“Right now the federal employees are nameless and faceless,” Omar told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “People are talking about there being two million of them, but that’s just a number. People don’t know who these people are, their dedication and service to our country, and what their jobs were, how they served people, what this loss means for them, and what it means for our state.”
Wicker knows his situation isn’t as dire as other fired federal employees. His wife has a job. He’s not panicking about paying rent. His son, whom he and his wife adopted out of foster care, is grown and out of the house; he’s currently on active duty in the Army. But they’re not saving any money, not contributing to retirement, not going to restaurants or movies while he looks for work.
His one splurge: a trip to D.C. to elevate the stories of fired federal workers.
“I’m honored and humbled and really excited, and I’m also really, really sad,” Wicker said. “As a veteran, this [D.C. trip] is the coolest fricking thing ever. But I’m absolutely furious about how the federal workforce has been treated. Federal workers aren’t disposable pawns. This is not some experiment where American people are the test subjects. It’s horrible, the demonization of people who every day walk past American flags in their lobby to serve their communities.
“Nobody here is in a hedge fund,” he said. “Nobody is sitting on a golf course in Mexico and collecting paychecks. And 30 percent are veterans who’ve already served their country. They’re being treated like hot steaming garbage, and it’s enraging.”
