>> afge. >> who are we? >> afge. >> my name is dr.ny robberson and i know that the union that continues to hold the line for america. this administration maintains that they are going to boost efficiency. but they are doing the most inefficient things imaginable. and i'm not just saying that quite literally. the most inefficient thing you could possibly do is take american taxpayer dollars and pay people not to work. that is what that fork in the road email is. afge is telling this administration and elon musk to get the fork up out of here. we as the american people must stop this. before we can have a revolution we must have a revelation. that means the people must be educated on what it is we do in the intentional miseducation of the american public about the services the government provides is how we got this administration in the first place. many have been kept in the dark so long that they are mistaking candlelight for sunlight. and they keep getting drawn in closer like moths to a flame, not realizing they are about to get ear

let me hear you say afge! afge! afge! afge! we're with you, yes. from the great state of massachusetts, we have jim mcgovern. where are you? [cheers] >> i stand before you as the proud brother of two sisters who are worchester public school teachers in massachusetts. this is personal to me. i love teachers. i'm losing my voice, i can't believe it. it takes an extraordinary amount of self-delusion to think that elon musk and donald trump give a shit about our public schools or about our teachers or students. their kids all have private tutors. they don't go to public schools. they probably never stepped into a public school. i will tell you this, i am here to stand in solidarity with all of you. these guys want to fight? we will give them a goddamn fi ght. when we fight, we win. thank you very much! [cheers] >> our students, our schools. >> can they take it away? >> no! >> our schools! our students! can they take it away? >> no! becky: no! >> can they take it away? >> no! [cheers] becky: now you know that the department of education doesn't just pro

overcome. who put some of those doubts around theirform to one side — against mg ha nista n against afgance but are desperate 7 are desperate to opposition are desperate to win and can play well too and so, i think you have to proud of think you have to be proud of the way we play today and we were performed and give credit to the for just to the opposition forjust being a little bit better in getting over the line. i think it's really special and it does_ i think it's really special and it does not who it is it does not matter who it is against, _ it does not matter who it is against, i_ it does not matter who it is against, i think like it does not matter who it is against, ithink like said it does not matter who it is against it think like said it does not matter who it is against it ti' a k like said it does not matter who it is against it ti'a really said tournament and we were, knew e_=z knew how we z knew how we started 7 - knew how we started the i world cup and india last year and we — world cup and india last year and we were able we and we were not able to, we know — and we w

. >> my name is mj burke on the first executive vice president of the afge national va council, probablyresenting 280,000 employees we like the mission that has been entrusted to us i believe that va's mission is the greatest of all the federal agencies. the goal of the current administration executive orders without eliminating hello acting b as to turn more va care private sector with the result of diminishing the quality of care that we internally can provide because, if you have three or four va or nurses leave, despite being excluded list, these nurses can go to another job but under current va policies, managers will not be able to hire enough nurses back quickly enough at the rate in order to replace them. administrative actions are purported to make us more efficient but even before the new assaults budget uncertainty met hiring was already frozen. now they want to pile reductions on top of vacancies that we already have. even before the recent budget shortfalls, the va needed to hire 1000 doctors and 5000 registered nurses a year just to keep up with the amount of retirements go

joining us now, president of afge council. 238 representing epa employees across the country, marie owensthanks so much for being here. who exactly is at risk right now? i just mentioned folks that are in the field cleaning up. can you give us a little bit more? >> sure, absolutely. who's at risk? is everybody in the in the country? anyone who lives anywhere there is a potential. for a hazardous accident or some extreme weather. we have a civil servants. we have one mission. which is protecting human health and the environment. and that means doing everything we can do to fight against unprecedented climate emergency that we're seeing happen every day, and ensure america has clean air and clean water. you know, the climate emergency that we're facing hurts everybody, regardless of political party. and it's our job as epa workers to protect everyone's health and the future of our planet. >> do you know if these layoffs are going to be surgical? i mean, or is it just going to come down and they're just going to lay everybody off? are they going to consider people who might be working at the

