Douglas Jackson, a service-disabled veteran who was laid off during Friday’s federal government layoffs, couldn’t believe it when he heard the vice president say the Trump administration was being forced to choose between Americans and “federal bureaucrats.

Layoffs and attrition have reduced JPL’s overall staffing by about one-third in the last two years, sources at the organization said, from roughly 6,500 to around 4,500 after this week’s reduction. JPL endured three rounds of layoffs last year alone, prompted by massive federal budget cuts for its beleaguered Mars Sample Return mission.