Federal actions threaten Arkansans’ employment, more job cuts expected

by Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas Advocate
February 24, 2025

Some Arkansans working for the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs were fired as a result of efforts to shrink the federal workforce, and a Saturday email sparked concern that more cuts are on the way. Meanwhile, jobs are at risk as other organizations cope with funding freezes.

Stacy Ramsey was “caught completely off guard” when she was one of four Buffalo National River employees terminated on Valentine’s Day. Ramsey had worked for the park service for five years, first in part-time positions before becoming a full-time river ranger last March. 

Ramsey was swept up in the layoffs as a probationary worker — new hires or long-time workers who’ve started a new role that subjects them to a probationary status of one to two years. 

“Thousands of federal workers have lost their positions, many of them in much more critical, more important roles than I was in, and the problem with all of those indiscriminate cuts was that the positions weren’t reviewed to see how critical they were,” Ramsey said. 

Of the federal government’s 2.4 million-person workforce, roughly 220,000 are probationary employees. About 80% are employed outside the District of Columbia, including about 13,000 who worked in Arkansas in 2023, according to Partnership for Public Service.

Prior to probationary worker firings, federal employees received an email offering a deferred resignation that would allow them to be paid through September if they quit working now. While some co-workers close to retirement took the offer, Ramsey said she didn’t because she didn’t think her “dream job” was at risk. 

Her termination was “very sudden, very swift,” and Ramsey said her supervisors “were all just as shocked and upset” when she arrived at headquarters in Harrison to sign paperwork the day she was fired.

“I just kept telling myself, ‘be stoic, don’t cry, it’s going to be okay,’ but when I walked in, I could feel so much sadness from them that I was a little overcome,” she said. 

Recreation fees technician Leah Saffian was prepping a campsite for spring visitors when she was notified of her firing. Saffian was a new hire with just a few weeks under her belt. 

The termination was so chaotic that when Saffian arrived at headquarters to turn in her things, she was already locked out of her account. Staff couldn’t access her termination paperwork, so Saffian said she had to return a few days later to complete the process. 

“It was such a mess. It just wasn’t handled professionally in my opinion, not by the park service but by whoever is making these decisions,” she said. “…I was in shock, but mostly I was really, really angry, and I still am just because there’s absolutely zero consideration for everything I did to make myself available for this job.”

Saffian was working several part-time jobs in Northwest Arkansas when she applied to work at the Buffalo National River in September. After hearing nothing for months, she received an interview in December and an official offer for her “ideal job” on Jan. 17, three days before the presidential inauguration. 

Because of a lack of housing in the area, Saffian said she spent much of her savings to buy a camper, rent a campsite and move herself and her rescue dog to Newton County. She also bought camper accessories and items to complete her uniform before starting her job on Jan. 27th, only to be fired three weeks later. 

Saffian’s whirlwind experience has left her with much uncertainty about where to live and whether she’ll be able to find work nearby. As of Thursday, she’d yet to receive an answer about whether she qualifies for unemployment benefits because her employment was so brief.

Health care resources limited for income-constrained, working Arkansans, especially in rural areas

“The emotions surrounding this are very complex because I have no direct contact with the people who are making these decisions,” Saffian said. “So I have all this frustration, but I can’t even address it to the people that make these decisions, and I’m just in a really difficult position.”

Ramsey also is unsure what comes next. Ramsey grew up and still lives in Searcy County, one of Arkansas’ poorest counties where she said jobs are limited and people are forced to drive an hour away for work. 

“It’s so hard to find work with pay that is enough to cover a mortgage and utilities and have health insurance benefits,” she said. “…I’m just hoping to find a good job soon.” 

Emails and voicemails sent last week to National Park Service sites in Arkansas and the federal office were not returned by Monday. 

Veterans affairs 

Following the initial round of layoffs, federal workers began sharing their stories on LinkedIn and Facebook, but official tallies have been difficult to come by.

Spokespeople at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System and the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks emailed the Advocate similar statements late last week confirming they had “dismissed a small number of probationary staff,” but couldn’t discuss specific personnel matters due to privacy concerns. 

“This decision will have no negative effect on Veteran health care, benefits or other services and will allow VA to focus more effectively on its core mission of serving Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors,” VHSO spokesperson Scott Whittington said. 

The Department of Veterans Affairs has more than 43,000 probationary employees and approximately 1,000 were dismissed, a move expected to save the department more than $98 million per year, according to a press release. 

Whittington noted that the VA worked with the White House and the Office of Personnel Management to identify more than 130 occupations within the agency that would not be eligible for the deferred resignation program so the VA can continue providing “mission-critical” services. 

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 2201 is the union for VHSO, which has a main campus in Fayetteville and satellite campuses in western Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma and southwest Missouri. 

