In the wake of the Social Security Administration slashing 12% of its workforce earlier this year, the agency’s field offices have struggled to adjust to their new normal with overburdened workers and frustrated recipients, reports the New York Times:
When Rebekah Walker noticed she was short on her July rent, it quickly became clear that her monthly disability payment never arrived from Social Security, as it had for the past 16 years.
The agency claimed in an online message that she had been overpaid by $48,609.60 — and she needed to pay it back.
Until she could prove otherwise, she was cut off.
Ms. Walker, who has complex heart abnormalities and one functioning lung, headed to her local Social Security office for answers, waiting about 30 minutes before they turned her away. The earliest appointment slot wasn’t for two weeks.
» Read more about: Staffing Cuts Lead to Extended Waiting Times for Social Security Recipients »
Since DOGE was launched in early February, the cost-cutting initiative has had a major impact on Idaho — from federal job and service cuts to nonprofit funding freezes.
The Idaho Statesman recently rounded up the stories that it’s published so far on the various impacts throughout the state:
Many curated articles explore the effects of federal job and service cuts in Idaho due to directives from the Trump administration. They consistently highlight issues of economic stress, reduced services, and uncertainty affecting various sectors. For example, the Bureau of Reclamation in Boise may lose its lease, impacting water and power management in the region.
Additionally, Idaho’s fair-housing nonprofit faces funding freezes, leading to layoffs and curtailed services. The Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center laid off employees, causing confusion and disruption. Meanwhile, the Forest Service in Idaho anticipates recreational maintenance challenges due to staffing cuts.
» Read more about: From Jobs to Services, DOGE Cuts Are Hurting Idaho »
Federal funding makes up close to 70% of the budget for New Leaf, an organization that runs an emergency shelter for homeless families in Mesa, Arizona. As those funds dry up, it was forced to close the shelter, even as homelessness is on the rise in the region, reports KJZZ:
The shelter, La Mesita, for decades had offered 16 units where homeless families could stay for up to 120 days. It was one of only a few apartment-style shelters in the [greater Phoenix] Valley where parents and children could stay together.
But the organization that ran the shelter, A New Leaf, was facing a budget shortfall of about $500,000, said spokesperson Tanner Swanson.
“We’re facing unprecedented crises around federal funding and so we’ve had to make some really tough decisions,” Swanson said.
» Read more about: In Face of Funding Shortfall, Arizona Homeless Shelter Closes Its Doors »
The EPA ended the Solar for All program in early August, about $150 million of which was intended for Arizona, including $25 million for the Hopi tribe, which intended to use the solar power for 1,000 homes that currently lack electricity, reports KJZZ in Phoenix:
Gov. Katie Hobbs and Democratic members of Arizona’s congressional delegation have sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, demanding he release money that’s part of the Solar for All program. The agency earlier this month announced it was ending the program, arguing President Donald Trump’s spending bill rolled back the funding.
The Solar for All program came out of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act and allocated more than $150 million to Arizona…
But Chairman Timothy Nuvangyaoma says they, too, got a termination notice from the EPA. He says there are nearly 1,000 homes in his community that don’t have access to electricity at all — and that solar is the best,
» Read more about: EPA Cuts $25M Solar Power Project for Hopi Tribe in Arizona »
Federal grants to state and local health programs have been delayed or blocked, in part due to external reviews by DOGE, reports The Hill. Among them is Alabama’s Department of Public Health, whose chief Scott Harris says that the uncertainty is causing “chaos” for health departments.
In addition, per The Hill:
Raynard Washington, director of the Mecklenburg County Public Health Department in North Carolina, said his agency laid off six workers — including half its disease investigators — after grants for HIV prevention and surveillance programs expired at the end of May with no information about future funding.
The grants were eventually restored about a month later, but to date the department has only been able to bring back half of the people it laid off.
“So now we’re behind, and cases are still being reported every day that have to be investigated,” Washington said.
