welcome
Christian Science Monitor

Christian Science Monitor

US Politics

US Politics

Could DOGE backfire on Republicans? Virginia election is a test case.

Christian Science Monitor
Summary
Nutrition label

79% Informative

Thousands of federal employees have already been fired, and more cuts are coming.

Virginia is home to one of the country’s largest federal workforces, behind only Washington , D.C. , and California .

Democratic leaders say the layoffs will be felt throughout the state, as friends and family members lose their jobs and trigger a domino effect.

Republicans are offering nothing more than a “thoughts and prayers’ approach, says Susan Swecker , chairwoman of the Virginia Democratic Party .

Democrats hope to hold onto, or even build on, the narrow majorities they won in both houses of the General Assembly in 2021 , despite losing the governorship.

Democrats have painted Republicans ’ response as coldly pragmatic, blindly following the will of the president.

Republican Delegate Rob Bloxom says the current number of federal employees who have applied for unemployment in the state is somewhere between 70 and 300 .

“Everybody is just guessing” the true percentage of Virginia workers who will be affected, he says.

Virginia , which relies heavily on income taxes for its budget, is constitutionally required to have a balanced budget.

VR Score

81

Informative language

78

Neutral language

61

Article tone

formal

Language

English

Language complexity

52

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

Affiliate links

no affiliate links