Earlier this week, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum sat down with Fox News’ Bret Baier for an interview.
I was eager to hear what the secretary had to say about the recent hiring freezes and pink slips for provisional hires within the National Park Service. (You can read about the budget cuts and hiring freeze here.)
Budget cuts
Secretary Burgum voiced personal empathy for all workers who lose their jobs, whether in the private or government sector. However, he went on to say, “Every American is better off if we actually stop having a two trillion dollar a year deficit.”
What about national parks?
Fox News anchor Baier asked, “Can you assure people that yes, the parks are going to be OK with the numbers that you leave?”
Burgum replied, “Yes, absolutely. As we work to … right-size government … that’s a mandate that the Americans are fully supportive of President Trump doing.
“But at the same time, I would just say to anybody listening, we’re just in the process right now of posting 5,000 summer jobs. I mean if you want a fantastic job working in a national park, go check the website. Whether you want to be a wildland firefighter, if you want to start a career in the park service, go apply for a job because we want to make sure that we’re giving a great experience for citizens at our national parks this summer.”
DOGE
When asked how the Secretary felt concerning DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), Burgum acknowledged that he welcomed DOGE on day one. He said he welcomes DOGE to look for waste, fraud, and abuse within the Department of the Interior. Burgum contends that this is a “real opportunity with the federal government to right-size it.”
Update technology
Secretary Burgum emphasized the importance of updating technology throughout the government and working toward efficiency and innovation. He invited listeners to send ideas via X (formerly Twitter) for ways the Interior Department might improve.
Confusion?
Near the end of the 14-minute interview, Secretary Burgum mentioned the need for a national parks app to streamline reservations and entry into the parks. It seemed as if the Secretary didn’t know that such an app already exists. Perhaps he plans to update or improve it in the future? (I was a little confused.)
What do you think?
Did you see the interview? You can watch the entire news segment here. Do you think national parks will be negatively impacted by the hiring freeze and layoffs? Tell us in the comments below.
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Just another example of recent cabinet members that have no idea of what their talking about. Why would jobs be cut to save money and then tell people there are the same jobs available?
We’d be better off firing these people and hiring ones that have the knowledge to do the job correctly.
More money is being wasted trying to find ways to save money.
They have no clue or care, all will suffer
I didn’t see where the story indicated “the same jobs available. ” Where did I miss that?
My impression of his statement is to lay off the year around bloated salary employees and hire part time seasonal employees at a reasonable rate of pay to fill the needed services during peak seasons.
When you were 50-65, did you consider your salary “bloated”? Or did you feel that you were finally getting paid what your years of experience in your job should have been worth? But then maybe I’m from a dinosaur generation where we expected to do “a day’s work for a day’s pay”. We didn’t spend our work day surfing the Internet, sending text messages, or watching Tik-Tok videos!
You’re right. I’m from the generation that did a days pay for a days work too, but I don’t see that happening with government employees.
How many government employees do you actually see? Yah, thought so…
That’s what assuming does for you! I’ve been around and worked around numerous government employees for decades. So, there’s that.
I think most government employees work because they actually love to serve the people. I’ve seen employees that actually work their off hours (not paid) because they love their jobs so much. Government service is totally unlike the private sector. I hope they do not privatize NPS or BLM as we will lose so much!
It will be interesting to see how many National Park Service-operated national historic sites and museums will remain closed this summer. Especially ones dealing with Native American heritage and pre-history, Underground Railroad, Buffalo Soldiers, Civil Rights, Latino/Chicano land claims, and Women’s Suffrage, just to name a few. Just in time for summer school vacations when families actually have time to visit some of those places.
After all, so few people visit Chaco Culture National Historic Park each year, it will be a waste of taxpayer dollars to open it this summer. And how many complaints will NPS actually get from disappointed park-goers? It’s only a World Heritage Site!
Full time people have benefits, part time probably do not. My State used to do that to save money on healthcare, vacation, retirement packages, etc.. It is a bad way to treat employees.
None of the part time jobs I ever had had benefits. I knew that going in, and no one ever held a gun to my head to take the job(s).
Probationary federal employees are NOT part-time employees. They are FTEs with the same medical and retirement benefits as permanent employees. They are just “on probationary status” for 6 months to a couple of years to learn the job and be frequently reviewed by managers. If the reviews show lack of job progress, managers can more easily terminate them without going through complete Civil Service termination procedures.
I understand the probationary, but I guess I assumed the 5,000 Summer Jobs to be part time as opposed to the full time that were still in probationary status.
Not necessarily part time, but seasonal.
Thank you for the explanation/clarification, Steve. Much appreciated! Have a good night. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
But it is false economy if they are dependent on food stamps, Medicare, unemployment, etc. etc. during the rest of the year.
We are on the right track. I love the term to “right size” government.
As the late, great Ronald Reagan once stated: Government is not the solution to the problem, government IS the problem.”
Sometimes pruning dead branches help a tree to grow. All Americans will be better off in the long run.
Maybe just shut the National Parks down for a year. Nobody will die. And this should give those still employed park workers time to ‘fix’ all the stuff they say visitors ruin every year. Frankly, I think a lot of stuff could be shut down for a year (or forever) and no one would even notice. Hit me . . .
Thank you for the overview, Gail! One is certainly tempted to question why a cabinet-level official is so ill-informed of his agency, but politicals usually are not well-informed about the “weeds”of their respective agency. Instead, specialists in whatever the germane area supply information. Hopefully, the secretary will become better informed about the application before the next interview. Have a great weekend and safe travels!