Happy Hour in D.C.: ‘I’ve Never Felt More Patriotic in My Life’

Young federal workers gathered at DC9, a Washington bar offering cheap drinks for any government employee as the deadline to take a buyout loomed.

For the 282,000 federal government employees who live in and around Washington, the first weeks of the new Trump administration have been a mix of uncertainty and consternation, as agencies close and job cuts loom. So when the owner of DC9, a local bar and music venue, decided to show his solidarity via rock-bottom prices for a Thursday evening happy hour, a throng of early-career public servants eagerly answered the call.

“My team has been through the mud,” said a young woman who worked in the human resources department of a federal agency and wore a purple T-shirt emblazoned with an uplifting message: “You Are Enough.” (Like many other attendees, she feared offering any personal details that could make her the victim of professional retribution.) “Everybody is very nervous.”

In recent days, Elon Musk and his lieutenants have hacked away at the federal bureaucracy, including by offering controversial buyouts to government workers. In the now-infamous “Fork in the Road” email sent on Jan. 28 at the apparent behest of Mr. Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency, some two million federal agency staffers were urged to take a buyout that would supposedly guarantee anyone who accepted a salary through Sept. 30. The deadline to accept the deal was 11:59 p.m. on Thursday.

Bill Spieler, who has operated DC9 for two decades, was determined to do what he could for the federal work force as the deadline neared. On Monday afternoon, DC9 announced a “Hold the Line” event to coincide with that deadline. Its social media post appeared to be skeptical of the offer, urging government workers “to be our eyes and ears on what is happening in this administration.” But any government employee, whether they took Mr. Musk’s promised buyout or not, was eligible for “$2 beverages.”

A few hours before the deadline, a federal judge in Massachusetts effectively blocked the deal. In response, the White House extended its buyout deadline until next Monday. But Mr. Spieler’s prediction that the last-minute machinations would do little to mitigate the uncertainty or dampen the enthusiasm for cheap beer proved correct.