Hochul extends job offer to furloughed federal employees

Governor Hochul delivered a fiery speech on Monday condemning President Trump and Elon Musk for their, as she implies, indiscriminate federal layoffs across the board.

​“They should be commended for their service, not mocked by the ​President and handed a pink slip,” she said sternly.

Hochul’s comments come ahead of her promotion of New York State’s new recruitment effort to hire fired federal workers.  Hochul reports some 7,000 state openings are waiting to be filled and held up a pamphlet and said, “There’s detailed information on how to get out of your unemployment situation. We’re talking about specific programs for our veterans, such as a temporary hiring program​ and how we have a program that’ll temporarily remove the civil service exams so we can get people hired sooner​.”

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli in February released a report that projected cumulative outyear budget gaps for state spending increasing to a total of $27.3 billion through State Fiscal Year 2028-2029.  During this period, state spending is projected to rise at a rate that outpaces revenues, but despite this troubling financial outlook, Hochul is moving ahead full-speed with her hiring effort.

The Governor went on to say that the people laid off are more than just a number. Some of them are heroes​ like Luke from Queens.

​“He’s working in an agency that serves sick, needy, and injured veterans but was terminated by Elon Musk and his clueless cadre of career killers,” Hochul said angrily.

She said the mass Trump administration firings is not part of a reality TV show. This is real life.

​“They don’t care about the tireless public servants who keep it all running,​ who protect our skies​ by keeping planes from coming down, ​who maintain our national parks and military facilities,” she said. ​“They ensure our food and medications are safe, and they predict the path of deadly storms but none of this seems to matter to Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Not at all. For them, it’s just fodder for this cheap second rate reality show.”

Trump and Musk are making cuts to reduce federal spending in the face of an $840 billion spending deficit for the 2025 fiscal year.  The President has pledged to address the national deficit, which is projected to rise to 118 percent of the gross domestic product of the nation by 2035.