Group that awards top government workers is having a hard time finding winners under Trump

Awards handed out to government workers for outstanding performance have dropped significantly this year after the Trump administration’s brutal cuts to the federal workforce led to a shortage in candidates.

Last year, the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan group dedicated to promoting a more effective federal workforce, awarded 23 government workers a Sammie – sometimes referred to as the “Oscars of public service.” The year before that it was 25.

This year, just four will be given out.

“Because of the disruption and upheaval over the past year – we lost over 300,000 federal employees – and the adversarial nature of the relationship between the White House and the career workforce, we received less nominations than we typically do,” Michelle Amante, the senior vice president of government programs at the Partnership for Public Service, told POLITICO.

Unlike previous years, some government agencies declined to nominate any employee, while other agencies submitted fewer nominations.

open image in gallery

The Partnership for Public Service received just 140 nominations from 39 agencies – a smaller pool compared to the more than 350 nominations from 65 agencies last year.

The Independent has asked the Partnership for Public Service for comment.

For 25 years, the Partnership for Public Service has been giving out Sammies to recognize federal workers making significant contributions to the government.

But over the last year, much of that recognition has been disrupted as President Donald Trump sought to dramatically decrease the number of federal employees.

More than 300,000 people have left the government after a turbulent year in which the president and former special government employee Elon Musk offered deferred resignations and early retirements amid mass layoffs.

Nearly 8 percent of the federal workforce involuntarily left because their agency closed – such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, they were part of a reduction-in-force or terminated outright, such as probationary employees.

open image in gallery

One of the federal workers being awarded a Sammie is among those who retired this year.

Jill Frisch, a former top litigator in the IRS, retired from her job this year after nearly four decades. She is being recognized for her work to stop large corporations from using complex schemes to reduce their tax liability, resulting in billions of dollars recovered for the government.

“We always tried to do the right thing and get to justice. It was a tremendous job, and I loved every minute of it,” Frisch said in a statement.

Frisch is now looking for pro bono work.

Other workers being awarded a Sammie are Gharun Lacy, a State Department employee whose cybersecurity work stopped a Chinese hacking incident; James Szykman, an Environmental Protection Agency employee whose work led to groundbreaking methods for tracking air pollution; and a three-person team at the Agriculture Department that led research to improve dairy cattle breeding.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies