Town Hall In Manassas Planned On Federal Workforce Reductions, Contractor Impacts

MANASSAS, VA — As the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency pursues federal workforce reductions, a business chamber will hold a town hall in Manassas on the economic implications for the region.

The Northern Virginia Black Chamber of Commerce is inviting residents to a town hall meeting on Tuesday, March 11 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Jirani Coffeehouse in Manassas. Business owners, federal contractors, federal employees, and other community stakeholders can share their perspectives, connect with peers, and explore strategies to navigate the changing economic environment.

"As an organization dedicated to economic growth, NVBCC recognizes the need for open, honest discussions about workforce shifts and business challenges," said Tonya Poindexter, board chair at the Northern Virginia Black Chamber of Commerce. "We don’t have all the answers, but we believe in the power of bringing people together to have meaningful conversations and learn from one another."

Northern Virginia is home to one of the nation's largest concentration of federal employees and contractors. According to the chamber, federal workforce reductions have impacts beyond federal agencies, affecting employees, businesses, suppliers and the economy as a whole.

Register for the free town hall here.

CNN has estimated some federal agencies or departments have hundreds or thousands of fired employees. The workforce reductions are part of an initiative by the Elon Musk-led DOGE to cut spending and reduce the federal government's size.

Changes to the federal worker firings are rapidly changing amid administration actions and legal challenges to firings. For example, the Merit Systems Protection Board ordered over 5,000 employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be reinstated.

The administration has started to retreat on guidance affecting probationary employees, who were largely the target of the first firings. NPR reported that a judge's ruling on likely violations with the probationary employee firings. Some places, like the National Science Foundation and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started to reverse some firings.

However, federal agencies and department continue to prepare plans on reducing the workforce as requested by the administration. CNN reported a draft plan being compiled to cut up to half of the Internal Revenue Service's employees. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the administration could seek 80,000 job cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs, seeking to return to 2019 staffing after Biden administration expansions. There have already been several thousands of firings at the VA and termination of hundreds of contracts. At least a quarter of VA employees are veterans, the AP estimates.

On Monday, Virginia U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined 11 other Democratic senators seeking answers on mass layoffs of veterans employed by the federal government.

"According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), veterans make up 30 percent of the federal workforce compared to only six percent of the civilian workforce," the senator's wrote to the Office of Personnel Management's acting director. "More than 640,000 veterans were part of the federal workforce before Elon Musk and President Trump's haphazard layoffs began, many of whom are losing their livelihoods after these layoffs and a legally questionable deferred resignation program."