senior senator also said the firing on Friday of senior military leaders and replacing them with people he called “loyalists” lacking necessary qualifications “literally undermines the security of our nation.”
Warner said his office has received an “overwhelming” number of calls from Hampton Roads residents concerned about their jobs connected to the federal government, particularly related to the ship repair industry. Because Congress has only allocated funding for naval ship repair until March 14, he said, the threat of firings by DOGE is compounding the uncertainty.
For example, the Defense Department announced Friday that it would cut 5,400 probationary staff this week and put in place a hiring freeze. Earlier this month, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced the dismissal of more than 1,000 employees who had served for less than two years.
Warner said he spoke with a VA employee in Salem who was within the two-year probationary period and had been laid off. He said the young man’s life is now “in chaos” just as he was preparing to start a family.
“I’m all for government efficiency and if Elon Musk offered to come in and gone with any kind of strategy rather than the wholesale cutting of the government workforce, I would be very supportive,” Warner said. “What we’re looking for are members of Congress to step up and fight for their constituents.”
He added that if Hampton Roads loses the large amount government contracting jobs in the $80,000 to $120,000 range, “they may not come back” which could be a “recipe for disaster for the region.”
“Until we can say to the DOGE boys ‘Enough already, you’re doing irreparable damage’ … you’re going to see these kinds of job losses,” he said.
Warner’s office has also heard “huge concerns” from the Hampton Roads military community about Friday’s “purge” of senior leadership. The Trump administration fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Jim Slife, replacing them with people who Warner called “loyalists rather than people with — candidly — with the qualifications to serve in these major jobs.”
“This is not business as usual, this is not some traditional partisan food fight, this is literally undermining the security of our nation and, I believe, in Hampton Roads, cutting back on critical parts of our workforce. How long it takes to recover once these jobs disappear is anybody’s guess.”
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