To the editor: Recently, federal employees, including healthcare professionals like Dr. Venktesh Ramnath, were asked to justify their pay with a simple question, “What did you do last week?” (“What did I do last week? I took care of your family, friends, and fellow citizens,” Opinion, Feb. 24).
Reading Ramnath’s response, it struck me that despite demanding answers, the Office of Personnel Management probably wasn’t interested in hearing any actual responses. You can chalk this up to the president stirring things up again, unnecessarily complicating the lives of these federal employees who are already navigating nearly impossible working conditions.
Ultimately, Ramnath did something that I don’t usually endorse, yet it felt entirely justified—for once he answered a question with another question, but only after addressing the OPM’s question thoroughly and succinctly.
I’m curious about what the OPM would have to say in reply to Ramnath.
Daniel V. Shannon, Camarillo
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To the editor: I appreciate Ramnath for cutting through Elon Musk’s latest antics and revealing them for the nonsense they are.
We hear that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency aims to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. However, having employees recount their weekly work doesn’t seem to effectively identify whether their jobs are examples of waste, fraud, or abuse.
If this approach is DOGE’s best idea for meeting its objectives, then I have to say it perfectly illustrates how it’s wasting and misusing taxpayer money over the past week.
Cathy Hrenda, Glendale
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To the editor: If Musk demands federal employees submit reports on their weekly activities under threat of termination, shouldn’t this also extend to members of the House, Senate, and the White House?
Thomas Handy, Indio
