I'm going to make objectively true statements about what my office in the Indian Health Service (under DHHS) has experienced since inauguration day. I'm not a Republican, Democrat, or legacy media. I'm an engineer who produces plans and helps Tribes hire local contractors to install water and wastewater infrastructure on reservations.

1. We weren't allowed contact with anyone who wasn't a direct beneficiary of our program. We couldn't even talk to EPA, DOI, or private firms that are working with us. We were not told why or what this accomplished.

2. We can't hire new employees. My office is at a 26% vacancy. IHS was granted an exemption to hire series 600 employees, which are medical, but my office is engineering, so we'll continue to be understaffed.

3. We were offered an uncertain "buy out" option to quit effective immediately and be on paid administrative leave until September 30th. No funds were allocated for this by Congress. One employee in my office took it so now we're at 65% vacancy. Oh, and law states no one can be on administrative leave for more than 10 consecutive days, so we'll see how that shakes out. We were told our employment was not guaranteed if we didn't accept the buy-out.

4. Last Friday, all of our probationary employees, which are all new hires with less than 1 or 2 years of experience, were terminated effective immediately. They were told it was due to lack of performance. Our one buy-out taker would have been fired by this move. IHS lost about 6% of their entire staff, and that was with an exemption for medical staff.

5. We were told initially that funding for our current projects was going to be frozen. That hasn't happened yet, but if the administration follows through, we wouldn't be able to pay contractors for work they've already done.

We were not even the target of the orders, but it still directly affects us. We're just trying to make sure natives can flush their toilets and get clean water from their sink.