Why This Film Matters NOW!

Federal agencies are not faceless bureaucracies. For many citizens, they are lifelines. They ensure safe medicine, protect children, uphold civil rights, regulate financial systems, respond to disasters, and safeguard our health and environment. The dismantling and shuttering of these institutions are already impacting communities, families, and generations to come. A mass purging of federal workers in the nation’s capital and throughout the United States started in February 2025. However, the public is largely unaware of the severity of the cuts and how critically these affect them. The HEIST team witnessed frightening truths about the systematic deconstruction of basic human services and documented them for 40+ days. 

If you fly in airplanes, the FAA ensures you have a safe trip. If you check the weather report, then you depend on the data that NOAA and the National Weather Service collect and provide. If you need to go to rural hospitals, the National Science Foundation supports the staff and operations that heal you. If you visit a national park, federal park rangers ensure your safety and maintain the cleanliness of the bathrooms you use. If you collect Social Security, federal workers administer and send those monthly payments.

All Americans should be informed about the heist underway in our nation before there is nothing left to protect. It took 249 years to build a modern America. It took only the first 100 days in 2025 to dismantle it.

2025

Early January: Following the inauguration, President Trump issued an executive order reinstating a previous order that created a new category of federal employees, originally known as Schedule F. The new category is called Schedule Policy/Career.

January 20: 

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) distributed a memo stating it would be easier to terminate probationary employees.

February

February 4: Thousands of federal hires, including some long-serving Employees who recently changed roles receive warnings that they are easy to fire due to their probationary status.

February 12: Some federal agencies begin purging recent hires, even as OPM directs offices to slow the process.

February 13: The Trump administration begins mass layoffs of thousands of

probationary employees across at least seven agencies, including the Department of Energy, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S.Forest Service.

February 14: News reports indicate that the firings affected thousands of federal employees at numerous agencies, including the IRS, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Some CDC employees reportedly called the event the "Valentine's Day Massacre".

February 24: Protests break out in response to the layoffs. The Office of Special Counsel (OSC), under then-leader Henry Dellinger, indicates that firing Probationary employees were illegal and requested an investigation by the Merit Systems Protection Board.

February 27: Probationary employees are fired at the Consumer Financial

Protection Bureau (CFPB).

March

March 1: USA Today publishes a timeline covering the federal workforce cuts,

noting that firings were expected to move beyond probationary employees.

March 12: Dellinger is fired by President Trump, shortly after the Office of Special

Counsel began investigating the probationary firings.

April

April 10: NPR reports that a federal judge had ruled some probationary firings were illegal and ordered employees reinstated. The next day, an appeals court reversed the decision, and the employees were fired again.

April 17: The CFPB issues a reduction in force (RIF) notice targeting 88% of its

workforce.

April 18: The White House issues a fact sheet about the new Schedule Policy/Career, stating it would make it easier to fire policy-making employees for poor performance, misconduct, or other causes.

April 19: Reuters reports on the reclassification of tens of thousands of federal workers under the new rule.

May

May 8: CNN reports that the Office of Special Counsel, now under new leadership, reversed course and dropped its support for reinstating fired probationary employees.

June

June 4: NPR reports that nearly 60,000 federal jobs have been lost under the

administration.

July

July 14: CNN reports that court orders have paused some firings, but the Supreme Court rulings have allowed other firings to resume.

July 17: The Trump administration argues in court that it has the power to fire at least some career federal employees at any time.

September

September 8: Maryland Matters reports that the Department of Defense has lost

the most employees. 55,000 workers have been cut.

September 12: A federal judge rules that the mass termination of probationary

Federal workers were illegal.

September 15: The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)

announces that a federal judge has ruled the mass firings of probationary federal

workers were illegal.

September 30: The Federal Government shuts down. The Congressional Budget Office projects that 750.000 Federal Employees will be furloughed each day.  

"U.S Begins Shutdown That May Lead to Mass Layoffs and Cuts"  (requires subscription) https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09/30/us/trump-government-shutdown-hegseth

October

October 10: The Trump administration began issuing significant layoffs following through on a threat to inflict pain on the federal workforce as a consequence of the government shutdown. (Government Executive, "Trump's promised shutdown layoffs lead to at least 4,200 cuts at seven agencies")