Thousands of employees returned to the Food and Drug Administration’s headquarters Monday to find overflowing parking lots, long security lines and makeshift office spaces without chairs and other basic supplies.

The Associated Press spoke with more than a half-dozen FDA staffers who described long lines to park and clear security, followed by hours of hunting for space and supplies in offices that were not designed to accommodate the agency’s full workforce.

One staffer described “chaos and lost work hours” for commuting, security lines and shuffled office space.

By 7:30 a.m., many on-campus parking lots were full, with cars parked along side streets, according to employees. Some workers reported waiting up to one hour to clear security checkpoints, and photos viewed by the AP showed lines of employees winding out doorways, along sidewalks and around corners.

Once inside, employees confronted broken desks, missing chairs and locked offices for which they didn’t have keys.

“People are looting chairs from conference rooms and other buildings,” a staffer said. “We have no supplies. People are hunting around all of the buildings on campus for pads of paper and other basics.”

When employees did get situated, many shared cramped spaces with people from different divisions and teams, making it difficult to hold calls and meetings. Photos shared with the AP show folding chairs and tables setup in hallways and lobbies.

  • TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com
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    2 months ago

    This is how the US remained the most powerful in the western hemisphere by creating chaos in the neighboring Central American countries so that they had to deal with that shit instead of moving ahead as a nation.

    Now Trump is treating his own citizens including his own government employees like they are colonies.

  • btaf45@lemmy.worldOP
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    2 months ago

    I think we can assume that the quality of work performed by the FDA is going to go way down. But part of the job of the FDA involves saving people’s lives. So people are literally going to die as a byproduct of the lower quality of services. Under Trump, American lives are disposable.

    TrumpBodyCount = TrumpBodyCount + 50000

    • theneverfox@pawb.social
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      2 months ago

      That’s just body count. Know what else the FDA is responsible for? Making sure our food isn’t poisoning us and the children.

      Already, we often find that food at the grocery stores exceed safe limits… What happens when the regulator is crippled?