HAMILTON — Some say it's cutting government spending and saving taxpayer money, while others say it's cutting crucial programs and jeopardizing livelihoods.
But President Donald Trump is doubling down on his support for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). During his first Cabinet meeting of his second term, President Trump defended the efforts to slash federal spending and chop the workforce.
But there are some roadblocks. A judge ruled Thursday night that the government's mass firing was likely illegal and told the government's Human Resources arm to rescind their previous orders.
Those orders included cuts at more than two dozen agencies, including the U.S. Parks Service and the National Institutes of Health.
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While the cuts are happening at the federal level, they're having local impacts. The Bitterroot Valley is home not only to one of the most acclaimed science labs in the world but is also a gateway to the great outdoors.
Currently, both the science and tourism industries in Ravalli County could be heavily impacted by the federal cuts. Bitterroot officials say they are working to prepare for what may happen.
“With the job insecurity that some are feeling, we are already seeing a slowing economy, Hamilton City Council President Robin Pruitt told MTN.
For Hamilton, a community that relies heavily on a federal workforce, the job losses at both the U.S. Forest Service and Rocky Mountain Laboratories are making some community members nervous.
City council members feel they have to respond and prepare.
"As a council, we don’t see this as a partisan issue or about who you voted for. We’re trying to do what’s best for our community, what’s best for Hamilton and what’s best for Montana," Pruitt noted.
“The morale at the lab is as bad as I’ve ever seen," said Kim Hasenkrug is a retired National Institute of Health scientist Emeritus who worked at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton for 31 years.
He’s direct about his frustration over these federal cuts, calling them careless.
"If they want to make the NIH more efficient, then don’t take a chainsaw after it. Use a scalpel. Let the directors and the directors who know the programs make the cuts," Hasenkrug told MTN.”
Scientists at Rocky Mountain Laboratories work to unlock the biology of some of the world’s most deadly diseases, including Ebola, Zika bacteria, and tick-borne illnesses.
They develop diagnostic tools and create effective treatments and vaccines to combat them. But at least a dozen scientists at Rocky Mountain Laboratories received that termination memo, and the fear is that there is more to come.
“Everybody is extremely confused about why this is being done; it doesn’t make sense to anybody. Even the supervisors of the people being let go didn’t even know they were being let go. It’s arbitrary. It's feared the next chopping block will include staff scientists," Hasenkrug said. ”These are the top people in the world and should be treated with some respect.”
Cuts at the U.S. Forest Service in the Bitterroot will impact the valley’s robust tourism economy.
Watch related coverage: Cuts at the U.S. Forest Service could lead to unintended consequences
“Lake Como brings over 200,000 visitors annually. And we’ve heard that we’ve lost permanent employees that service Lake Como and over 1,800 miles of trail. Those employees have been let go as well in the Bitterroot National Forest," Pruitt said.
"So the impact to our local city economy for tourism and for these people who participate in the local economy — it's really going to be detrimental and devastating if we lost more of these individuals," Pruitt continued.
Cities such as Hamilton — which could be facing a smaller workforce — continue to look for answers and prepare to protect their economies. At this point, they’d like some clarity.
"There's not a lot of information about what’s going to happen next, but we want to be ready for what will happen next and understand the economic impact on our community should there be more cuts," Pruitt told MTN.
The loss of jobs at Rocky Mountain Laboratories could also impede critical science research.
"It's critical that we maintain the cutting edge because if we’re not on the cutting edge and we drop back, we’ll never catch back up," Hasenkrug said. "It's not something you can just drop for a while and pick back up."
Rocky Mountain Laboratories is not only a state-of-the-art biomedical research facility in Hamilton, but it's also one of the largest employers in the Bitterroot Valley.
The Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana shows in its 2023 report that the lab provides almost 1,500 permanent, year-round jobs in Montana. Hundreds of them are in Hamilton alone. Additionally, personal income from those employees tops $105 million a year.
Some people agree with the cuts and some don't. But one thing everyone agrees on is that the cuts will impact Hamilton, and officials are they're trying to prepare for the impact.
