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Labor Caucus Members Highlight Federal Workers at Joint Session of Congress

March 4, 2025
Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressional Labor Caucus Co-Chairs Representatives Mark Pocan (WI-02), Steven Horsford (NV-04), Debbie Dingell (MI-06), and Donald Norcross (NJ-01) highlighted some of the guests of Labor Caucus members who will attend President Trump’s address to a Joint Session of Congress, including fired federal workers and labor movement allies.

“Since day one of their Administration, President Trump and Elon Musk have carelessly fired thousands of federal workers nationwide, leading to significant disruptions to essential services that Americans rely on,” said the Co-Chairs. “The Trump administration has engaged in union busting and violated contracts that were agreed to by management and workers. Labor Caucus members are bringing some of these hardworking civil servants and other labor movement allies to tonight’s address to highlight their stories and the important work they do on behalf of the American people.”

Labor Caucus members’ federal worker guests to tonight’s Joint Session Address include: 

  • Andrew Lennox, a veteran, who was terminated from his job as an administrative officer in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs primary care department in Ann Arbor (Rep. Debbie Dingell)
  • James Diaz, a disabled veteran and NTEU member who was fired from his role as a Fuel Compliance Officer at an IRS field office (Rep. Eric Sorensen)  
  • Eric Rodriguez, a disabled Army veteran, frontline VA worker, and SEIU union steward (Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García)  
  • Adam Mulvey, a veteran recently fired from James H. Lovel Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago (Rep. Brad Schneider)  
  • Arielle Kane, a maternal health policy analyst who was fired from her job at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (Rep. Suzanne Bonamici)
  • Chris Wicker, a veteran who was fired, rehired, and fired again by the Small Business Administration (Rep. Ilhan Omar)
  • Ben Vizzachero, fired USFS worker and NFFE member (Rep. Jimmy Panetta)  
  • Cynthia Boston-Thompson, President of Florida AFGE (Rep. Lois Frankel)  
  • Charlie Martinez, a federal firefighter and IAFF member (Rep. Salud Carbajal)  
  • Gabriel D’Alatri, a veteran who was fired five days before his probationary period ended from his job as IRS project manager (Rep. Joe Courtney)
  • Luke Graziani, a veteran terminated from his job at a New York City veteran's hospital (Rep. Grace Meng)  
  • Matthew Fessler, was recently laid off from his job as Health Insurance Specialist at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (Rep. April McClain-Delaney)  
  • Nancy Bolan, a fired USAID worker (Rep. Ritchie Torres)
  • Chanté Powell, a performance auditor who was recently laid off from her job at the USDA National Finance Center in New Orleans (Rep. Troy Carter)
  • Joyce Connery, recently retired federal worker who dedicated her career to nuclear security, safety, nonproliferation (Rep. Eugene Vindman)  
  • Dr. Lauren McGee, a cancer researcher who was fired from NIH (Rep. Jamie Raskin)  
  • Liz Crandall, a former United States Forest Service Ranger fired by DOGE (Rep. Janelle Bynum)  
  • Army Staff Sergeant Alexzandria Hunt, veteran and former supply technician at the Hampton V.A. Medical Center and AFGE Local 2328 member (Rep. Bobby Scott)
  • David Pasquino, a fired disabled veteran who was a Human Resources Specialist responsible for staffing VA departments with IT infrastructure resources (Rep. Mark Takano).
  • Cesar Cordero, President of the El Paso National Air Traffic Controllers Association (Rep. Veronica Escobar)
  • Katie Stahl, was recently laid off from her job as an agricultural biologist and project manager at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Rep. Johnny Olszewski)
  • Cameron Hilaker, an AFGE member, was recently laid off from his job as an Emergency Management Specialist at USAID (Rep. Hank Johnson)

 Other Labor Caucus members’ guests who are labor movement allies include: 

  • Yolanda Garcia, Culinary Workers Union Local 226 (UNITE HERE) (Rep. Steven Horsford)
  • Peter DeJesus, President of the Western New York Area Labor Federation (Rep. Tim Kennedy)  
  • Lisa Quandt, special education teacher and member Illinois Federation of Teachers Chapter 434 (Rep. Nikki Budzinski)  
  • Denise Specht, President of Education Minnesota (Rep. Angie Craig)  
  • Eric Rowley, President of Burbank Fire Fighters Local 778 (Rep. Laura Friedman)  
  • Nelson Hill, Delaware State AFL-CIO President (Rep. Sarah McBride)  
  • Dean Warsh, the Director of Government Affairs for the IBEW (Rep. Lloyd Doggett)
  • Alan Ferschweiler, a local firefighter and Legislative Director for the Oregon State Firefighters Council (Rep. Maxine Dexter)  
  • Sara Nelson, President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (Rep. Pramila Jayapal)