Federal worker protection bill passes House, but not without a scrap
House Minority Whip Jazz Lewis (D-Prince George's), left, talks March 11 about emergency legislation he voted on in support of recently laid off federal workers in Maryland. He's a sponsor of the legislation. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)
About the only thing lawmakers agreed on Tuesday was a bipartisan chorus of boos, after one House member resorted to calling Elon Musk a neo-Nazi during an increasingly contentious 30-minute debate over a bill to protect federal workers.
The Protect Our Federal Workers Act ended up passing the House, but not before the debate strayed to support for farmers, the state's reliance on the federal government, President Donald Trump – and Musk.
'Right now, Republicans have empowered an unelected neo-Nazi with no security clearance or Senate confirmation to essentially determine what cuts should be made and who should be fired,' Del. Gabriel Acevero (D-Montgomery) said of Musk. 'That's the reality of it.'
It was not long after that that the House suspended debate to move to a vote.
House Bill 1424 would reallocate state funds to assist federal workers affected by Trump-directed layoffs and expand the authority of Attorney General Anthony Brown to pursue related litigation.
It was portrayed as necessary by Democrats and an overstep by Republicans, led by Majority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany) and Minority Whip Jesse Pippy (R-Frederick). They expressed concern that Democrats were focusing too much on laid-off federal workers, and not enough on other workers in the state.
'If Maryland is a company town, the federal government ain't the company,' said Pippy, noting that agriculture is the top industry in the state. He said each legislative session is a '90-day assault on our agricultural community and its workers.'
Pippy also accused Democrats of mounting the effort to direct funding to federal workers as a reaction to Trump's election. He called it 'frustrating' to regularly hear about the plight of private-sector workers and then be faced with a bill that tacks on 'millions of dollars all of a sudden, because Trump got elected.'
'By the way,' Pippy added, 'the guy got elected because of a lot of these policies. So, don't forget that.'
Del. Jazz Lewis (D-Prince George's), the bill's sponsor, who identified himself as a card-carrying member of the United Steelworkers, rejected the idea that the bill is directly comparable to other instances of private-sector layoffs in Maryland.
'What normally happens is, if you're going to shut down a plant or something like that, you're supposed to give the state 60 days' notice of all these people who're going to be laid off so we can try to find other jobs for them,' Lewis said after the floor session. 'You know what that's not happening for? The federal government right now.'
Lewis said his bill, and other actions like it, are necessary in light of actions like the Department of Education's Tuesday announcement that it would lay off nearly half of its workforce in the next 10 days.
'We are not trying to replace or respond to everything the federal government does,' Lewis said. 'But we live in a world where we have to.'
Majority Leader David Moon (D-Montgomery) said the tense nature of the debate can be attributed to the uncharted nature of the Trump administration's actions.
'I think it's hard not to get emotional about it,' Moon said following the debate. 'What we're seeing is a very radical departure from any governing norm that you've seen from any of the two parties, really, in the modern political era.
'So you have to go look at global examples of, honestly, fascism on the rise to get this sort of thing,' Moon said.
While the debate drifted from Maryland-specific conversation to a referendum on the Trump administration, Democrats ultimately said that the bill, and a positive vote, would serve as a message to Marylanders.
'This bill is not just protecting Marylanders,' Acevero said, 'this is about showing Marylanders that we care.'
The bill passed 103-36. Three Republicans – Reps. Stuart Michael Schmidt Jr. of Anne Arundel, Kevin Hornberger of Cecil and Jim Hinebaugh Jr. of Garrett and Allegany counties – voted yes on the bill.
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