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2025 Sammies a ‘stark’ reminder of what government stands to lose

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3 months ago

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After months of upheaval in the federal workforce, this year’s Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals — affectionately known as the Sammies — doubled down on a familiar message: Federal employees’ work is important. Public service too often goes unrecognized. Civil servants are one of this country’s most vital resources.

But the 2025 awards program for federal employees, often described as the “Oscars” of government service, also came with a clear warning from the Partnership for Public Service: The Trump administration’s hatchet to the federal workforce threatens not only civil servants themselves, but also the critical services they provide to Americans.

“All federal employees, including our honorees, have been affected by these disruptions,” Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, told the audience at the Sammies ceremony, held last week at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C.

The federal community always looks forward to what’s considered one of its biggest events of the year, but the Sammies took on a much different shape for 2025. While normally an optimistic night highlighting the best and brightest in the federal workforce, this year’s Sammies ceremony revealed a darker undertone.

“Our honorees’ accomplishments are a stark reminder of the services and benefits we will lose if civil servants continue to be traumatized and pushed out of government,” Stier said. “Americans need to understand the stakes — and the Sammies is one way to communicate them.”

Partnership for Public Service President and CEO Max Stier speaks onstage at the 2025 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals ceremony. (Photo credit: Allison Shelly, Partnership for Public Service)

The Sammies program follows a similar pattern each year. After taking nominations for each awards category, the Partnership sifts through hundreds of nominees and selects a group of finalists to be honored during a springtime event. The winners of each category are later announced and then awarded during a gala-style ceremony each fall, usually held at the Kennedy Center.

But this year, following the rapid dismantling of the federal workforce at the hands of the Trump administration, the Partnership expedited its timeline — partly out of a concern that if the organization had waited until the fall, it might not have been able to do the Sammies at all. The Partnership also changed its awards system and opted to honor all the finalists as one cohort, rather than selecting winners for each category.

“It’s a very different event, but the same purpose. We believe that creating a recognition culture in our federal government is vital,” Stier told The Federal Drive ahead of the event.

While political leaders typically speak about the honorees and hand out the annual awards, no current administration officials appeared onstage at this year’s ceremony. Instead, two former Treasury secretaries — Timothy Geithner and Janet Yellen — as well as former White House chiefs of staff Denis McDonough and Jeff Zients, spoke in honor of the Sammies winners. Former chief of staff for President George W. Bush, Joshua Bolten, also recorded a video message congratulating the work of the honorees, which played during the event.

Usually, the Sammies also serve as a rare moment to hear from public servants themselves about their hard work and accomplishments, often spanning decades of contributions to public service. But out of fear for what Stier said would be an “additional risk” to their careers, this year’s honorees simply stood in the audience to be recognized when their names were called, rather than coming up to the stage themselves. As former political leaders called their names and described their work, the honorees received multiple standing ovations from a loudly cheering audience.

This year’s 23 honorees, selected from over 350 nominees, join the ranks of the more than 800 federal employees who have earned the medal since the Partnership started the awards in 2002. Dave Lebryk, winner of the 2025 Federal Employee of the Year award and a longtime career leader at the Treasury Department, was the only Sammies honoree to set foot onstage.

“I’ve actually had a chance to work with some of the most important figures of the past 35 years, Democrat and Republican, and worked on some of the most important issues of the day,” Lebryk told the audience. “Where else could I have had a career like that?”

Dave Lebryk speaks to audience at Sammies ceremonyDave Lebryk, winner of the Federal Employee of the Year award, speaks onstage at the 2025 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals ceremony. (Photo credit: Allison Shelly, Partnership for Public Service)

Lebryk resigned from his long career at the Treasury Department after serving as acting secretary under the Trump administration for eight days. Lebryk left his position following a widely reported dispute with political leadership, in which he denied the Department of Government Efficiency and Elon Musk access to Treasury payment systems containing sensitive information.

“It is important to exercise principled leadership, make difficult decisions, have the courage and conviction to stand behind those decisions and be accountable — and ultimately prepared to accept the consequences of those decisions,” Lebryk said.

