People in the Pacific Northwest like to fish, hike and camp in national parks.
But those activities will be severely limited now as many national parks are closing or reducing hours and services thanks to the massive layoffs of federal employees. Reducing the workforce in the parks means there is no one left to clean toilets, maintain roads and offer information or safety services (such as first aid) among other jobs.
In Washington, this involves Mount Rainier National Park, Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, North Cascades National Park and Olympia National Park. In Idaho, the cuts mean many services at Yellowstone National Park, Craters of the Moon National Monument, Hagerman National Fossil Beds National Monument and the Minidoka National Historic Site are stopped.
But parks and outdoor services are not the only services eliminated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Locally, cuts in the Department of Agriculture will impact agriculture by eliminating needed crop planning and subsidy payments. Also under threat, loss of assistance during fire season and disaster funds to help rebuild communities.
In addition, slashes to the Food and Drug Administration are likely to impact food and over-the-counter drug safety as there are limited inspectors to verify the products are safe for human consumption.
Other concerns include:
- Veterans are already seeing a sharp decrease in their benefits, which include help for PTSD and physical disabilities resulting from war.
- NOAA weather scientists fired, meaning long-range weather predictions — especially concerning hurricanes, tornadoes and forest fires — can no longer be available to save lives and property.
- Protection from extreme charges by banks and credit card companies with the censure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, elimination of the FDIC may be next.
- And stark national security concerns are arising as FBI, CIA, military and other intelligence/security employees are fired, removing layers of protection from terrorists.
Does anyone want to check to see how all these cuts are saving money or specifically where and why cuts are made by filing a Federal Freedom of Information request? That is now gone, too, as employees who handled those requests were fired.
Here lies a second problem: Where do these fired employees go? The private sector cannot absorb all the former federal workers. There is also the problem for the employees who were let go without enough information so they can claim unemployment benefits. This will leave many in dire economic straits.
At the very best, this all leads to national stagflation, where massive unemployment and rising inflation are the same, deeply impacting consumers. The budget slashing does not also factor in lost revenues from the parks to local economies, such as Ashford, the gateway to Mount Rainier.
There are so many more cuts coming so fast it boggles the mind. It all begs the question: Exactly what is being saved and why?
The New York Times reported the initial $65 billion in savings DOGE head Elon Musk claimed, but cannot be verified, are not true. The actual amount is far less.
Still, to date, there is no clear reason why so many employees are being eliminated or any explanation as to how the money saved will be used.
Under pressure from this question, Musk and President Donald Trump recently suggested every taxpayer get a $5,000 refund, a move that would need congressional approval. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he wants to use the money to pay down the national debt.
If these cuts, which have already gone beyond trimming perceived fat and are now into the nation’s bones, is to save money to pay down the national debt (currently at $36.5 trillion), surely there are more rational ways of doing so without eliminating so many needed or wanted services to the taxpaying public.
Perhaps in reality, most Americans just might have a different perspective from Trump and Musk when it comes to making sure things we have already paid for through taxes are still there.
Trimming spending is good, but many of us would rather have good financial, public health and other safety nets along with transparent government accountability, among additional things. A safe America is more important than cutting federal jobs and saving money for an unknown cause.
