To the editor:

My brother-in-law has been at USAID for the last three decades. He has faithfully worked for both Republican and Democratic presidents following all directives. He has helped amputees after stepping on land mines, delivered clean water to remote villages, improved health care delivery systems and fed starving children. This is not an organization that is run by “radical lunatics”! This is an agency that cares about other human beings!

To be sure, every government agency should undergo scrutiny to remove wasteful spending. What is happening here is nothing of the sort. This is a spiteful, mean spirited process meant to be an example to other federal employees. I liken this to a patient who has a diseased body part and instead of removing it, you just kill the patient.

Because my brother-in-law will be RIF’d (reduction in force) he will lose his paycheck and all benefits including immediate loss of health insurance. COBRA insurance is available at $2,000 per month. He can’t even file for early retirement now because there is nobody in HR! As the saying goes, walk a mile in my shoes. If we eliminate soft money from our foreign policy we won’t be able to buy enough bullets to make up the difference. I feel DOGE actually stands for the Department of Gigantic Egos! I implore my fellow citizens to take a stand and show the nation that this is notT OK! Write letters, email or call your representatives today!

Dale P Denning,

Lawrence