Document jywBb9wKmxLanMbBY9LL7MaG5

yam rabes e*tr Jock Ruddy, Staff Director Committee on transportation club iinfragtrurture gouge of Repraentatibe5 aitIjiniton, IBC 20515 Iiick /amen E%anktng Iftember March 12, 2025 Katherine W. Dedrick, Demoaanc Staff Director The Honorable Sean Duffy Secretary United States Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 Dear Secretary Duffy: We are deeply concerned about recent and planned actions by the Administration to slash the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) workforce and the resulting impacts on the safety of the traveling public, the welfare of communities, and the effective stewardship of our nation's infrastructure. The indiscriminate firing of probationary employees on February 14 created uncertainty and strain on DOT employees. These terminations were carried out without any justification or notification to Congress regarding the process, the details or the impacts. The Committee has not received the documentation requested on February 19 on the number of employees terminated, the specific offices affected by the terminations, or the job categories affected. On March 4, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) revised its directive for agencies to terminate probationary employees in response to a court order finding that these indiscriminate firings were illegal. The revised directive comes on the heels of a broader OPM order issued on February 26 for agencies to submit plans by March 13 for deeper cuts to agency personnel through mass layoffs. To date, this Administration has shown a callous disregard for the public servants that make up our federal workforce, which will have long-lasting consequences. For example, the entire senior career leadership team at one of your safety agencies announced retirements last month representing more than 150 years of experience leaving the agency. Your decisions in the coming weeks in response to these directives stand to drastically reshape the Department and affect DOT's ability to usher in the safe, world-class transportation and infrastructure the Administration supports. We urge you to hire back probationary employees and rethink your approach to workforce reductions. At DOT, federal workers oversee the safety of the nation's roads, bridges, transit systems, passenger and freight railroads, pipelines, hazardous materials, and maritime transportation. These workers directly control the safety of the national airspace. These workers directly manage the disbursement and oversight of hundreds of billions of federal dollars provided by Congress to build infrastructure projects, OST-2025-1200 Page 02014 Sierra Club v. Dept. of Transp. - 3:25-cv-06221 SC_EVERSPLIT0027895 improve the mobility of people and goods, and create jobs. These workers ensure that Congressional mandates including Buy America requirements and operational standards on infrastructure projects are met. These workers also process and evaluate legally required environmental reviews and their termination only serves to slow down project delivery, leading to cost increases. Democrats support these functions continuing effectively, transparently, and skillfully by employees whose work is valued and who are respected, not routinely denigrated, by the nation's highest office. We urge you to change course. Communities across the country want roads and bridges in good condition, more, better, and safer passenger and freight rail service, safe streets and safe skies, and reliable and affordable mobility options. States, local governments, Tribes, and transportation providers need certainty and steady rules of the game to make these goals a reality. Congress provided funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, along with administrative funding for U.S. DOT to hire federal workers, to deliver these outcomes. Congress has a responsibility to answer our constituents and transportation stakeholders in our districts who reach out regularly with questions about DOT's work to deliver these outcomes. To fulfill our oversight responsibilities, we reiterate our request for full information related to: the impacts of all decisions made to date related to reductions in force, including the number of employees fired or who accepted deferred resignations or retirements in response to the Administration's actions; the number of probationary employees who were let go and who you plan to rehire, if any; and all planned reductions in force across DOT's modal agencies and the Office of the Secretary to meet OPM's February 26 directive. The Administration's personnel actions will have consequences beyond the immediate economic impact of people losing their jobs. We are not willing to jeopardize the stability and safety of our transportation system or the federal-state-local partnership model of building infrastructure. We are not willing to risk devolving our systems into chaos. Instead, we hope you will work with us to deliver cleaner, safer, more efficient transportation. Sincerely, Eleanor Holmes Norton Member of Congress Rick Larsen Ranking Member Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure OST-2025-1200 Page 02015 Sierra Club v. Dept. of Transp. - 3:25-cv-06221 Told Nadler Member of Congress SC_EVERSPLIT0027896 Steve Cohen Member of Congress Henry C. "Han Johnson, Member of Congress Dina Titus Member of Congress I SIAAvdta-% Ju is BrovJnley Member of Congress AbrZ4 X32 Mark DeSaulnier Member of Congress Greg Stai ton Member of Congress Jesus G. "Chuy" Garcia Member of Congress hn Garamendi Member of Congress Member of Congress Member of Congress Judenita- LOA1- 4 Frederica S. Wilson Member of Congress Salud Carbajal Member of Congress Member of Congress /,9 Chris Pappas Member of Congress OST-2025-1200 Page 02016 Sierra Club v. Dept. of Transp. - 3:25-cv-06221 SC_EVERSPLIT0027897 Seth Moulton Member of Congress Patrick RyariMember of Congress trong Sykes Member of Congress Valerie P. Foushee Member of Congress i Robert arcia Member of Congress . isten cDonald Rivet Member of Congress Member of Congress Marilyn Strickland Member of Congress &744 Val Hoyle Member of Congress lacy. Scholten Member of Congress Chris Deluzio Member of Congress N lie Pou Mei er of Congress 4/e4.46% Laura Friedman Member of Congress S'homari Figure Member of Congress OST-2025-1200 Page 02017 Sierra Club v. Dept. of Transp. - 3:25-cv-06221 SC_EVERSPLIT0027898