Members of the House of Delegates’ Emergency Committee on the Impacts of Federal Workforce and Funding Reductions are on the road, and they’re hearing from people in Northern Virginia.
Northern Virginia will need help with child care subsidies and housing assistance and even utility assistance – that’s what members of the emergency committee are hearing because of the dramatic reductions to the federal workforce and federal contracting. Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay says this is a bigger emergency than COVID, and that the General Assembly needs to help.
"Northern Virginia doesn't ask the state for help very often. Usually, we’re the ones helping. And in this case, we need help. And we need help with child care subsidies," McKay says. "We're concerned that as children get pulled from day care because their parents no longer have jobs that those day cares could lose their accreditation and close."
Alexandria Councilman John Chapman says tourism is also a big revenue generator in NOVA, and that city officials are hearing from Canadians who say they no longer want to spend tourism dollars in the United States.
"No traveler wants to go to somewhere where they’re not welcome; that's a very basic point," Chapman says. "The Trump administration has gotten to a place where they’re not welcoming people, and that's such a basic need for any traveler, anybody that wants to be in partnership with you, anybody that wants to, frankly, spend dollars with you."
The House emergency committee is also planning stops in Hampton Roads and Southwest Virginia.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
