Ferrets, water testing and future scientists at risk due to DOGE spending cuts
Source: NPR
March 20, 2025 5:00 AM ET
The National Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center in Carr, Colo., is at risk of losing heat and power as its remaining employees rush to prepare for the animal's breeding season. A federal maintenance worker in the southern United States can't make payments to do routine water testing for dangerous contaminants. And rangers at one national park are funding meals for search-and-rescue volunteers out of their own pockets.
These are just a few examples of the immediate impacts of federal spending cuts on the U.S. Department of the Interior, which encompasses 433 national park sites, around 70,000 employees and 11 bureaus, from the U.S. Geological Survey to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Interior Department is reeling from the firings of probationary employees and President Trump's Feb. 26 order issuing a 30-day freeze on government payment cards. Now, the threat of deeper job cuts looms, as the Trump administration has ordered federal agencies to submit plans for wide-scale reductions in force — even as many agencies move to reinstate fired probationary employees in response to court orders.
Employees working for different parts of the Interior Department say they have been scrambling to keep the lights on, complete functions like environmental impact assessments that are required by Congress and keep Americans safe. "There's no thought of 'How do I reduce cost and increase efficiency while ensuring that congressionally mandated things are being done,'" a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee said. "They don't care. There's no thought that the laws that were passed have any bearing on the current administration."
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/20/nx-s1-5333655/interior-department-budget-cuts-doge
Congress has been neutralized.
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