"Kill the Cuts" national Day of Action protestors move through West Los Angeles
A group of demonstrators gathered in West Los Angeles Tuesday afternoon, marching from the UCLA campus to the Wilshire Federal Building to protest federal funding cuts to research, health and higher education.
Aerial footage showed about 100 people peacefully standing on the sidewalk outside of the Federal Building on the national Day of Action, holding signs that read "Kill the Cuts, Save Lives."
Tuesday's nationwide effort is meant to raise awareness and protest President Trump's "devastating attacks on research, health and higher education," organizers said.
In March, President Trump announced the signing of an executive order that would begin the process of dismantling the Department of Education.
Since Mr. Trump took office, the Education Department's staff has already been slashed in half, and the administration is making plans to transfer some of its functions to other departments.
The Trump Administration is also making major cuts to federal health agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, and to the National Science Foundation.
About 1,200 jobs are expected to be cut at NIH as part of the layoffs at the Health and Human Services Department, and the administration also has canceled hundreds of NIH grants to scientists around the country. Across HHS, nearly a quarter of staff, or 20,000 people, is expected to be laid off or take early retirement or voluntary separation offers.
The NSF, an independent federal agency that funds scientific research around the globe, has fired 168 probationary employees in adherence to orders from the White House, according to an agency spokesperson.
Tuesday's demonstrators comprised a coalition of education, labor, and health activists coming together to raise awareness and put pressure on elected representatives to fight back, organizers said.
"By cutting funds to lifesaving research and medical care, the Trump Administration is abandoning families who are suffering and costing taxpayers billions of dollars," said Rafael Jaime, president of UAW 4811, one of the organizers of the national event. "These cuts are dangerous to our health, and dangerous to our economy."
