As Trump cuts federal jobs, Virginia lawmakers race to respond

by Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury
February 22, 2025

With federal government slashing jobs and freezing billions in funding, Virginia lawmakers are scrambling to assess the impact and prepare for what’s next. On Saturday morning, a bipartisan emergency committee, assembled by House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, convened to hear from state agencies and economic experts about the looming challenges ahead.

Clark Mercer, representing the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, kicked off the discussion by emphasizing the scale of Virginia’s federal workforce. The state is home to over 144,000 federal employees, according to a December 2024 congressional report — but factoring in commuters working in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, the number rises to over 300,000. 

So far, about 295,000 federal employees nationwide have already been affected by the new presidential administration’s jobs cuts, Mercer said. That includes 220,000 probationary employees and 75,000 workers who accepted buyout offers.

Probationary employees typically have less than a year on the job, but Mercer noted that the classification also applies to mid-career professionals who recently received promotions. Once promoted, employees enter a probationary period — meaning some long-time workers are also vulnerable to these cuts.

Mercer acknowledged that the ratio of newer hires versus mid-career professionals affected remains unclear. A lack of specific data on layoffs and funding reductions was a recurring concern among both presenters and lawmakers throughout the meeting.

While Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads are home to the largest concentrations of federal workers, Mercer emphasized that federal job losses will ripple across the entire state. 

For those seeking unemployment benefits, Mitch Melis with the Virginia Employment Commission explained that displaced workers can receive up to $9,800 over six months, amounting to  $378 per week while they search for new jobs.

Earlier this week, Gov. Glenn Youngkin acknowledged the impact of President Donald Trump’s job cuts but defended the moves as necessary to eliminate “inefficiency and bloat” in the federal workforce. However, he also promised that Virginia is working on an aid package to assist those losing their jobs.

The Washington Post has reported that affected workers range from the Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency employees to workers like mapmakers and cancer researchers. 

While Youngkin has promised an aid package for affected workers, he has yet to provide specifics.  “I want to communicate it in a package,” he said. “We’ll have a good one for you.”

By Saturday, however, the state’s website included a page with resources for federal workers. 

As laid-off federal employees search for new jobs, localities could see a migration of workers and their families — taking household incomes, local tax contributions and additional wage earners with them. 

“The loss of one employee has a multiplier effect,” Joe Flores, fiscal policy director at the Virginia Municipal League, told lawmakers Saturday. 

Local governments are already bracing for revenue losses, which could impact public school funding, police departments and infrastructure projects. 

Federal dollars make up one third of Virginia’s total state budget, largely supporting  Medicaid, public education, SNAP benefits, and transportation.

Additionally, local governments receive $1.4 billion in direct federal funding, with some Southwest and Southside localities relying on federal money for 20-30% of their revenues, according to House Appropriations Committee analysts. 

“There is a palpable sense of anxiety of what local impacts are,” Flores said. “We don’t know what we’re shooting at in terms of trying to set our budgets.” 

Virginia’s capital city, Richmond, is already feeling the effects. Federal funding cuts hit a Youngkin-backed lab school initiative, and a Virginia Commonwealth University program designed to place teachers in hard-to-staff schools lost critical funding. 

Adding to the uncertainty, last month, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget temporarily froze the distribution of federal funds, forcing states to scramble for potential budget solutions. A federal judge has since blocked the administration from enforcing the policy, but for now, the situation remains unsolved. 

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has ordered federal agencies to halt funding tied to climate and energy laws passed under former President Joe Biden — a move that could put billions of dollars in legally designated funding on hold and set the stage for new legal battles. 

As uncertainty looms, Virginia lawmakers are looking for ways to prepare their constituents for potential economic fallout. The emergency committee plans to hold a series of meetings across the state to hear from local officials and impacted communities.

Committee chair David Bulova, D-Fairfax, said tentative future meeting locations include Arlington, Hampton Roads, western Virginia, and a final session back in Richmond. 

The committee plans to examine key economic concerns, including the rising cost of housing, the impact on transportation, and lessons learned from Virginia’s recovery after the 2008 Great Recession.

Following a few of the meetings on the horizon, Scott suspects lawmakers will reconvene to take up legislation to address issues as needed.  He emphasized that Virginia lawmakers plan to “aim first and then shoot” when speaking with media Saturday evening.

“What these venture capitalists folks do sometimes they just come in and take over a company, and they fire everybody, and then they bring back people,” Scott said, noting Trump and top advisor Elon Musk’s entrepreneurial backgrounds.

“They said, oops, we need to bring back these essentials, and they try to fix it afterwards. So what we’re trying to do now is make sure that we’re doing this in smart, soulful and thoughtful way.”

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.

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