Speaker Mike Johnson insists any Biden administration employee who walks out over U.S. support for Israel should be fired for ‘abusing the trust of taxpayer’.
The top Republican issued the stark warning to the hundreds of government staffers reportedly planning a protest on Tuesday to mark 100 days since the start of the conflict in Gaza.
An anonymous internal cabal calling itself ‘Feds United for Peace’ have organized the strike as President Joe Biden faces fury from the left over his response to Israel’s strikes.
Biden’s support for the conflict could cost him significant political currency, particularly with young voters, just as his 2024 re-election campaign heats up.
The reports emerged as pro-Palestinian protesters surrounded the White House, chanted ‘f***’ Joe Biden and threw bloodied dolls over the security fence.
Johnson said the GOP will make sure federal agencies discipline in anyone who ‘walks out on the job’,
‘Any government worker who walks off the job to protest U.S. support for our ally Israel is ignoring their responsibility and abusing the trust of taxpayers,’ Johnson said on X.
‘They deserve to be fired. Oversight Chairman (James) Comer and I will be working together to ensure that each federal agency initiates appropriate disciplinary proceedings against any person who walks out on their job.’
The White House is bracing for a walkout of hundreds of employees in protest to its handling of the Middle East crisis and funding of Israel’s war efforts
President Biden (pictured January 12) is facing the internal revolt from a group calling itself ‘Feds United for Peace.’ There are fears his support for Israel is costing the White House significant political capital, especially with young voters, as he heads into the 2024 election
The walk out is a drastic departure from how top federal employees have shown their disapproval toward White House policy in the past, which was typically reserved to media leaks or public resignations over policy.
But the organizers, who have remained anonymous, say they are intent on changing direction from within, and they expect ‘easily hundreds’ of staffers to join their efforts on Tuesday.
They say they have commitments from people inside 22 federal agencies for the strike, including from the Executive Office of the President, the National Security Agency, Homeland Security, Defense Department, and the FDA.
The Biden administration has so far sent upwards of $14 billion to Israel alongside significant military support, with United Nations estimates placing the number of displaced Palestinians since at 1.9 million people – 85 percent of its population.
One of the organizers of the strike told AI Monitor that they decided to launch the protest as it ‘grew out of a collective desire to do what we could to influence the Biden administration’s policy on this issue.’
‘What you’re seeing with this effort is something very unusual, and that is for dissent to be manifested via a physical act,’ they added.
The unrest has also reportedly seen a number of letters also drafted through the State Department’s private ‘dissent channel’, a way for staffers to raise concerns anonymously that was set up during the Vietnam War.
To curb the internal revolts, White House officials have reportedly held meetings with their aides to hear out their concerns, including ‘listening sessions’ between Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Arab American, Muslim and Jewish staffers.
There is mounting internal backlash to Biden’s approach to the crisis in Gaza, as he has sent upwards of $14 billion to Israel alongside significant military support
The United Nations estimates the number of displaced Palestinians stands at 1.9 million people – 85 percent of its population
The organizer said they had ‘unequivocally’ tried to raise their points internally, but feel the mass walkout is one of their last resorts.
‘It’s one thing to write letters from within, but when policy discussions and dissent cables yield no shift in policy — and in some views, a double down on that policy — then people feel they have no other option because they’re not being heard,’ they added.
While top federal staffers in years past have resigned in protest over disagreements, the organizer said they felt a ‘moral obligation and patriotic duty’ to change Biden’s approach from the inside.
Specific issues cited for the walkout also included America’s obstruction of ceasefire campaigns within the United Nations, and the bypassing of Congress to send weapons to Israel.
The demonstration comes as reports cite growing anger from Washington elites over the attitude of young staffers in showing their disapproval to their bosses.
A series of anonymous letters penned by staffers in the White House, State Department and Biden’s re-election campaign have been levied since the conflict erupted in October, a move that would have been unthinkable decades ago.
Amid the internal revolt, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken (pictured) has reportedly been holding ‘listening sessions’ with Arab American, Muslim and Jewish staffers.
James Carville (pictured in 2018), a longtime Democratic operative and former campaign strategist for President Bill Clinton, said the demonstrations from staffers mark a dramatic departure from how aides showed their disapproval in years past, and a strike ‘wouldn’t even cross your mind’
James Carville, a longtime Democratic operative and former campaign strategist for President Bill Clinton, told Politico that the letters mark a turning point to how young staffers speak their minds.
‘There’s this whole, “You’re not the boss of me” attitude now. “I might work for you but I have my own views,”‘ he said.
‘If you said you didn’t like some of President Clinton’s policies, the idea that you would go public with that would be insane. Just wouldn’t do that. It wouldn’t even cross your mind.’
‘The bargain a staffer strikes has always been this: You get to influence the decisions of the most powerful government in the history of the world,’ added Paul Begala, who worked alongside Carville in the Clinton White House.
‘In exchange for that influence, you agree to back the final decision even if it goes against your advice. If confronted with a decision that crosses one’s ethical, moral, social, political lines, the choice is clear: Shut up and support it, or resign.’