afge, the association of federal government employees sued over this ridiculous offer that was givenuarantees, essentially. but so the lawsuits have been successful. we see also communications. we are working to make sure that we are communicating more readily and rapidly with the american people, because there's so much to challenge. and i have also been demanding answers, demanding answers that we get clarification from this administration regarding many of the orders. also, just really standing up and saying how what an impact this will have. and important to note, and i've said this already, but the actions we're seeing will directly harm the american people. it is not the civil servants and many of them are suffering. it's not just them, it's the people that they serve who are also going to see the rising prices, who will be seeing the reduction in services, the veterans who will need their benefits, the seniors who will go to get their benefits. and we're seeing this administration is directly attacking the american people. why? to make sure these billionaires are able to benef

and we are grateful for unions like afge who are working hard with many partners in pushing forward lawsuits. their priority and ours, all of us, should be to protect american workers. >> so this week, you called on nasa to revoke any access for elon musk and his dodge bros. to personnel and contracting files. due to your concerns of a conflict of interest for his space x company gaining inside info. i want our viewers to know spacex received nearly three excuse me, $2.32 billion from nasa in fiscal year 2023. congresswoman, isn't this exactly the kind of swampy behavior that trump claims he's reading out? but obviously it's totally okay, though if somebody like musk benefits from it. >> exactly. i understand that many americans want to root out government waste and inefficiency, but we also need transparency. i am curious to the amount of contracts that elon musk is receiving and benefiting from, as he is alleging to be rooting out waste and transparency. he is likely the largest private contractor that has business before and with nasa. and now he is. trump is just going to let elon musk a

one, the president of afge, the american federation of government employees, they said that these employees were given no notice, no due process, no opportunity to defend themselves. so there could be some legal challenges like we've seen with some of these other recent moves by the trump administration to push back on this. but all to say, we are starting to really see these layoffs hit all different parts of government. from my conversations with trump administration officials, this is just the beginning. we are expecting to see more of these. kate. >> yeah, projected that it was going to happen, saying it was coming, and now it is setting in and it is just the beginning. elena, thank you so much for your reporting, john. >> okay. this morning, questions over what some see as overt politics at play in the justice department. manhattan's top federal prosecutor, danielle sassoon, quit, along with five other senior department officials in washington protesting demands from the department of justice to drop the prosecution on corruption charges against new york city mayor eric adams. now, sas

joining us now is eric barnes, senior, the national secretary treasurer for the afge. eric, first of all, tell us what's going on with your members. what are they feeling? this must be such an unsettling time for so many. >> our members are confused with this chaos. and what i mean by that. is there's been so many emails coming from the administration, coming from a particular agency, and not giving a clear picture of what this buyout. we don't call it a buyout. um, this program or what they plan to get these employees to take. so they're really confused about. i mean, if you had to make a life decision decision in eight days, determine if you're going to have a job or retire or whatever. it's really not how you run a government. >> what kind of impact does this judge's decision to delay that decision having? >> well, we're glad for the delay. we welcome delay. that's why we did the lawsuit, okay. because we need to get answers from opm that we have not been able to get. our employees have not been able to get the answers. is this legitimate? okay. or is this going to

and everett kelley, national president of the american federation of government employees, or afge. welcome to you both. >> welcome to you both. professor glaude. i want to read a little bit about what our. >> current head. >> of the dod had to say about. cq brown. this is from his book. >> the war on warriors behind betrayal of the men who keep. >> us free. quote. as of the writing of this book, cq brown replaced mark milley as the. >> chairman of the joint chiefs. >> was it because of his skin color. or his skill? we'll never know, but always doubt which on its face seems unfair to cq. but since he has played the race. >> card one. >> of his biggest calling cards, it doesn't. much matter. >> i mean, what do. >> you do with that? i mean. >> you. >> see, he's. >> trying to provide. >> the smoke. screen so that he can not be accused of race baiting. of engaging in a certain kind of racial analysis. >> but we know. >> for these folks that. d stands in for race, stands in for gender stands in for the diminishment of value. you know, the challenge of the american project, as it were. so

