ICYMI: WSJ, “DOGE Upheaval Arrives in Cities Far From Washington”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE aren’t just eliminating Americans’ jobs in our nation’s capital. A new report spotlights how Trump and Musk’s dangerous agenda of slashing federal workers’ jobs and gutting essential services is hurting Americans in cities across the country, with 80% of federal workers living outside of Washington, D.C. Already, communities are feeling the impact – with tens of thousands of federal workers’ jobs in Oklahoma City on the chopping block, in roles ranging from IRS accounting, to working on local Air Force and Army bases.

“Donald Trump’s agenda is driving up the cost of groceries, crippling economic growth for businesses and farmers with industry-stunting tariffs, and sending the stock market into chaos,” said Accountable.US Executive Director Tony Carrk. “It’s insulting that in the face of the Administration’s failed economic policies, their answer is to eliminate jobs for Americans who provide essential services to those in their communities.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Wall Street Journal: DOGE Upheaval Arrives in Cities Far From Washington

Oklahoma City lies 1,300 miles from Washington, where the Trump administration is roiling the federal workforce through mass layoffs and return-to-office orders. But the effects are rippling through the Oklahoma capital, too, in ways that are both disruptive and surprising.

The Oklahoma City metro area alone has roughly 30,000 federal workers who help inspect meat, staff prisons, fix military planes and train air-traffic controllers. They are among 80% of the U.S. government’s 2.3 million nonpostal and nonuniformed employees who live beyond the

Beltway, including many who are concentrated in certain regions by military bases and collections of federal offices.

Chris Dowling lost his accounting job at the Internal Revenue Service in Oklahoma City as the Trump administration cut more than 7,000 IRS workers nationwide, as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts. Landing the job last year helped the 32-year-old invest in property where he hoped to raise 40 cattle. Now he is contemplating how he will handle a

$36,000 land payment due later this year.

“It was far and away the best balance of a fulfilling career that was challenging as hell, but was also going to be stable and could swing a family in middle America,” said Dowling, who has an 11-month-old child.

Other laid-off workers in the area, along with still-employed people anxious about their jobs, say they have pared back spending on all sorts of services.

[…]

The effects of DOGE cuts are hitting far and wide because federal workers are scattered all around the U.S. Many are also concentrated in Republican-voting states like Oklahoma, according to government data. In Ogden, Utah, a small city where federal employees are roughly 5% of the metro-area total, about 1,000 IRS workers could lose their jobs there by May, according to union leaders.

[…]

The federal workforce in the Oklahoma City region represents nearly 4% of all jobs there, one of the highest levels for any big city beyond metro Washington, according to a review of federal data by the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute.

[…]

It isn’t clear how many workers in the area are affected by layoffs thus far. The area is home to Tinker Air Force Base and near the U.S. Army’s Fort Sill, and layoffs at these major employers haven’t been announced. Still, workers are nervous about the prospect for cuts. While the roughly two million uniformed military personnel are expected to be exempt, DOGE is considering cuts to the Defense Department’s one-million-strong civilian workforce.

Any government layoffs trigger downstream effects for businesses like daycare centers and grocery stores, said Ben Zou, associate professor of economics at Purdue University’s business school. His research on cuts at U.S. military bases has shown that for every job lost on such a base, another 1.2 jobs are lost in the local community.

Kraig Memz, 40, a correctional officer at a federal prison on the outskirts of Oklahoma City, is concerned enough about potential layoffs that he has delayed a planned vehicle purchase. He will stick with his 11-year-old Ford pickup instead.

“I wouldn’t take that risk, not knowing if I have a job to pay for it,” Memz said.

Oklahoma City resident Paige Willett started cutting back on activities like restaurant meals and

concerts after losing her federal job at the Bureau of Indian Education last month.

“We really like to support our local venues, but those will have to be cut down,” the 34-year-old said. […]

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