Union President Bruce Appel said it’s been difficult to get a straight answer about how many workers have been let go, in part because VA leaders are “being blindsided” like everyone else. Appel said he was told about a dozen local people opted for the original deferred resignation option. 

While nonunion members were affected by the Feb. 14 layoffs, Appel said he learned late Thursday that probationary workers within his union were at risk of another round of cuts. VHSO has about 2,300 workers in the entire system, and Appel estimated 200-300 of his members could be at risk.

Federal employees received an email Saturday requesting they reply by midnight Monday with five bullet points of what they accomplished last week. Presidential adviser Elon Musk, a billionaire who’s been leading the federal employee cuts, posted on X, a social media site he owns, that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

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The email created further confusion among federal workers and agency supervisors over the weekend with some agency heads telling employees not to respond just yet, according to the New York Times. 

If the presidential administration ignores workers’ contract rights, Appel said it would “put us in a position of having to litigate it,” which he noted AFGE did during the president’s first term. 

The VA last year announced a settlement with the union resolving litigation over “adverse reactions taken against former VA employees” under the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017. The settlement addressed a finding by the Federal Labor Relations Authority that the VA failed to bargain with AFGE regarding the impact and implementation of the law, according to a press release.  

Appel said VHSO provides a high standard of care, but he’s concerned continued layoffs will have a negative effect on services. 

“My federal employees are being demonized like we’re some kind of parasite, and that’s not the case,” Appel said. “We are not the public’s enemy during this, and with the destruction that’s going on right now, the layoffs, the changes in working conditions, everything else, their family members are not going to get the care that they’ve come to expect when they come to this facility.”

Funding freezes

An inauguration day executive order that suspended the country’s refugee resettlement program directly affected Canopy Northwest Arkansas, one of two resettlement agencies in Arkansas. The nonprofit was also hit by a “stop-work order” that halted funding for basic services provided to refugees who arrived within the last 90 days, Executive Director Joanna Krause said.

Arkansas faith groups worried about federal policies hindering immigrant, refugee ministries

Typically, refugee resettlement agencies provide services that are then reimbursed, but as of last week, Krause said Canopy NWA was still waiting on $584,000 to be reimbursed. Housing is one of the largest costs for refugee agencies because you have to pay a deposit, plus first and last month’s rent, Krause said. That can be particularly expensive in Northwest Arkansas where housing prices have skyrocketed in recent years as the region’s population has exploded.

The nonprofit organization has been able to continue operations due to community support, but Krause said she’s “very, very worried” about having to lay off members of Canopy NWA’s roughly 40-person staff. 

“We are taking it day by day,” she said. “Again, we wouldn’t be where we are today without the support that’s come through with our community, and we absolutely remain committed to our mission.” 

Krause said they’ve not received any updates about whether or when the federal refugee resettlement program will resume, and the waiting “is really hard.”

Refugee status is a legal immigration status that may be granted to people who may have been persecuted or fear they will be due to race, religion, nationality or membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 

Since the Refugee Act in 1980, the U.S. has admitted more than 3.2 million refugees, according to the U.S. State Department. Of the roughly 100,000 refugees who came to the U.S. in fiscal year 2024, nearly 350 resettled in Arkansas, according to the Refugee Processing Center.

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

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SUMMARY: Happy Saturday morning! Meteorologist Drake Foley reports cooler temperatures with some refreezing on roads this morning, but conditions are improving as temperatures rise into the 40s and melting occurs. Northwest Arkansas still has some snow, but it will dissipate with the sunny weather over the next few days. Sunday will see temperatures drop into the 20s overnight, but warm to the high 50s and low 60s. The coming days promise more sunshine and temperatures could reach the 70s by Tuesday, with minimal chance of refreezing. A weak cold front may bring isolated showers midweek. Enjoy the beautiful forecast!

40/29 Meteorologist Drake Foley says this weekend will be wonderful and the start of a warming pattern that continues into the end of the month.

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Temporary restraining order blocking freeze remains in place awaiting federal judge’s ruling

by Nancy Lavin, Arkansas Advocate
February 21, 2025

A crowd of Democratic state attorneys general packed the left side of a third-floor federal courtroom in Providence Friday afternoon, prepared to make their case for a longer and more sweeping ban against a federal funding freeze.

Opposite them sat U.S. Department of Justice attorney Daniel Schwei, the lone representative for President Donald Trump and the dozens of federal cabinet agencies named in the AGs lawsuit.

“It kind of reminds me of a wedding where everyone sits on the bride’s side,” Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, joked.

But there was little love as arguments played out during the two-hour hearing. The AGs decried the immediate and irreparable harm already playing out nationwide for state agencies and government contractors unable to make payroll or provide services to residents in the wake of an attempted federal funding freeze.

Schwei acknowledged the infamous White House budget memo that set off the cascade of chaos and litigation was too broadly interpreted at first. But he insisted the AGs’ request seeking to stop the administration and federal agencies from blocking access to any federal grants and aid was too broad.

