To the Editor:
Re “Thousands Are Laid Off at U.S. Health Agencies” (news article, April 2):
The National Institutes of Health saved my life 30 years ago.
Back then, on the eve of my wedding to my second husband, I was diagnosed with what was considered an untreatable form of leukemia. Luckily for me I found out about a clinical trial at the N.I.H. for a new drug to treat my leukemia. I was admitted to that trial, and it saved my life. Thanks to the N.I.H. I will be able to attend my granddaughter’s college graduation.
The current presidential administration’s cuts to the N.I.H. budget and other similar interventions will cost our country many lives, an untenable price to pay.
Shame on those officials, and those who elected them.
Linda Brandt Myers
Boston
To the Editor:
As a retired human resources executive with 56 years in the profession, I find the mass terminations being implemented by the duo of President Trump and Elon Musk to be deplorable.
Having led numerous reductions in force, I know the value of positive H.R. practices, which include proper and professional notification of a termination, empathy and compassion in the process, and re-employment assistance to help minimize the financial impact on affected employees and their families.
The Trump-Musk mass terminations are inconsistent with any positive and professional H.R. practices. The employees who are retained will be nonproductive and angry as they observe the horrific treatment of their colleagues. Employee morale will decline, and U.S. government positions will no longer be appealing to applicants.
Bernie Kulchin
San Diego
To the Editor:
I swore oaths upon entering both the military and the federal Civil Service to support and defend our Constitution, and served our country in an agency filled with dedicated employees. It is like a stab in the heart to hear politicians denigrate the work of civil servants like us.
There is no “deep state” in a Civil Service designed to be nonpartisan. Identifying wasteful and fraudulent expenditures of resources is the mission of our independent offices of inspectors general, staffed by professional investigators. Yet today many are being fired — for no apparent reason other than to limit resistance to unlawfulness.
In the past, reducing the federal bureaucracy has been carried out effectively and thoughtfully, with bipartisan congressional support, saving billions in expenditures (President Bill Clinton’s “reinventing government” initiative is the best recent example). Our democracy works only if we all share fundamental democratic values and are willing to compromise to move forward.
Douglas Coe
Gaithersburg, Md.
The writer is a retired Navy captain and a former senior executive at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Cory Booker’s Marathon Speech on the Senate Floor
To the Editor:
Re “Booker Lays Into Trump, and Breaks Floor Record” (news article, April 2):
The remarkable thing about Senator Cory Booker’s speech was just that: It was speech, freely given at a time and in a place and manner that matters most for democracy now. It should prompt all Americans to exercise this quintessential right and to speak out for who and what we are at our best.
The present administration is showing us at our worst: cold, inhumane, self-serving and greedy. But at our best we are fair, reasonable and balanced in dealing with our own and others.
Senator Booker gave voice to these and other values by which we aspire to live. It is time for all Americans to follow his example.
Robert O. Slater
Lafayette, La.
To the Editor:
I watched a broadcast of Senator Cory Booker’s speech on the Senate floor, in which he asked: “Where does the Constitution live? On paper or in our hearts?”
I broke into tears! What an incredible statement of the feelings of all Americans I know. I will tell my friends, children, grandsons and even my young great-grandchildren about his effort to counter the current administration’s attack on our Constitution.
Rod Buntzen
Portland, Ore.
A Trump Third Term?
To the Editor:
Re “Trump Says He Is ‘Not Joking’ About Seeking a Third Presidential Term” (news article, nytimes.com, March 30):
I am a Republican who voted for President Trump in both 2020 and 2024.
Nevertheless, I am appalled that after swearing at his inauguration to uphold the Constitution, he is now talking about “methods” he might use to get around it by challenging the 22nd Amendment’s two-term limit.
Our Constitution is a marvelous miracle of craftsmanship — the envy of the rest of the world — that has seen America through many crises. It must be revered, respected and not sullied.
Royall Victor III
Palm Beach, Fla.
Republicans and Ukraine
To the Editor:
Re “My Fellow Republicans, We Must Stand Up to Putin,” by Don Bacon (Opinion guest essay, April 1):
I want to thank Representative Bacon of Nebraska for his essay asking his fellow Republican lawmakers and Donald Trump to support Ukraine, not Vladimir Putin. He points out that it is not only morally right but also in our national interest to reject Russia’s aggression.
I hope that Mr. Bacon’s example will help his fellow Republican members of Congress find the courage to speak up for what is right and to denounce the embrace of Mr. Putin.
Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, understandably do not want our leaders to embrace the viewpoints of this murderous dictator.
Theresa Forsman
Lincoln, Neb.
To the Editor:
Why isn’t Don Bacon the secretary of defense instead of Pete Hegseth? There may be hope for the Republican Party after all.
Mary Shearer
Dallas
Dear Canadian Friends: I Hope You Forgive Us Someday
To the Editor:
I grew up overseas — in India, North Africa and the Middle East — at a time when we could be relatively proud of this country. My parents were in the Foreign Service, and always, wherever we went, their closest friends were Canadians. We always felt we were a family.
Some of us have never forgotten how Canadian diplomats in Tehran secretly sheltered six American diplomats during the hostage crisis, an intensely dangerous time.
I remember affixing the maple leaf to my backpack when traveling in Europe and Asia during the rolling tragedy of the Vietnam War, when several of my older cousins were among the antiwar protesters who took refuge in Canada. And most recently we watched the moving spectacle of Canadian firefighting planes coming to the aid of Los Angeles.
I’m having trouble maintaining my composure as I write this. I hope our neighbors, friends, family members and allies to the north will forgive us someday, when the horrors of this administration subside into eternal disgrace.
John Weir Close
Charlottesville, Va.
#Opinion #Mass #Layoffs #Agencies #Gutted
