A former park ranger at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park who was fired as part of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts will be U.S. Sen. Mark Warner’s guest at the president’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday.
Warner (D-Virginia) announced Monday that Ashley Ranalli of Fredericksburg will be at the speech.
In announcing the invitation, the senator’s office said that, despite exemplary performance reviews, Ranalli last month became one of an estimated 1,000-plus National Park Service employees who were let go due to their “probationary” employment status.
Ranalli, 41, is a survivor of thyroid cancer and now has no health insurance, Warner’s office said in the announcement.
“Ashley Ranalli is one of the many dedicated public servants who have been forced out of their jobs serving Americans by President Trump and Elon Musk,” Warner said in a statement. “Our national parks are places where we connect with nature, our shared history, and one another, and that is made possible by the hard work of national park rangers, whose dedication, expertise and passion not only safeguard our landscapes and wildlife but also help preserve the stories and history that make these places so special.”
The senator, a former Virginia governor, said the Park Service cuts are devastating to the parks and their local communities.
“I am glad that Ashley is able to join as my guest for the address to Congress, so that President Trump can look out into the audience and face a Virginian directly affected by his short-sighted and reckless choices,” he said.
While the administration has declined to make public the exact scope of the cuts at NPS and the duties and locations of those affected by the layoffs, Warner said, the National Parks Conservation Association estimates that in a period of just weeks, 9% of NPS staff have been lost to mass firings and resignations, in addition to hundreds of vacant positions that can’t be filled due to the ongoing hiring freeze.
In February, Warner led the Virginia delegation in writing the secretary of the Interior, pushing the administration to reverse the cuts.
Ranalli said in the announcement that becoming a national park ranger was her dream.
“I am devastated by the effect the purge of federal employees has had on Fredericksburg, a community that I love and which relies upon federal workers and tourism dollars from the national park,” she said. “When I come to Washington, I hope to represent not just my fellow park rangers, but also to be a voice for the people, communities and small businesses that are suffering because of political choices being made in our nation’s capital.”