As expected, McConnell did not immediately issue a ruling of the request for a preliminary injunction, though he promised to do so “quickly” — likely within a week. Until then, his existing, short-term ban preventing the federal administration from freezing funds stands.

Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom Friday afternoon, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, one of six co-leads in the lawsuit, said he felt confident in the AGs’ arguments.

“You can’t really read from the questioning which way a judge is leaning, but I am confident we’re right on the law here,” Neronha said. “The question will be how do you write the remedy? But I have no doubt we’re going to get a preliminary injunction.”

If granted, the requested injunction would prevent the federal government from freezing any already-obligated grants and aid not expressly under the executive branch’s purview as the case proceeds. While McConnell granted a short-term ban three weeks ago, the longer and more permanent block is necessary, Neronha said.

“The reason we want an order is because, frankly, we don’t trust them,” Neronha said. “In the long run we need this order to ensure that the president won’t go back to doing what is patently unconstitutional and that is to reverse the spending decisions of the Congress.”

Even though the White House budget memo was rescinded two days after its Jan. 27  issuance, the objective of freezing federal funds remains, as stated on X by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Even now, trillions of dollars in funding for educational and scientific research, energy efficiency programs and foreign aid remains inaccessible, including in Rhode Island, according to court documents filed by the AGs.

They argue the abrupt halt of money necessary to pay employees to provide services risks severe consequences to the people who benefit from those programs, as well as state governments themselves.

In Rhode Island, for example, the unexpected halt of $125 million in federal funding to the Office of Energy Resources, including rebates for electric vehicles, could jeopardize expected state revenue, forcing state officials to overhaul their entire budget, Sarah Rice, Rhode Island assistant attorney general, said during the hearing Friday.

Elsewhere across the country, inability by state governments to pay contractors hired for infrastructure work or to run Head Start programs for young children has created a “chilling effect” where vendors no longer want to work with state governments, Rice said.

“This is a threat to all components of service infrastructure in each of our states,” Rabia Muqaddam, special counsel for federal initiatives for the New York Attorney General’s office, said during the hearing Friday. “It is really impossible to hold, in my eyes, how vast the impact would have been if not for the court’s orders.”

Muqaddam also highlighted the unprecedented nature of Trump’s executive orders in the breadth and speed with which he attempted to halt trillions of dollars in funding already authorized by Congress. The AGs lawsuit contends, among other arguments, that the funding freeze violates the separation of powers and spending clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

Schwei, however, pointed to budget and spending freezes enacted under presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, including Biden’s decision to halt the $1.4 billion allocated for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Much like Biden wanted to pause cash flow to study whether it was the best use of money, so does Trump look to review how federal money is spent, Schwei said.

“The rationale is for agencies to pause funding to review it,” Schwei said, “and decide, is this the best use of taxpayer dollars?”

He openly admitted that the initial White House budget memo had a broader impact than was intended, but pointed to subsequent guidance issued as soon as the day after clarifying and narrowing the scope of the funding freeze to specific sources.

“When properly understood, the OMB memo is directing a pause to a handful of discrete topics,” Schwei said.

McConnell pushed back, noting it wasn’t until he issued his temporary restraining order that suddenly, funds were again accessible to state agencies, nonprofits and contractors.

If, as Schwei suggested, only federal agencies with the independent power to review their funding had paused grants and aid, the court order would not have led to a gush of previously backstopped funding, McConnell said.

McConnell also offered counterpoints and questions to the AGs, including over the scope of a proposed court order and the overlap with a slew of other federal lawsuits challenging executive orders on funding, including in D.C. and Massachusetts.

McConnell, a Biden-era appointee and prolific donor to Democratic candidates prior to his appointment to the bench, has come under fire by Vice President J.D. Vance and later, Elon Musk, who called for impeaching McConnell in a post on X.

Members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation and the Rhode Island Bar Association quickly came to McConnell’s defense.

Neronha on Friday called the Republican-led criticism of McConnell “ridiculous.”

“What the vice president, Mr. Musk and others do when they challenge Judge McConnell’s integrity, when they talk about impeaching him, is again, trying to undermine the judicial branch of government,” Neronha said. “When the president sidelines both the Congress and the judiciary, what we have is an authoritarian system of government.”

McConnell appeared unfazed by the sudden national spotlight and criticism.

“I try not to read the papers anymore, thankfully, except when The New York Times called my order ‘slightly testy,’” he said during the hearing, referring to an article published on Wednesday. 

Earlier Friday, a federal judge in Massachusetts extended a temporary ban preventing the National Institutes of Health from capping funding for research institutes and universities.

On Thursday, a federal judge in D.C. heard arguments, but did not issue an order, in a separate case by nonprofit and business groups challenging the federal funding freeze.

Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com.

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

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