Nearly two weeks into the US government shutdown, a city in West Virginia is now in deep financial trouble after nearly 25 percent of its population is poised to lose income overnight. Much of the city’s current struggles are the direct result of the Trump administration laying off thousands of federal workers in light of the government shutdown.
Martinsburg in West Virginia is the city in question; the city of 19,000 notably voted for Trump in 2024, with more than 67 percent of them helping put the current US President in office. Now, however, over 4,300 employees are directly and badly affected since they are facing the federal worker layoffs with the Trump administration blaming the government shutdown (a result of the Democrat and Republican parties’ failure to agree on the 2026 funding).
As it is, Martinsburg in West Virginia was heavily reliant on federal agencies for its income, hence why the effects of the federal layoffs are more magnified in their city. “We have more federal government employees than coal miners in West Virginia. Of course those jobs are well paying, come with good benefits and in a state with not a whole lot of good paying jobs those are really important,” according to Kelly Allen of the West Virginia Center, transcript courtesy of BBC.
The loss of employment (both current and impending) from localized federal agencies has led to a domino effect, with small businesses also experiencing a decline in income as a significant portion of the spending population has lost their spending power. Meanwhile, federal agencies that provide services and assistance for veterans also had to minimize their operations to save money.
People online are less sympathetic
US Veterans Affairs hospital has notably slashed programs that help veterans find jobs and transition to civilian life. This has made many army veterans in the city homeless. “The shutdown is a waste of time, and it hurts everyone in the meantime,” according to one disabled Army veteran who was forced to move into temporary housing.
While the situation is troubling for Martinsburg’s affected federal workers and people who rely on federal agencies, some people online are implying that they created the situation they’re in. “So sad – that they voted for this,” says one Reddit user after hearing of Martinsburg’s struggle. The layoffs were the Trump administration’s response to the government shutdown, after all.
Others pointed out that the majority of them did vote for Trump anyway, though they likely didn’t expect that the Trump administration would remove their jobs. In the same Reddit thread where the BBC interview was shared, commenters are also puzzled as to why both sides of the party are being blamed: “When they say, ‘This isn’t a Republican or Democrat issue’ – it’s totally a Republican issue.”
