WASHINGTON – Constituents from across Maryland gathered for a virtual town hall Wednesday to voice concerns to Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks about the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle federal agencies and the potential impact on their jobs and the state’s economy.
Amid efforts by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), created by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, to shut down some agencies, cut federal jobs, and slash agency leases, Van Hollen, Alsobrooks and Robert Shriver of Democracy Forward, a legal organization that promotes democracy and social progress, addressed public concerns over Social Security, buyouts, proposed cuts to public health and disability, and other issues.
“I am troubled about the imminent effort to slash the number of people who work to protect our nation’s public health implement our biomedical research agenda and protect kids from tobacco products,” said Erica (callers’ last names were not made public) from Chevy Chase, Maryland, a mother of two teenage boys, a wife, and a public health advocate.
“These cuts are devastating, and they will quite literally cost lives, to NIH (the National Institutes of Health), to researchers and scientists who have been working on cures to important, to devastating diseases. It will literally cost lives,” Alsobrooks responded.
About 17,000 people were on the tele-town hall, according to Van Hollen’s office.
Van Hollen told callers that he has been closely tracking what he called the illegal, unilateral cuts to medical agencies like the NIH and the potential harm to ongoing research efforts focused on diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s.
He noted that he joined other lawmakers in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s cuts. Johns Hopkins University and 12 other universities have filed a similar lawsuit.
Another caller named Erica, from Oxon Hill, Maryland, was a federal worker whose job focused on environmental justice.
“I was put on administrative leave and it’s heartbreaking,” Erica said. “I feel like my leg’s been cut off.”
She said she was worried about whether federal employees should take layoff options, including buyouts, after being placed on administrative leave.
Erica was one of several employees in her group placed on administrative leave who hoped to bring attention to their plight through a complaint to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) for wrongful termination.
However, Van Hollen said that the Trump administration has also targeted the MSPB, recently firing members of the board without cause. Despite this, he urged federal workers in similar situations to remember that administrative judges within the MSPB will remain in place and will continue to hear cases, even if the board itself is later dissolved.
Fran from Silver Spring, another caller, asked whether Democratic members of Congress planned to sue the president for violating the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which allows Congress to check the executive’s withholding of budgeted funds.
“The Impoundment Act of 1974 is valid all the way up to the Supreme Court. So why aren’t members of Congress directly suing over the withholding of funds from all of these agencies?” Fran asked.
Van Hollen responded that one of the first phone calls he made was regarding the violation of the act, adding that Congress does not have the authority to take direct legal action. However, he has reached out to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) by letter, urging an investigation into the violation.
“Many of these lawsuits have been the violation of the Impoundment Control Act because, as you just said, the Supreme Court has previously ruled that presidents can’t cherry-pick the law,” Van Hollen said.
Rosemary, 69, from Baltimore County, called in on behalf of herself and her sister, both of whom rely heavily on Social Security. Rosemary said her main concern was Musk’s access to Treasury Department data.
“Not only Elon but people who work with him—they have access to our Social Security numbers…You know, this is our lifeline,” Rosemary said.
According to Van Hollen, Trump and Musk’s push to dismantle federal agencies is part of a covert plan tied to Project 2025, a collection of far-right proposals that began circulating years before the 2024 election as a presumed blueprint for Trump’s second term.
Despite growing media attention and repeated questions from reporters throughout his campaign, Trump denied any knowledge of the plan. Van Hollen claims Musk is now working to implement it.
Van Hollen criticized Musk, arguing that a department claiming to be efficient is acting counterproductively.
“But if you want to make the government more efficient, you don’t start by firing en masse all the inspectors general, as President Trump did,” Van Hollen said. “Inspectors general are the independent watchdogs.”
Both senators, along with Shriver, ended the call with words of encouragement, urging constituents to contact Republican lawmakers’ offices to let them know what is happening.
“For them to really understand the magnitude in the breadth of people who are impacted by these decisions, the Republicans have to hear from all of you,” Alsobrooks said.