Still, Lebryk spoke positively of his experience in government and often unnoticed aspects of serving as a career federal employee.

“What we see here is career civil servants and political appointees working hand in hand to make the lives of our citizens better,” Lebryk said. “As I got to say proudly, and what you will hear civil servants say across the government, is we made a difference.”

Also among the 2025 Sammies honorees were an employee at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health who enhanced extreme heat-resistant gloves and other personal protective equipment for firefighters — and a Treasury Department team that recovered a record $7 billion in fraud and improper payments using advanced technology and data sharing.

The Partnership’s awards also recognized a team at the State Department responsible for launching an online passport renewal system for the first time ever, overhauling a passport system that has remained largely the same for the last 50 years. Another awardee was honored for a 64-year career dedicated to improving the production and resilience of cotton plants by eradicating the presence of the harmful boll weevil, while reducing the need for insecticides.

The breadth of the honorees’ work exemplifies exactly what the Partnership hopes to highlight through the Sammies. Federal employees touch virtually all aspects of Americans’ lives, but operate behind the scenes and often go unrecognized.

“Every corner of our government is producing some really important impact for the American public,” Stier said. “And very, very few people know it.”

The public’s trust in government is at an all-time low and continuing to decline, according to years of studies from the Partnership. But past research from the Partnership has also shown that focusing on the role of civil servants, rather than other aspects of the federal government such as Congress, improves the public’s perception of “government” as a broad concept.

In light of those findings, the Partnership for a long time has advocated for elevating the stories of career federal employees to work toward rebuilding that trust — a message that, in today’s context, is perhaps stronger than ever.

The post 2025 Sammies a ‘stark’ reminder of what government stands to lose first appeared on Federal News Network.

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Politics

President Trump Taps Dr. Ben Carson for New Role — A HUGE Win for America First Agenda

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2 hours ago

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September 25, 2025

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Dr. Ben Carson is the newest member of the Trump administration.

On Wednesday, former Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, was sworn in as the national adviser for nutrition, health, and housing at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins shared that Carson’s role will be to oversee Trump’s new Big Beautiful Bill law, which aims to ensure Americans’ quality of life, from nutrition to stable housing.

After being sworn in, Carson shared, “Today, too many Americans are suffering from the effects of poor nutrition. Through common-sense policymaking, we have an opportunity to give our most vulnerable families the tools they need to flourish.”

Table of Contents

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Per USDA:

Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced that Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., M.D., was sworn in as the National Advisor for Nutrition, Health, and Housing at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“There is no one more qualified than Dr. Carson to advise on policies that improve Americans’ everyday quality of life, from nutrition to healthcare quality to ensuring families have access to safe and stable housing,” said Secretary Rollins.

“With six in ten Americans living with at least one chronic disease, and rural communities facing unique challenges with respect to adequate housing, Dr. Carson’s insight and experience is critical. Dr. Carson will be crucial to implementing the rural health investment provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill and advise on America First polices related to nutrition, health, and housing.

“As the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the first Trump Administration, Dr. Carson worked to expand opportunity and strengthen communities, and we are honored to welcome him to the second Trump Administration to help lead our efforts here at USDA to Make America Healthy Again and ensure rural America continues to prosper.”

“Today, too many Americans are suffering from the effects of poor nutrition. Through common-sense policymaking, we have an opportunity to give our most vulnerable families the tools they need to flourish,” said Dr. Ben Carson. “I am honored to work with Secretary Rollins on these important initiatives to help fulfill President Trump’s vision for a healthier, stronger America.”

On Sunday, Dr. Carson was one of the many speakers at the memorial service of the late TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk.

During the memorial service, Carson highlighted that Kirk was shot at 12:24 p.m. and then continued to share the Bible verse John 12:24, which reads, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

WATCH:

The post President Trump Taps Dr. Ben Carson for New Role — A HUGE Win for America First Agenda appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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LEAKED MEMO: Deep State Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia Claim There Isn’t Enough Evidence to Convict Comey Amid Reports of Imminent Indictment

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2 hours ago

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September 25, 2025

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On Wednesday evening, disgruntled officials in the Eastern District of Virginia leaked contents of a memo explaining why charges should not be brought against James Comey.

