Veterans, who make up a disproportionate share of federal employees, are feeling the brunt of the Trump administration’s rapid push to downsize the work force, generating discord in a reliable political base for Republicans.
Some Republican lawmakers are facing backlash at town hall gatherings where people have raised concerns about veterans being part of the deep cuts made by President Trump and his partner in this mission, the tech billionaire Elon Musk.
And in an act of protest, some Democrats are bringing fired veterans as their guests to Mr. Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, where Mr. Trump is expected to outline more of his agenda.
Nearly 30 percent of civil service employees in the federal government are veterans, according to data as of September 2024 from the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources arm.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk have fired about 20,000 employees who were in probationary status, based on data compiled by The New York Times. About 30 percent of those probationary workers — or 6,000 — were veterans, according to a count by Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee as of Feb. 23.
This includes more than 2,000 veterans at the Department of Defense, 676 at Treasury, about 500 at Energy and 450 at Agriculture.