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Q&A
Impact of federal staffing cuts on service delivery
1:12:45
·
97 sec
Council Member Gale A. Brewer raises concerns about federal staffing cuts indirectly affecting nonprofits' ability to provide services. Joseph Rosenberg from Catholic Community Relations Council confirms these issues.
- Layoffs in Washington are creating difficulties in getting information and answers from federal agencies.
- Examples include websites going down and phone lines being disconnected.
- Even when staff are available, they may not have up-to-date information, making communication unreliable.
- Brewer describes this situation as 'a crime,' emphasizing its severity.
Gale A. Brewer
1:12:45
Absolutely.
1:12:46
Yes.
1:12:47
My question is in the papers today and and previous, there is this discussion when, people are laid off in Washington.
1:12:54
Then, of course, it's like a budget cut to you because there's nobody there to answer the question.
1:12:58
Today is is horrific.
1:13:00
It's a story of a health and, HHS laying people off so that nobody can get cooling during the summer.
1:13:07
And, you know, people die when their apartment is, you know, 100 degrees.
1:13:12
So my question to you, although you may not know the answer because I feel so terrible about these cuts to your amazing staff and the services that you provide is, are you finding that in addition to budget cuts or maybe in lieu of budget cuts, they lie and say, don't have budget cuts.
1:13:30
But in fact, they do because there's nobody there to administer.
1:13:33
So I I just didn't know that's something that's coming up.
1:13:35
Now that may get handled by the courts, but god knows when.
Joseph Rosenberg
1:13:38
Yes.
1:13:39
That's thank you.
1:13:40
That's an extremely good point.
1:13:41
That's happening not just to, I assume, the nonprofits here, but to everyone.
1:13:47
It's very difficult to get any questions answered.
1:13:51
Websites go down.
1:13:53
Phone lines that required, that provided information have been extinguished.
1:14:00
Even
Andrew Rein
1:14:01
when
Joseph Rosenberg
1:14:01
you get hold of someone who, in good faith, is trying to be helpful, they might not have information that happened the night before.
1:14:07
So a tremendous amount of the information coming out of the agencies we deal with in Washington is either nonexistent or not reliable.
Gale A. Brewer
1:14:15
That's a crime.
1:14:17
Thank you.
Lincoln Restler
1:14:20
Thank you.
1:14:21
And council member Williams.