Loathed and Lowly: Federal Workers Do Essential Work As Florence Hits

Two weeks ago, President Trump told Congress that he wants to scrap a 2.2% pay raise already budgeted for federal civilian workers.

Who are these workers?

They include the meteorologists who work for the National Hurricane Center.

They include FEMA workers who are traveling to the Carolinas to spend weeks or more helping people find a porta-potty, shelter, fresh water, basic food—and yes, a working internet connection. Last year, 32,000 FEMA employees worked in Texas to help with Hurricane Harvey.

They include physicians, nurses, and service staff at the Fayetteville VA Health Center. They’ll provide dialysis, among other essential services, to vets throughout the storm.

They include air traffic controllers who will reroute and reschedule thousands of flights that are affected by Florence.

They include EPA scientists who study global warming— people whose work on ocean warming is derided by some politicians as a deep-state conspiracy that makes up the threat of human factors in elevating the frequency and intensity of storms.

They include river scientists, such as my daughter-in-law, who will soon be on boats to inspect the base of major bridges over rivers and bays, looking for signs of unsafe scouring where the bridge is anchored to the water-bed.

They include postal carriers who will lose a week or more of hourly-paid work because their routes are inaccessible. When they return to work, they will work in stinking neighborhoods that are swarming with mosquitos. 

They include Social Security employees who will face thousands more requests for help from elderly people whose checks are delayed or lost in the mail. They will try to help these folks recoup their money and help them sign up for direct-deposit-- even for elderly people who have a hard time understanding this.

They include scientists at CDC who will watch for evidence of unusual illness events, such as mosquito borne diseases, food poisoning and other maladies associated with a catastrophic storm.

They include FDA inspectors who will inspect North Carolina’s poultry intensive operations to ensure that the public is getting safe eggs and meat.

They include IRS employees who will work with a large number of tax-filers— individuals and small business owners— who will lose paper records, computers, homes, and offices—all things we take for granted but also vital for filing an accurate and timely tax return.

The list goes on. As vital as the private sector is, there is no substitute for a large federal workforce to handle the immediate and second-order effects of a Category 4 hurricane.