Since taking office in January 2025, the Trump Administration, DOGE, and Congress have taken a “chainsaw” to government grants, programs, and services, though by many metrics, DOGE has actually increased spending and the deficit through the costs of botched firings and rehirings, lost productivity, and hundreds of billions in lost tax revenue annually due to the gutting of the Internal Revenue Service.
Regardless, the cuts to grants, programs, and federal jobs that West Virginians rely on are undoubtedly having a concerning impact, with lost federal funds totaling at least $220 million just through the first 100 days of the Trump Administration.1
The WVCBP is tracking the ongoing impacts of federal DOGE cuts in West Virginia in real-time including terminated grants to state agencies, terminated grants to non-profit and non-governmental entities, federal offices closed through lease cancellations, federal workers fired or laid off, and federal program cuts enacted by Congress.
This page was last updated April 30, 2025. Do you know of a federal grant or job impacted by recent cuts that is not listed here? Have you been personally impacted by these cuts and are willing to share your story? Contact Kelly.
At least 410 West Virginia federal workers have been laid off since January 2025, with estimates that at least 121,000 federal workers have been laid off nationwide. These figures do not count federal workers placed on administrative leave or who took voluntary buyouts. In West Virginia, the agencies most impacted have been the Bureau of the Fiscal Service in Parkersburg, NIOSH in Morgantown, and National Park Service staff in the Monongahela National Forest and the New River Gorge National Park. Note: As of April 30, 2025, 30- 40 fired NIOSH employees in Morgantown have reportedly been brought back to work but only through June 2025.
NIOSH employee and AFGE Local 3430 President Cathy Tinney-Zara expressed how the layoffs came as a shock.
“I’m clearing out because I’ve been here for 32 years. I’m cleaning out my office because we had no notice this was going to occur today.”
Meadow Arbogast received a termination notice on February 14 from her “permanent seasonal” position as an information assistant with the Monongahela National Forest. She posted the following to her social media in response.
“If you’ve met me in any capacity while working you’ve probably heard me say “I love my job!” “This is my dream job!” “Getting to work in the forest that’s my backyard is a blessing.” My passion for teaching students sparked back in my undergraduate degree. Getting to share my passion and love for the environment sparked something in my soul. Seeing children light up when they see the wonders of the ecosystem made me feel like there is hope for the stewards of our lands for generations to come. What I couldn’t have imagine was being WRONGFULLY terminated from my job. Yes that’s exactly what happened. My program has did amazing things, reached a huge number in outreach, accomplished many monumental projects, and won an award for those things. I, just like my team, felt nothing but dedicated and committed to serving the people who access public lands.”
In April, the federal government abruptly cancelled over $400 million in federal AmeriCorps grants nationwide, including grants to nine West Virginia agencies impacting at least 209 staff.
According to WVNS, April Elkins Badtke, executive director of Steward Individual Placement in Beckley, an AmeriCorps agency, said that rural West Virginia is going to be impacted, calling the loss “devastating.”
“It’s the ripple effect, that that’s going to impact. It could be a local food bank,” Badtke said. “It could be a local Boys and Girls Club or a YMCA Center or a school that’s going to miss those mentors or those tutors.”
The same story quoted Sarah Riley, the executive director of another impacted agency, High Rocks.
“Nobody can make sense of that list. There’s not a reason that we’re on that list,” she said. “There is nothing about the High Rocks program that is waste, fraud or abuse. We’re really good at what we do. “
In addition to high profile federal job losses, grant cuts, and office closures, state agencies and non-profit entities in West Virginia have had awarded grants terminated, rescinded, or cancelled. The WVCBP is currently awaiting responses to public records requests to give a cumulative picture of those results, but according to the DOGE “Wall of Receipts” website, more than $46.5 million in grants have been terminated or cancelled that had been awarded across a number of West Virginia state agencies including the West Virginia Department of Health, West Virginia Department of Agriculture, West Virginia Department of Education, and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. More data on these specific projects and the impact of the loss of funding will be added when available.
While this tracker primarily focuses on DOGE and Trump Administration funding cuts, Congress is also making significant changes to funding for programs that West Virginians, state agencies, and local government and non-profit entities rely upon. As part of the FY 2025 budget package passed in March 2025, Congressional leaders and the Trump Administration axed nearly $11 billion in funding that went to earmarks or “Congressionally Directed Spending” funding that sends federal dollars to home state projects requested by a state’s Congressional delegation.
In West Virginia, this terminated funding for 50 non-profit, university, and local government entities, eliminating nearly $110 million in funding for projects to do facilities improvements, workforce training, substance use prevention, and supports for seniors, among others.
1] WVCBP analysis of DOGE Wall of Receipts website, public records requests, and new reports.
