During Wednesday’s town hall event in Salida, Colorado, Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) was asked about the rights of federal employees.
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00:00All right, we have the next question. We don't have a name here, but it's coming probably because of the question. It is coming from a fired probationary employee. It says, what are you doing? What are you planning to do to protect and fight for the rights of federal employees and protect our public lands?
00:21Well, I understand we are very concerned with what's happening to our federal employees right now. They have fired all of the probationary employees. They are making it absolutely miserable and toxic so that people are ultimately looking for another job and leaving the critical employment that they have.
00:51We all depend on. In Lakewood, we have the federal center, which employs thousands of federal employees. And right now, not only are they critical to our economy, when I think about the services that they provide, wildfire mitigation, pretty important in Colorado, right?
01:10All right. So we are doing what we can in signing on to amicus briefs to making sure that we're actually holding them accountable in the courts. What they're doing is illegal. We all know that.
01:24But what I want to say to the federal employee that asks this question and to all the employees who are here today and to people in your community who you know, please reach out to our office.
01:36You have the opportunity to reach out to us. We can make sure that you have the resources necessary to make sure that you can tell your story. You can be anonymous. You can't go directly to press, but you can come to us and we can tell your story.
01:50We don't have to tell your name. We want to highlight what's happening on the ground because they're trying to silence us and we can't let them do that.
01:58So please make sure to reach out to my office. Our incredible team is here to support you all and take with Senator Bennett's team.
02:12And if we can give them a round of applause with you all, wave your hand if you're on our teams.
02:17Please let me close with me. We're going to have a great day.
02:23And I'm sure that Senator Bennett has additional comments to add.
02:27Do you have a question you want me to, I don't want to, either one, whatever.
02:32Oh, I'll just say very briefly two things.
02:35One, we were, right before we came over here, we were in Brown's Canyon.
02:40You're a treasure in a couple of the lanes.
02:41And the work that we all did together with Mark Udall to protect that was one of the most fun times that I've had in this job.
02:50And we have to make these people understand that we'll never sell the public lands to the United States of America.
02:59The only other point I would make is, one, to those of you who are federal employees, thank you for your service to our country.
03:17And I want to just say thank you to Chapey County's leadership because Envision Chapey County, which is meant to be a partnership with our federal public lands agencies,
03:35has put you on the map as a place that is willing to invest its own resources in these public lands.
03:43And if we cut the federal public lands, cut the federal resources, the federal government isn't going to be able to fulfill its end of the bargain.
03:52And it's very important. Brittany and I are both lifting that story up in Washington, D.C.
03:57Last point I'll make is this. They say they're not firing any firefighters, but 60% of the Forest Service people they have fired are people with red cards,
04:07who are folks that we do rely on to fight the fire in the west of the United States.
04:13Well, next comment, it's not a question, it says Mark Patterson, thank you from working mamas, little ones everywhere for advocating for us.
04:26Thank you so much.