‘They are harming ordinary people’: Trump’s funding cuts are taking a toll in North Carolina

President Donald Trump’s efforts to drastically cut federal spending and slash the federal workforce are already having an impact in North Carolina.

An out-of-work federal contractor with two master’s degrees is applying for food stamps for the first time in her life. Others are considering selling their homes, or taking out loans and sinking deeper in debt. A furloughed single mother said that now that she has no income, she’s gathering jewelry to sell at a pawnshop. President Donald Trump’s efforts to drastically cut federal spending and slash the federal workforce are already having an impact in North Carolina – a key swing state that voted for Trump in November but is also among the top recipients of funding from some of the agencies his administration has targeted. It’s too early to evaluate the full extent of Trump’s push to reduce the federal government. But in interviews with CNN, more than a dozen federal workers and contractors in North Carolina who have been furloughed or terminated described having to adjust their personal budgets in ways that will have ripple effects in their communities, such as filing for unemployment benefits, cutting personal spending and reducing childcare payments. “The only costs we’re paying for right now are food and mortgage. Every other cost is heavily scrutinized,” said Wayan Vota, an aid worker in Chapel Hill who was laid off at the end of January from a group that received funding from the US Agency for International Development. “We are actively not supporting the businesses in our community because we are hurting.” Beyond the personal upheaval, the funding cuts could threaten North Carolina’s economy, according to interviews with business leaders, economic experts and government officials. Universities and other organizations in the state, which is a center for biomedical research, were awarded about $2 billion last fiscal year from the National Institutes of Health, more than all but five other states. University officials say the administration’s plans to cap some funding from NIH grants would likely lead to significant layoffs. Some of the top contractors for USAID, which has been subject to severe cuts in the Trump administration’s first weeks, are also based in North Carolina. USAID agreed to pay more than $1 billion last year to organizations based in the state, more than to all but three other states and Washington, DC.