» Read more about: Delays In CDC Grants to Health Departments Spark ‘Chaos’ »
Last January, residents of Green Bay, Wisconsin, were alarmed by an Office of Management and Budget memo that requested a review by federal agencies of thousands of federal programs that awarded grants. The small city was expecting tens of millions of dollars in grants that were in jeopardy. In addition, the DOGE website said it had terminated the leases of a Social Security Administration office in Green Bay, the city’s U.S. attorney’s office, reduced staff at the National Weather Service, laid off staffers at Veterans Affairs facilities across Wisconsin, and pulled money from the city’s Conservation Corps.
But per the Green Bay Press Gazette, most of those anticipated changes have not occurred since the “memo was quickly rescinded. Grant cuts have still come.”
The majority of traffic grants to the police department were cut in half, said Traffic Sgt. Sean Hamill at the Traffic,
» Read more about: How Green Bay Has Been Impacted by DOGE Cuts »
A neighborhood near the University of South Florida Tampa campus received a grant in March from the EPA to address longstanding stormwater and sewage issues. But that grant is now on hold, due to DOGE funding cuts, reports WUSF.
The University Area is one of the lowest-lying spots in the Tampa Bay region and frequently sees dangerous flooding, as it did during last year’s hurricanes.
Many residents aren’t connected to city water and sewage and are instead forced to use wells. They’ve reported brown, contaminated water coming up through their pipes.
[Resident Ross] Fabian has to use bottled water when he brushes his teeth at his dentist’s office because he doesn’t want to use what he described as smelly, brown water.
Erica Moody, the chief community development officer with the University Area CDC, said around 400 EPA grant recipients received notice their funding was suspended because their projects no longer aligned with the agency’s priorities.
» Read more about: Cuts Imperil Tampa Project to Address Sewage and Stormwater Issues »
Due to $1.3 million in cuts to programs long funded by federal grants, the city of Long Beach, California will no longer provide a mobile testing unit for free HIV and sexually transmitted infection testing, outreach services and education programs for high-risk individuals, reports the Long Beach Watchdog. In April, the city outlined several other programs at risk of termination or reduction including childhood and school vaccinations, bioterrorism preparedness and childhood lead poisoning and prevention initiatives.
Per the Watchdog:
“Long Beach is not alone in experiencing these impacts due to loss of federal funding,” city health officials said in a statement issued Wednesday. “Reductions to programs were also seen across the country and regionally in Los Angeles County, which provides health services to those outside Long Beach.”
As a result of the cuts, the city will no longer provide the following services:
Mobile Testing Unit,
» Read more about: DOGE Cuts Will Impact HIV Services in Long Beach »
U.S. Department of Education cuts are impacting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma-Marin in Northern California, organization COO Michelle Heery tells the Petaluma Argus-Courier. Funding for its arts programming will not be renewed due to cuts to a federal grant and other funding cuts will impact the organization’s ability to operate more than 40 club programs that serve over 11,000 children a year.
Those funds are specifically earmarked for before school, after school and summer programs. “They create opportunities for kids to have enriching, life-changing programs every single day,” Heery said. “Through those proposed cuts, we will lose after school and summer camp spaces for kids who might not have the ability to pay.”
Boys & Girls Clubs has around 385 staff members, and 65 of them are paid through the threatened “21st Century” funds. “We will do everything we can to keep our programs whole to make sure kids can come and that our folks can continue to come to work,” Heery said.
» Read more about: Boys & Girls Clubs Lose Funding for Afterschool Programs and Summer Camps »
President Trump cut funding for AmeriCorps in April — and though Congress approved money for the program, the administration has yet to release the money, reports Cal Matters. The loss of funding is having a deep impact on hundreds of California schools that serve low-income students, where AmeriCorps volunteers provide tutoring and after-school programs. Per Cal Matters:
Maria Lopez, a psychology student at Napa Valley College, spent last year as an AmeriCorps worker at the after-school program at Northwood Elementary in Napa. She choked up when she described her experiences in the program.
She developed close relationships with the children and felt she could help them through their social and emotional challenges. When students had tough days, she would encourage them to talk about it, “laugh, cry, be angry … basically, understand that it’s OK to show emotions,” she said.
