Yosemite National Park staff members hung a U.S. flag upside down to protest the layoffs at the park by the Trump administration. Credit: Anand K Sankaran via Storyful

I know what it’s like to grow up in a household where a steady paycheck means everything. My mother, a nurse in Miami, worked long shifts to keep me and my brother fed, housed and hopeful for a better future. 

Families like ours didn’t have safety nets – we had paychecks. When money was tight, sacrifices were made. That’s why it’s infuriating to watch President Donald Trump threaten the livelihoods of tens of thousands of federal workers, treating them like numbers on a spreadsheet instead of real people with real families to feed. 

Federal employees aren’t nameless bureaucrats sitting behind desks in Washington. They’re the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) crisis hotline workers talking a veteran off the ledge. 

It’s infuriating to watch President Donald Trump threaten the livelihoods of tens of thousands of federal workers. (Evan Vucci/AP)

They’re the Department of Education specialists holding school districts accountable to kids with disabilities. They’re the TSA agents waking up before dawn to ensure your flight is safe. 

PROTECT AMERICAN WORKERS: HOW TRUMP'S TEAM CAN FULFILL HIS PROMISE

These are the people Trump wants to lay off – people who have dedicated their lives to public service only to........

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