This story is part of WTOP’s ongoing series, Trump Impact, which looks at how the new administration could change the D.C. region.
The D.C. region is bracing for what’s to come as President-elect Donald Trump has promised to slash spending and reshape the federal government.
So how might that impact Northern Virginia?
“I think the likely scenario is that we will see the losses of some federal jobs,” said Terry Clower, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University. “That will come (from) … cutbacks as well as some relocations.”
Trump had often said he would give Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk a formal role overseeing a group that would recommend ways to slash spending and make the federal government more efficient.
Now, Trump has nominated Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new “Department of Government Efficiency,” which is not a government agency. The department’s acronym, “DOGE,” is a nod to Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency, Dogecoin.
Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy would work from outside the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance,” and would partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before.”
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The President-elect said the pair would “pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies.”
At one point, Musk suggested he could find more than $2 trillion in savings — nearly a third of total annual government spending.
But, broad spending cuts would impact more than just federal employees.
“That will be felt by contractors,” Clower said. “Many of those contractors have their employment base here in the Greater Washington area and in Northern Virginia.”
According to Clower, Virginia might not be as vulnerable as Maryland and D.C., as a large portion of federal employment in the Commonwealth are from the Defense and Homeland Security agencies.
“I have not heard anything out of the incoming administration that talks about cutting those particular functionalities,” Clower said. “In fact, if you’re going to have a huge program of mass deportations, you’re actually going to probably have to add some staffing into that.”
However, when it comes to any significant job loss within the federal workforce, there would be no escaping the impact that would have on the local economy.
“It will be felt in all areas of Northern Virginia if (Trump) impacts federal employment because those federal workers are economic actors within this region,” Clower said. “We talk about economic multipliers when we add jobs to regions; well, unfortunately, the multipliers work when you take jobs away.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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