“Some of these kids were special to me because I’d see them have a hard time,
In total, grants and leases in Indiana targeted by DOGE total more than $1 billion, according to the Center for American Progress. And those cuts includes the cancellation of a grant to replace lead pipes, hundreds of job cuts at AmeriCorps to support schools, and lost funding for fair housing organizations, reports The Indianapolis Star:
Amy Nelson, the executive director of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, has worked in housing organizations since 1997, but said the funding cuts threatening the civil rights-focused nonprofit are unlike anything Nelson has experienced in her career.
The FHCCI was among organizations that lost funding due to Trump’s establishment of DOGE, which unleashed a wave of funding cuts, layoffs and grant and lease terminations in order to reduce federal government spending. …
She said the funding gaps threaten FHCCI’s reports that study housing issues like homeowner insurance,
» Read more about: DOGE Cuts Impact Every Corner of Indiana, Including Housing Nonprofits »
Due to DOGE cuts, the Mezzacello Urban Farm’s two free summer camps in Columbus, Ohio, that teach kids about technology and animals lost more than $50,000 in funding and have been forced to charge families $250 a week to stay open, reports the Columbus Dispatch.
Mezzacello Urban Farm, facing significant funding losses, has transitioned from free to paid summer camps, resulting in a drastic decrease in attendees.
The farm’s founder, Jim Bruner, attributes the funding shortfall to the loss of two federal grants and a local grant.
Despite the financial challenges, Bruner continues to operate the camp with the help of “MenTerns,” former campers who serve as mentors and interns. …
“Let them dream it, and if they can’t dream it…let them fail, let them fix it, and then empower them,” Bruner said. “Empowering children to be heroes is how we change the future.”
Some hospitals in South Dakota stopped taking appointments for breast and cervical cancer screenings since a CDC program to assist low-income women with free mammograms and Pap smears was delayed, reports South Dakota News Watch. The state did eventually get the funds just before the start of the third quarter on July 1.
South Dakota’s program is called All Women Count! (AWC). The South Dakota Department of Health (DOH), distributes the funds to AWC partners throughout the state.
When no notice of award came through for the third quarter, which started July 1, officials within cancer prevention started to worry. …
From 2018 to 2023, 6,471 women in South Dakota received a screening or diagnostic procedure funded through the [National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program].
Each year in South Dakota, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths among women.
DOGE funding cuts to a nonprofit that offers learn-to-fish programs around the country has forced the organization to furlough half of its employees and cost millions in spending by anglers, reports Outdoor Life.
Due to the cuts, the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia, has paused programs like Take Me Fishing and other events.
Grant funding for many conservation-based organizations was frozen earlier this year, and sources say RBFF and other fishing industry stakeholders struggled to receive clarity on the funding. As a result, RBFF had to furlough eight of its 16 employees on June 6, just days before the Department of the Interior announced it was terminating the grant award, which the agency has been receiving and distributing since 1998. …
RBFF says its has helped increase fishing participation to record-high levels last year and contributed to the sportfishing and boating industries,
» Read more about: Cuts to Learn-to-Fish Nonprofit are Impacting Sportfishing Industry »
Due to DOGE, the Social Security Administration set up a new phone system on May 9 — and seniors in Philadelphia told The Philadelphia Inquirer that they’re having trouble reaching their local offices. One of them is Marcia Chestnut, a 62-year-old former housekeeper:
In February, Chestnut — who lives with various disabilities — received a notice from the SSA saying her benefits would be cut off by April.
To find out why, Chestnut phoned her local SSA office in Germantown every weekday for two months. She’d get put on hold for four hours or longer, then the calls would be disconnected.
“Live people don’t answer,” she said. “You’re not getting anybody who’ll talk to you.”
