Hundreds of Fairfax County residents are expected to hit the streets tomorrow (Saturday) as part of a nationwide protest movement opposing the Trump administration.
Though the main event will take place at noon near the National Mall in D.C., a dozen rallies are also planned across the county for this year’s second “No Kings Day of Action,” many of them organized by local chapters of the grassroots, liberal activist network Indivisible.
By FATIMA HUSSEIN, JOEY CAPPELLETTI, JESSE BEDAYN and SAFIYAH RIDDLE Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — With every passing day of the government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal employees furloughed or working without pay face mounting financial strain. And now they are confronting new uncertainty with the Trump administration’s promised layoffs.
Fairfax County leaders are voicing concern that proposed Trump administration’s cuts in homeland security grants could have a major local impact.
“It is a significant hit to our public safety agencies,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said at the board’s meeting on Tuesday (Oct. 14). “We will be very loud and outspoken about it.”
A Reston-based information technology company may lay off nearly 100 people by the end of this year.
Citing “uncertainty around the future of some contracts with federal agencies,” the contractor Peraton issued layoff notices to 92 employees earlier this month, the Washington Business Journal reported last week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House budget office said Friday that mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said on the social media site X that the “RIFs have begun,” referring to reduction-in-force plans aimed at reducing the size of the federal government.
Though it may be small solace for not knowing when their next paycheck may come, a night of music or theater could become at least a temporary escape for the thousands of workers affected by the ongoing federal government shutdown.
That’s what George Mason University hopes to provide by offering free tickets to select artistic performances for federal employees and contractors.
More than one in four Fairfax County households meets the definition of “food-insecure,” and that figure is likely to rise in coming months as the full impacts of federal worker and funding cuts materialize.
“More challenging times are ahead,” Hilary Salmon, senior director of marketing and communications for Capital Area Food Bank, predicted when briefing board members of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) yesterday (Wednesday).
Like everyone else, Fairfax County leaders remain in wait-and-see mode to determine the short-term and potential long-term implications of the federal government’s ongoing shutdown.
“It really depends on the length,” said Jennifer Imo, managing partner of client services for Ferguson Group, a lobbying organization hired by Fairfax County to represent its interests on Capitol Hill.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously at a special meeting today (Tuesday) to retroactively extend the deadline for car tax payments from yesterday (Monday) to Wednesday, Nov. 5.
The temporary relief was granted in response to the current federal government shutdown, which is adding to economic challenges already facing county residents and the D.C. region as a whole.
By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is warning Tuesday of no guaranteed back pay for federal workers during a government shutdown, reversing what has been longstanding policy for some 750,000 furloughed employees, according to a memo being circulated by the White House.
