does not authorize the use of tariffs.

A Chinkara gazelle fawn rests in the plumage of a peacock at an animal rescue center on a hot summer day in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India, Thursday, May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Dinesh Gupta)A wild boar runs through the deep grass in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, early Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

A wild boar runs through the deep grass in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, early Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)A pair of bald eagles call out while resting on a tree next to Union Bay, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)A pair of bald eagles call out while resting on a tree next to Union Bay, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A black rhino, on the Red List of Threatened Species according to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), eats grass at Nairobi National Park, on the outskirts of Nairobi, on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)A black rhino, on the Red List of Threatened Species according to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), eats grass at Nairobi National Park, on the outskirts of Nairobi, on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A colony of sea lions rest at Playa Mann on San Cristobal Island, Ecuador in the Galapagos on Sunday, June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Alie Skowronski)

A colony of sea lions rest at Playa Mann on San Cristobal Island, Ecuador in the Galapagos on Sunday, June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Alie Skowronski)“I worked really hard and wanted that satisfaction to see it through,” she said.

On Feb. 19, during the week finalists would have been named, the Trump administration announced an executive order cutting the program.Kauffman, 45, said she was crushed by the decision and worries that the mass layoffs and dissolution of the fellows program will forever change public service.

“It’s so easy to decimate something but so much harder to rebuild,” she said. “And I worry that the incredibly talented people who may have been my cohort or colleagues are going to go elsewhere, and there will be an incredible brain drain. It’s such a loss for the American people.”Sydney Smith, 28, said many of the fellows were shocked at being let go because they came in to the government with ideas on how to make it more efficient.