Chestnut, who ultimately lost her Social Security benefits and is fighting to reinstate them, said lots of her senior friends who are among Philadelphia’s approximately 400,000 recipients of Social Security benefits feel helpless dealing with the new SSA system phone,
Federal cuts to North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services terminated the agency’s tobacco prevention efforts, reports WBTV:
At a statewide level, many of the department’s tobacco prevention efforts have ended or been severely cut back – best practices developed out of decades of research for stopping youth from taking up smoking, protecting nonsmokers from smoking environments, and helping smokers get assistance to quit.
That includes efforts to curb youth vaping.
“It’s more than financial, it really is,” said acting public health director Dr. Kelly Kimple. “It directly affects the lives and health of the people that we serve.”
In Mecklenburg County, health director Dr. Raynard Washington said they ended tobacco awareness campaigns, stopped participation in the Youth Tobacco Survey, and lost data that helps the department identify emerging issues and target interventions.
» Read more about: DOGE Stubs Out Tobacco Prevention Programs in North Carolina »
Funding cuts at the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Job Corps program are having a real-world impact in Arizona, resulting in the closure of programs to help small businesses and provide vocational training to low-income youth, reports the Phoenix Business Journal.
The state’s attorney general Kris Mayes said in a statement: “The Trump Administration’s slash-and-burn approach to federal grant funding has left Arizona communities scrambling to pick up the pieces. From infrastructure projects to job training programs to research at our universities, these cuts are devastating and unlawful.”
Among the impacts:
The Arizona MBDA Business Center, which strives to accelerate the growth and competitiveness of small businesses, is set to cease operations on June 30 “following the termination of our federal funding,” according to a message on the center’s website. The future of the program remains uncertain, pending separate litigation.
» Read more about: DOGE Cuts Impact Job Training, Small Biz Programs in Arizona »
Cuts to the Department of Education are impacting adult education in Texas, reports Texas Standard, noting that the federal money pays for about 80% of those services:
The money is usually allocated in the spring. But Sharon Bonney — the CEO of a national advocacy organization called the Coalition on Adult Basic Education — said this year, spring came and went with no announcement about incoming money…
The Texas Workforce Commission was also waiting. In the midst of the uncertainty, TWC staff proposed at least allocating a smaller budget so providers of adult education in Texas had some ability to plan for the months ahead.
For Waco and the surrounding counties, that provider is McLennan Community College. This summer, a small group of GED students at McLennan are preparing to take their math exams — among them is Brittnay Camp, who started taking GED courses last August.
» Read more about: Federal Funding Uncertain for Adult Education Programs in Texas »
Over the last five decades, more than 75,000 miners have died of black lung disease. To catch that disease and other health problems early, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has screened miners at their mines, conducted research to track the diseases, and developed new tools to prevent diseases in the first place.
That didn’t stop DOGE from laying off about 90% of NIOSH’s staff, placing many of them on administrative leave.
Due to a lawsuit brought by a coal miner against the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees NIOSH, the mobile clinic workers and other staffers are back at work. Yet other institute researchers working to prevent mining-related lung diseases heard nothing.
Now, Anita Wolfe, who once ran a mobile clinic for NIOSH and whose father started worked as a coal miner when he was around 12 and died of causes related to black lung and silicosis,
» Read more about: Coal Miner’s Daughter Fights Back After DOGE Cuts Jobs of Health Researchers »
Last month, DOGE cancelled an $8.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce that Kansas intended to use for rural broadband, among other efforts. Similar federal grants to other states were also cancelled, reports the Topeka Capital-Journal:
Pat Lowry, a spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Commerce, confirmed the grant cancellation.
“On May 9, 2025, the Kansas Office of Broadband Development received a termination notice from the Trump administration for the Digital Equity Capacity grant program, representing a total loss of $8.1 million,” Lowry said in a statement to The Capital-Journal. “The Digital Equity Capacity program was originally designed to support efforts that improve digital skills, expand access to devices and affordable broadband, enhance civic engagement, promote economic growth.
The Digital Equity Act itself defines covered populations as: rural, disabled, aging, veterans, incarcerated, those with a language barrier/low level of literacy,
» Read more about: DOGE Cuts Grant To Kansas For Rural Broadband »