Montgomery County and Maryland government leaders are expected to rally near the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda on Saturday to protest mass layoffs of federal workers at the agency, according to the Maryland Democratic Party, which is co-hosting the event with the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC).
The rally will take place at 11 a.m. at the Medical Center Metro station at South Drive and Rockville Pike. U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Dist. 8), Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman (D) and Montgomery County Council President Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4), as well as NIH cancer researchers who are impacted by the cuts, are among the featured speakers, according to a news release from the Maryland Democratic Party.
The layoffs and firings of thousands of federal workers in recent weeks were ordered by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as part of President Donald Trump’s promise to cut the country’s federal workforce. According to Newsweek, more than 220,000 federal workers across the country have been laid off since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
“NIH is our nation’s medical research agency, making important discoveries that improve health and save lives. And now, the NIH is under reckless and destructive attack by the Trump Administration, DOGE, and Elon Musk,” MCDCC wrote in a news release. “These attacks will cripple American science and our ability to prevent and cure disease and meet emerging health threats, and they will needlessly and cruelly throw many thousands out of work, harming our economy.”
Maryland has the second largest federal workforce nationwide, according to the state’s Department of Labor. In Montgomery County, approximately 70,000 residents worked for federal agencies prior to this year’s layoffs, according to Stewart’s office. That number did not include federal workers who reside in neighboring jurisdictions but work at local agencies such as NIH, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in downtown Silver Spring, or the Food and Drug Administration in White Oak.
The county government has been able to confirm that more than 1,000 residents have lost their federal jobs recently, County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said last week.
MCDCC is asking participants to register to attend here.
