Personnel chiefs for each military branch told a House Armed Services Committee subpanel that they will feel an impact from the Pentagon’s deferred resignation program and early retirement initiative.
Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the offers of voluntary separations and said these reductions were needed to funnel resources to high-priority areas, according to Stars and Stripes.
The plan is to cut the Pentagon’s nearly 900,000 civilians by about 60,000 people.
About 16,000 civilians who work for the Army have signed up for deferred resignations. the Air Force will be losing about 12,000 civilians, and the Navy and the Space Force are expecting to shed about 10% of their civilian personnel, Stars and Stripes reported.
What’s happening in Ohio?
• Springfield: The federal government abruptly canceled a community violence prevention grant soon after approving budget revisions, freezing $1.24 million for Springfield’s local efforts to curb gun violence. The grant, originally for about $1.6 million, funded an effort in Springfield to address gun violence, particularly among young people. Almost $400,000 has been invested in planning and efforts to launch street outreach since it was awarded in 2023. All of these efforts are now on pause. This week, Springfield leadership also told residents that they’re seeking public feedback for a new five-year plan that will guide how it spends federal dollars on issues like affordable housing, public infrastructure and neighborhood needs.
• Ohio federal workers: Searching for savings to partially offset trillions of dollars in tax cuts, Republicans on a U.S. House panel voted to cut pensions and retirement benefits for federal employees. The bill would raise FERS (Federal Employees Retirement System) employee contribution requirements up to 4.4% of an employee’s salary, for all employees. The impact this could have in the Buckeye State is profound. Roughly 83,500 workers in Ohio were employed by the federal government at the end of 2024, or about 1.5% of the state’s nonfarm payroll. About one in 20 workers in the Dayton region were employed by the federal government at the end of 2024 (5% of the total workforce).
• Dayton Peace Accords: As area agencies continue to prepare for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s spring session in downtown Dayton from May 23 to 26, several people recalled what they heard and saw during the development of the Dayton Peace Accords. Dayton’s ties to conversations that marked an end to the Bosnian War, as well as the agreement’s approaching 30-year anniversary, are among the reasons NATO is coming to Dayton. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base served as the negotiation grounds for the historic accords.
Other federal updates:
• Tariffs: President Donald Trump on Friday pondered the idea of cutting tariffs on China to 80% as he looks to de-escalate the trade war. Trump agreed Thursday, too, to cut tariffs on U.K. autos, steel and aluminum in a planned trade deal. Under this agreement, the United Kingdom is to buy more American beef and ethanol and streamline its customs process for goods from the United States. But Trump’s 10% tariffs against British goods are to stay in place. Even higher import taxes would be charged on other countries trying to reach deals with the U.S., Trump suggested this week.
• Taxing the wealthy: Trump says he would be OK with raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans to help pay for his domestic agenda. National news outlets this week reported that Trump called House Speaker Mike Johnson about a tax hike and proposed a cut for small business owners. But in a Truth Social post, Trump said “Republicans should probably not do it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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