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More than a year after President Donald Trump began his second administration with a push to slash the federal government, Democratic lawmakers gathered in Fairfax County on Thursday to argue that the effort left critical agencies depleted and thousands of workers in limbo.

Several Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee used the hearing to examine the effects of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The Trump administration has repeatedly defended the initiative, saying the changes were necessary and improved efficiency across the federal workforce.

Rob Shriver, managing director of civil service and good government initiatives at Democracy Forward, offered a sharply different assessment.

“We know the Trump-Vance administration has taken a wrecking ball to our civil service and decimated the federal workforce,” Shriver said. “In so doing, it has harmed everyone in America who relies on essential government functions.”

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said a new report concluded that DOGE failed to eliminate waste while endangering federal employees and the public through what he called its “incompetence.”

Initially led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, DOGE oversaw a turbulent series of changes during its first months. Those included dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, moving to cancel Voice of America, ending thousands of grants, contracts and programs, and the departure of more than 300,000 federal employees and contractors in 2025.

Current and former federal workers told lawmakers that claims of an oversized workforce overlooked decades of population growth. Citing figures from the Brookings Institution and others, speakers said the federal government employs roughly 3 million people—about the same number as 60 years ago—even though the U.S. population has grown by more than 100 million.

DOGE initially claimed on its website that it had saved taxpayers more than $200 billion. Some experts have disputed that figure, estimating actual savings at between $1 billion and $7 billion. Both estimates fall far below Musk’s 2025 assertion that DOGE would save taxpayers $2 trillion.

Rep. James Walkinshaw, whose Virginia district includes many federal workers, said the reductions damaged agencies responsible for cybersecurity, weather forecasting and national security.

“This administration has hollowed out the cybersecurity agency through RIFs and politically driven reassignments, weakened NOAA by indiscriminately firing staff critical to public safety, and undermined our national security by dismantling USAID,” Walkinshaw said.

Republican supporters of DOGE have argued that the federal government had become bloated and had taken on responsibilities better handled by states. Former Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock, now a vocal critic of the Trump administration, condemned the White House’s treatment of civil servants.

“I apologize to you, as a Republican, for what has happened over the last year because it’s been so egregious and so traumatic,” Comstock said. “It’s the only promise kept by this administration.”

During the hearing, which lasted more than two hours, former employees, watchdog representatives and other witnesses described actions they considered illegal. They cited the firing of inspectors general and what they characterized as a disorganized process for eliminating jobs.

Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said tens of thousands of workers seeking to leave government have been unable to finalize their retirements. She said processing is taking three to four times longer than usual.

“Federal retirees are stuck in limbo as agencies slow walk their retirements, and once those make it to OPM, they are waiting six to nine months for their first annuity payment,” Greenwald said.

Witnesses found some reason for optimism in Musk’s departure from government and DOGE’s official disbandment in November 2025, months ahead of its planned summer 2026 end.

Faith Williams, director of the Effective and Accountable Government Program at the Project on Government Oversight, said her organization and others are prepared to help rebuild the workforce.

“POGO has several solutions Congress can implement to restore the merit based civil service, strengthen whistleblower protections, protect inspectors general and other watchdogs, combat corruption, abuse of power and strengthen congressional oversight,” Williams said.

Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland, whose suburban Prince George’s County district is home to thousands of federal employees, said many dismissed workers could still have a future in government.

“We’ve got cases that run the gamut of people in the government who’d been doing great work, who’ve been forced out,” Ivey said. “We’ve got to make sure we find ways to get them back so they can pick up where they left off.”

Ivey also pointed to hundreds, and possibly thousands, of employees who were fired and then rehired weeks or months later after officials determined that their jobs were essential.