in the last 48 hours, over 6000 workers at the federal government have joined the afge local. that's 11,000 the total of last year, because they're scared and they're worried and they're not sure. collective bargaining is just one insurance that they would have of repercussions. you're a lawyer. you know how that works. that gives you a grievance process that you have to go through, which is part of an organization when you're a part of that. and so that's something that's different than the twitter thing. and the last piece of that is it's and i hate to get into the weeds on this, but it's governed by the nlrb, the national labor relations board. and this week, donald trump got rid of the fifth member of that fired them. he has the right to do that. but now they can't make quorum and file or take what do you call disciplinary actions on that board because they can't have a quorum. so i think all of this is connected. >> so it sounds like really flooding the zone in terms of all the things that are happening. as a republican, do you have issues with the fact that the pace migh

to bring in everett kelly, president of the union, the american federation of government employees, afgeh for being on the program. and let me start with your reaction to the judge just granting your request to temporarily block the federal buyout program. >> well, thank you for having me, chris. you know, but, you know, we really applaud the decision of this judge that really listened to the real issues and made a decision that i think is best for not just the workforce, but for america. >> well, it's interesting because caroline leavitt, the press secretary for the white house, just put out a statement. i don't know if you've seen it or heard it, but here's what she said, and i'll get your reaction on the other side. it's brief. we are grateful to the judge for extending the deadline. so more federal workers who refused to show up to the office can take the administration up on this very generous, once in a lifetime offer. what do you make of that statement? >> i think that that's misguided. you know, this is what i say. and someone just shared this with me a few minutes ago. if you ta

whether the afge union had standing, they could find another plaintiff.re going to have to litigate this on the merits. um, i have a pro tip, though, for president trump, if you want to reduce the federal workforce, maybe a good idea, try going the constitutional route. you know, i worked for president clinton. we passed. i had to look it up. the workforce restructuring act of 1994, buyouts, by the way, it passed the senate 99 to 1. it passed the house, 319 to 17, 391 to 17. and we reduced the federal workforce by 351,000 employees, a lower headcount than any president, any president since eisenhower. and we still took care of special needs kids and our veterans and, and, and created 30 million new jobs. so you can do this, but you got to follow the constitution. mr. trump is not following the. >> constitution. so when you all passed that on the cloture vote, eight republicans voted with the democrats on bill clinton's buyout plan. do you think there will be eight democrats who will vote with republicans to a plan right now? >> oh, sure. if you had if it

i'm also a union rep with the afge. work in the subsistence area. , contract specialist, -- i am a contract specialist, gs-12. a lot of folks close to retirement are taking the deal. this is the time not to be making a decision on principles. it is time to be making a smart, informed decision. that is what people are forgetting here. first of all, elon musk is not authorized to make a buyout offer. he is not really a government employee. that is why the union is saying this deal is illegal. first of all, you know, they can offer early retirement not to exceed $25,000. that is a legal offer according to the laws of the land. federal employees need to realize this. i'm not taking this offer but i think it is illegal. it says deferred resignation. it does not say deferred or phased out retirement. host: we are running at time for this conversation. let me ask about this court proceeding. the union is suing to block the offer. what can you tell us today about it at 1:00 p.m. eastern time? caller: a federal judge will hear i

and that's all that afge is saying. honor the negotiated agreements. right.some clarity, too, and i maybe we'll get that on monday. but we appreciate hearing your side of things this morning. thanks. >> thank you. you have a great day. >> okay. >> you too. >> still to come this morning. amazon's first quarter sales outlook disappointing some investors that stock down in the pre market. we're going to talk about the quarter. what they're saying about its cloud business and what they're saying about the strong dollar as well. the strong dollar as well. squawk box will be right back. ♪♪ well would you look at that? jerry, you've got to see this. i've seen it. trust me, after 15 walks, it gets a little old. ugh. i really should be retired by now. wish i'd invested when i had the chance... to the moon! unbelievable. stop waiting. start investing. e*trade ® from morgan stanley. >> in the all new infiniti qx80. the party in the back doesn't stop. >> hi, frank. >> hey, goldie. >> i'm looking for those reports from yesterday. >> they're already. >> on your desk. >> fr