A Food and Nutrition Service worker who warned on television that the government shutdown would starve the poor is being fired from her job.
Ellen Mei, a 29-year-old employee of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, received an official notice that she would be fired less than 24 hours after appearing on MSNBC, where she said people on food stamps were being used as “political pawns.” Mei is also a union official, as president of NTEU Chapter 255 in Boston.
“We’re feeling angry that we’re being treated as political pawns so that billionaires can have more money while the people that we serve are being strained even further,” she told MSNBC host Chris Jansing of Chris Jansing Reports.
In her appearance, Mei said she felt SNAP was “okay” for the month of October, but added “things might get a little dicey if it drags on into November.” She added that the future of WIC, the “Women, Infants, and Children” food assistance program, was “a lot more uncertain.”
Mei’s appearance ended by discussing what would happen to people who rely on food assistance programs if funding runs out.
“We think they’ll have to turn to food banks and friends and family to try and get more support,” she said, adding she was “concerned the food banks might not have enough food to feed all the people turning to them for assistance.”
“We have concerns that if the food banks are getting food trucks with food that’s been transported in unsafe conditions, that they won’t know whether they should accept it to feed the hungry people or reject it and people will have to go hungry because the government is unable to care for all Americans right now, not just the richest ones,” she concluded.
The next day she was sent what is officially called a Notice of Proposed Removal (NOPR), an advance notice given to a federal worker who is being fired with cause.
The planned firing was revealed Friday.
“I didn’t leak secrets or share anything confidential,” said Mei in a statement to the Federal Unionists Network. “I told the truth about what’s happening to hungry families and the people who serve them. I took an oath to serve the public — not to stay quiet while our government turns its back on the American people.”
Progressive Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Senator Ed Markey, two Massachusetts Democrats who represent Mei, wrote a letter to Brooke Rollins, Trump’s agriculture secretary, urging the USDA to reinstate Mei.
“Ms. Mei recently participated in a media interview in her personal capacity,” the letter said. “The NOPR is retaliation against Ms. Mei’s expression of her First Amendment right to freedom of speech.”
A USDA spokesperson referred to a rule saying furloughed workers are not allowed to publicly speak on behalf of the department during a government shutdown.
“During a lapse in appropriations, furloughed USDA employees are not authorized to perform any official duties, including speaking on behalf of the Department,” said the spokesperson. “The USDA does not comment on individual personnel matters.”
As the shutdown dragged on in the weeks following Mei’s appearance, SNAP benefits became an important element in negotiations to re-open the government. Both parties blamed each other for lapsing SNAP benefits. A total of 42 million Americans received the benefits.
Republicans blamed the lapse in SNAP benefits on Democrats refusing to sign their budget bill. The Trump administration was ordered to pay SNAP benefits and not use hunger as a political weapon. It appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, which is still to rule on it.
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