[connatix_element_embed script_id=bd559d909faf4cb5b544a1ff5c18f0b3 player_id=7bc491b4-922b-4e8d-b1b1-150648e80442 video_id=2e045517-4ceb-47e0-852c-a02cbe1ad883 align=right]

More than a thousand people attended a rally Saturday afternoon in front of the National Institutes of Health campus in support of fired NIH employees and proposed further cuts to the nation’s premiere health and medical research agency.

“When you cut off funding for NIH, people die,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who was last to speak at the rally near the Medical Center Metro Station.

“We are here to say to Elon Musk, ‘this is all about needing to save lives by fighting back against this illegal takeover,” he added, referring the “Department of Government Efficiency,” a Trump administration commission headed by Musk and tasked with slashing federal spending.

The event was organized by the Maryland Democratic Party and is part of an ongoing series of protests designed to bring attention to what they call the chaotic and illegal process used by DOGE to arbitrarily eliminate federal positions.

“To come in and for no reason and without cause or thought to layoff or even threaten the people who work here is ridiculous,” said Pamela Luckett, chair of the Maryland Democratic Party in Montgomery County.

She urged Republican members of Congress to stand up to Musk and President Donald Trump to push back against what she called the dismantling of democracy.

“It’s devastating to me to watch how federal employees are being treated,” said Irene Glowinski, of Kensington, Maryland. She worked at NIH distributing grants for 30 years.

“I’m very sad for my old colleagues who are still here, who really care about the institution. And they’re summarily dismissed from here,” she said.