Members of the Maryland General Assembly are reacting to the news that Gov. Wes Moore is instituting a hiring freeze, eliminating vacant positions and offering buyouts to some employees.
Republicans say the recently passed budget was bloated, but Democrats are blaming the President Donald Trump’s administration and the Department of Government Efficiency.
They pounced on the announcement from Moore about $121 million in cutbacks, saying this should have been done months ago when the legislature was in session and before lawmakers spent months working on a budget.
Frederick and Carroll County Republican Del. Jesse Pippy is the Minority Whip.
“The budget overspent, the numbers don’t align and our state’s workforce is going to suffer for it,” he said. “I think the Maryland taxpayers see these moves for what they are. It appears to be an absolute mismanagement of their tax dollars.”
Democratic Montgomery County State Sen. Craig Zucker, on the other hand, blames the budget shortfall on federal DOGE cuts and said Moore is making responsible reductions.
“We’re doing what we can to protect Marylanders and be fiscally responsible,” Zucker said. “If things look like they’re being a little crunched and that we need to tighten our belts, then this is one of the ways we to do it.”
‘Tough and volatile times’
The governor’s office says it is encouraging department heads to find creative ways to lower costs, including “in-sourcing” contracted jobs and consolidating physical facilities.
According to the governor’s announcement, the hiring freeze could last through the end of the fiscal year.
Following Gov. Moore’s announcement of hiring freezes, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, of Maryland Council 3 President Patrick Moran wrote in a statement: “While it’s clear our state must navigate tough and volatile times, any solutions cannot come at the cost of providing quality state services.”
Moran wrote that the need for budget tightening would have to “contend with” what he called the state’s ongoing issues with “chronic understaffing, dangerous working conditions and unsustainable workloads.”
Moran stated his union, which represents more than 50,000 public service workers in the state of Maryland — over half them state employees — had been in “close communication with the Governor’s office” and that the union would continue to advocate for state workers.
After tens of thousands of federal workers lost their jobs in a wave of cuts under the Trump administration, Maryland invited fired feds to apply for state government jobs. While details of Moore’s plans are still being worked out, there are indications that for “critical roles” in state government, former federal workers could be prioritized.
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