The nation is more than a year removed from the start of President Donald Trump’s second administration, which came to D.C. with the idea of major cuts through the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

The result, Democrats claim, is a hollowed out civil service system.

Several Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee held a hearing in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Thursday, taking a broad look at the impact DOGE had on the federal government.

“We know the Trump-Vance administration has taken a wrecking ball to our civil service and decimated the federal workforce,” Rob Shriver, the managing director of civil service and good government initiatives at Democracy Forward, said. “In so doing, it has harmed everyone in America who relies on essential government functions.”

Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democrat representing California’s 42nd District and the ranking member of the committee, said a new report showed how DOGE failed to eliminate waste and its “incompetence” endangered federal workers and Americans as a whole.

The first months of the program, lead by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, saw the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, the decision to cancel the U.S. media agency Voice of America, the cancellation of thousands of government grants, contracts and programs and the departure of more than 300,000 federal employees and contractors in 2025.

The Trump administration has repeatedly defended DOGE and the changes, arguing they needed and have enhanced “efficiency” within the federal workforce.

But former and current federal employees testifying at the hearing say that’s hardly been the case. They point to figures from the Brookings Institute and others that show there are roughly three million federal employees today, and that is about the same size as it was 60 years ago, but the nation’s population has soared by more 100 million. They say they were already doing excellent work and at a high level of efficiency.

On its website, DOGE claims to have saved taxpayers upward of $200 billion initially. But some experts have pushed back, suggesting the savings are closer to between $1 billion and $7 billion, which is far lower than the $2 trillion Elon Musk said in 2025 that DOGE would save American taxpayers.

Rep. James Walkinshaw, a Democrat representing Virginia’s 11th District, said the cuts hit several critical agencies deeply.

“This administration has hollowed out the cybersecurity agency through RIFs (Reductions in Force) and politically driven reassignments, weakened NOAA by indiscriminately firing staff critical to public safety, and undermined our national security by dismantling USAID,” he said, noting the high number of federal workers who live in his district.

Many Republicans have defended DOGE saying government had grown too large, was bloated and was trying to do many missions the states should undertake.

But former GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock, who has become a vocal Trump Administration critic said the White House behavior and treatment of civil servants has been “egregious.”

“I apologize to you, as a Republican, for what has happened over the last year because it’s been so egregious and so traumatic,” Comstock said. “It’s the only promise kept by this administration.”

The more than two hour hearing included testimony from former federal employees, watchdog groups and others who described what they said were illegal activities, including the firing of the Inspector Generals and the disorganized way the job cuts were performed by DOGE.

Doreen Greenwald, the President of the National Treasury Employees Union testified how tens of thousand of federal employees who want to leave the government have been unable to get their retirements finalized and the process is taking three to four times as it normally does.

“Federal retirees are stuck in limbo as agencies slow walk their retirements, and once those make it to OPM (U.S. Office of Personnel Management), they are waiting six to nine months for their first annuity payment.”

But there was a small sliver of optimism among the speakers. They said Elon Musk is no longer in government and DOGE was officially disbanded in November 2025, instead of the summer of 2026.

Faith Williams, the director of the Effective and Accountable Government Program, Project on Government Oversight (POGO) said her group and others will be there to help rebuild what they say are the depleted government ranks.

“POGO has several solutions Congress can implement to restore the merit based civil service, strengthen whistleblower protections, protect inspectors general and other watchdogs, combat corruption, abuse of power and strengthen congressional oversight,” she said.

Rep. Glenn Ivey, who represents Maryland’s 4th District, a suburban area in Prince George’s County that is home to thousands of federal workers, said he believes there is a place in government for many of the employees who were let go.

“We’ve got cases that run the gamut of people in the government who’d been doing great work, who’ve been forced out. We’ve got to make sure we find ways to get them back so they can pick up where they left off,” Ivey said.

Ivey pointed to the hundreds, if not thousands of employees who were dismissed, only to be rehired weeks and months later, when government officials determined their positions were essential.

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Continuing coverage Thursday night on the recent fires across Southwest Virginia.

2 families are now picking up the pieces after losing their homes and the memories inside them.

Glade Spring homeowner, Billy Cannon’s home went up in flames around 3 a-m last Thursday.

Billy said it started with something you wouldn’t expect a motor inside their refrigerator.

Now, the family is trying to move forward after losing so much.

Your house is more than just a house. It’s all of the memories from decades and decades of a gatherings. The Cannons have a lot of history here and I think that is what hurts the most, said Billy Cannon’s niece, Tanika Gilbert.

Billy Cannon’s family has owned his home for generations and last Thursday, it went up in flames. His girlfriend Debby first saw the fire around 3 a-m.

At first, she thought she was dreaming, until she realized the kitchen was on fire, said Tanika.

3 fire departments, Glade Spring, Damascus, and Meadowview responded and fought the flames for nearly 5 hours.

In a separate fire this past Sunday in Dickenson County, Ronnie Mccowan, 72, lost the home he had lived in for 60 years. Ronnie’s son Raymond said it was his childhood home, filled with a lifetime of memories.

I can only imagine on his end when I look at it, and you know all the memories that were there, so I can only imagine what he feels, said Ronnie’s son, Raymond Mccowan.

A local woman, Millie Brown is the Founder of nonprofit God’s Second Chance. She has been collecting donations for both families, driving around picking up essential items and delivering them directly.

Their homes is just a shell right now nothing inside of it, said Founder of nonprofit God’s Second Chance, Millie Brown.

Both families told News Five’s Natalea Hillen they are grateful for the community support.

I thank everybody in the community, said Glade Spring fire victim, Billy Cannon.

But still need help as they begin to rebuild.

As of right now, we don’t have nearly enough to be able to stick build even a smaller home, so we’re just continue to ask for the community support, said Tanika.

The biggest thing is any kind of donations you know, it doesn’t have to be in money, said Raymond Mccowan.

If you’d like to donate to help the Cannon Family, click here.

If you’d like to donate to help the Mccowan Family, click here.

Change could be coming to Virginia’s voting districts.

Governor Abigail Spanberger recently signed a bill that would allow voters to decide on a proposed Constitutional amendment that would give the Virginia General Assembly the power to redraw state congressional maps.

This comes on the heels of other states such as Texas and California making similar decisions when it comes to their district maps.

This has been defined as “partisan gerrymandering,” and it comes on the heels of other states like Texas and California making similar redistricting efforts.

Out of the 11 districts within Virginia, Democrats hold six of those districts. Should voters approve the amendment and it gets signed into law, Democrats could control up to ten of those districts.

“So it draws one district in Southwest Virginia, which is extremely heavily Republican, and then draws eight seats that are pretty heavily Democratic, and then two competitive seats that I think would favor the Democrats, especially in a year like 2026,” Virginia Tech Associate Professor of Political Science Nicholas Goedert said.

Re-drawn districts could also lead to some districts that would normally lean Republican shift into a district that leans more Democrat.

A special election will be held on April 21 to decide this.