As reported earlier, former FBI Director James Comey is expected to be indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia in the next few days.

Comey will reportedly be charged for lying to Congress in a 2020 testimony about whether he authorized leaks to the media.

Officials in the Eastern District of Virginia are still fighting to stop Comey from being charged after Trump fired US Attorney Erik Siebert.

President Trump last week fired Erik Siebert as the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia because he refused to bring charges against Letitia James, Comey, Schiff and others.

On Saturday evening, President Trump announced that he had appointed Lindsey Halligan – his personal attorney who defended him against the Mar-a-Lago raid – as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Now, with just days to go before the statute of limitations runs out to charge Comey for lying during a September 30, 2020 testimony, Lindsey Halligan is reportedly gearing up to indict Comey.

Prosecutors reportedly gave newly sworn-in Halligan a memo defending James Comey and explaining why charges should not brought against the fired FBI Director.

Per MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian:

Two sources familiar with the matter tell me prosecutors in the EDVA US attorney‘s office presented newly sworn US attorney Lindsey Halligan with a memo explaining why charges should not be brought against James Comey, because there isn’t enough evidence to establish probable cause a crime was committed, let alone enough to convince a jury to convict him.

Justice Department guidelines say a case should not be brought unless prosecutors believe it’s more likely than not that they can win a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.

The post LEAKED MEMO: Deep State Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia Claim There Isn’t Enough Evidence to Convict Comey Amid Reports of Imminent Indictment appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Nearly 8 in 10 Voters Say the United States is in Political Crisis After the Assassination of Charlie Kirk

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September 25, 2025

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Nearly eight in ten voters believe that the United States is in a political crisis in the wake of the assassination of conservative icon Charlie Kirk.

According to a Quinnipiac University national poll of registered voters released on Wednesday, a massive 93 percent of Democrats, 84 percent of independents, and 60 percent of Republicans said the nation is in a political crisis.

“The Kirk assassination lays bare raw, bipartisan concerns about where the country is headed,” Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said of the poll results.

Quinnipiac reports:

Seventy-one percent of voters think politically motivated violence in the United States today is a very serious problem, 22 percent think it is a somewhat serious problem, 3 percent think it is a not so serious problem, and 1 percent think it is not a problem at all.

This is a jump from Quinnipiac University’s June 26 poll when 54 percent thought politically motivated violence in the United States today was a very serious problem, 37 percent thought it was a somewhat serious problem, 6 percent thought it was a not so serious problem, and 2 percent thought it was not a problem at all.

Nearly 6 in 10 voters (58 percent) think it will not be possible to lower the temperature on political rhetoric and speech in the United States, while 34 percent think it will be possible.

Over half, 54 percent, of voters believe the US will see increased political violence over the next few years. Another 27 percent said they think it will stay “about the same,” while just 14 percent believe it will ease.

A 53 percent majority also said they are “pessimistic about freedom of speech being protected in the United States.”

Surprisingly, a 53 percent majority also believes the current system of democracy is not working.

“From a perceived assault on freedom of speech to the fragility of the democracy, a shudder of concern and pessimism rattles a broad swath of the electorate. Nearly 80 percent of registered voters feel they are witnessing a political crisis, seven in ten say political violence is a very serious problem, and a majority say this discord won’t go away anytime soon,” Malloy added.

The vast majority, 82 percent, said the way that people discuss politics is contributing to the violence.

“When asked if political discourse is contributing to violence, a rare meeting of the minds…Republicans, Democrats, and independents in equal numbers say yes, it is,” Malloy said.

The survey was conducted from September 18 to 21 among 1,276 registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage points.

The post Nearly 8 in 10 Voters Say the United States is in Political Crisis After the Assassination of Charlie Kirk appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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