Maryland lawmakers say federal workers will get their own congressional caucus

Jeff Barker, The Baltimore Sun on Feb 4, 2026

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WASHINGTON — Maryland and Virginia lawmakers announced Wednesday they are forming a congressional caucus to try to protect the federal workforce from further deep cuts and “political interference” from the President Donald Trump’s administration.

“Boy, do we need a caucus,” Southern Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the former House majority leader, said at a news conference Wednesday with Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and other Democrats.

“Federal workers are not villains. They are patriots and heroes,” Hoyer said. The lawmakers were joined at the announcement by federal worker union representatives and Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group.

There are hundreds of congressional caucuses advocating for various groups or causes, according to the Committee on House Administration.

A caucus for federal employees is needed “to protect federal workers and strengthen our merit-based federal civil service so these dedicated public servants can continue to deliver for the American people without political interference,” according to a release from Van Hollen’s office.

The group is to be called the “Federal Workforce Caucus.”

President Donald Trump has said the federal workforce is bloated, and his Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said in a July memorandum that its effort to cut government positions amounts to “right-sizing the federal bureaucracy.”

Maryland is home to more than 250,000 federal workers, and many agencies, such as the Social Security Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Institutes of Health, are based in the state.

The Trump administration “took a wrecking ball to the federal worker,” Van Hollen said during the news conference, adding administration officials “haven’t saved the taxpayer a dime.”

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