Durham, North Carolina
CNN
—
An out-of-work federal contractor with two master’s degrees is applying for food stamps for the first time in her life. Others are considering selling their homes, or taking out loans and sinking deeper in debt. A furloughed single mother said that now that she has no income, she’s gathering jewelry to sell at a pawnshop.
President Donald Trump’s efforts to drastically cut federal spending and slash the federal workforce are already having an impact in North Carolina – a key swing state that voted for Trump in November but is also among the top recipients of funding from some of the agencies his administration has targeted.
It’s too early to evaluate the full extent of Trump’s push to reduce the federal government. But in interviews with CNN, more than a dozen federal workers and contractors in North Carolina who have been furloughed or terminated described having to adjust their personal budgets in ways that will have ripple effects in their communities, such as filing for unemployment benefits, cutting personal spending and reducing childcare payments.
“The only costs we’re paying for right now are food and mortgage. Every other cost is heavily scrutinized,” said Wayan Vota, an aid worker in Chapel Hill who was laid off at the end of January from a group that received funding from the US Agency for International Development. “We are actively not supporting the businesses in our community because we are hurting.”
Beyond the personal upheaval, the funding cuts could threaten North Carolina’s economy, according to interviews with business leaders, economic experts and government officials. Universities and other organizations in the state, which is a center for biomedical research, were awarded about $2 billion last fiscal year from the National Institutes of Health, more than all but five other states. University officials say the administration’s plans to cap some funding from NIH grants would likely lead to significant layoffs.
Some of the top contractors for USAID, which has been subject to severe cuts in the Trump administration’s first weeks, are also based in North Carolina. USAID agreed to pay more than $1 billion last year to organizations based in the state, more than to all but three other states and Washington, DC.
While much of that money is spent on work abroad, it also supports jobs in the US. More than 300 staffers for groups that receive USAID funds have already been fired or furloughed in North Carolina alone, a CNN review found – likely just a fraction of the total impact in the state.
“A lot of people are applying for unemployment right now,” said Brianna Clarke-Schwelm, who leads a North Carolina public health alliance. “A lot of people are also pulling their kids out of child care. They’re also thinking about their mortgages. They’re thinking about if they’re going to stay in North Carolina – if they can afford to stay living here.”
The impact is concentrated in the Research Triangle region of the state, which spans Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill and is home to several major universities doing research funded by NIH grants, two of the top USAID contractors in the country, and other businesses that have received federal contracts and funds.
Leonardo Williams, the mayor of Durham, said the Trump administration’s cuts are taking a toll at home.
While Trump allies have suggested that cuts are primarily aimed at waste and unnecessary spending abroad, the damage is actually “happening right here in my city,” Williams said. “Those jobs are gone. That means I have one less resident that can’t contribute to our economic vitality here. That means I have one less resident that could support the small businesses here locally. That’s one less resident that can contribute to the tax base.”
The Trump administration’s proposed cuts to NIH funding, which are currently blocked by a court, would cap the funding from research grants that can go to “indirect costs” at 15% –about half of what such grants typically fund. Those costs include staff salaries, equipment and building upkeep, and other overhead that universities need to keep the lights on.
The change sounds technical, but it would actually be “devastating” for research universities in North Carolina and around the country, said Colin Duckett, an executive vice dean at Duke University School of Medicine. Duke was awarded about $580 million in NIH grants last year.
Thinking about the thousands of people who could lose their jobs in North Carolina alone if the administration’s proposal goes through “keeps me up at night,” Duckett said. “The amount of downsizing we would have to do would really devastate the institution, but also the economy for the state.”
More broadly, he argued, the change would lead to the US “ceding its position as the best place in the world to do scientific research.”
Some local communities are fighting back against the proposed cuts. The town of Chapel Hill joined more than 40 other cities, counties and mayors across the country in filing an amicus brief in February to support a lawsuit challenging NIH funding changes.
The filing states some of those jurisdictions will lose income taxes and be forced to support people who have lost jobs, and that NIH grant recipients “act as income and employment multipliers” that subcontract with other businesses. The brief also referenced a report from the group United for Medical Research that found each dollar of NIH research funding in 2023 equated to $2.46 in new economic activity.
North Carolina could be affected beyond the blue-leaning Research Triangle, too, because reduced federal funding could force state legislators to consider “cuts to programs and services statewide,” said Alexandra Sirota, the executive director of the NC Budget & Tax Center, a nonprofit group that analyzes economic conditions in the state.
Laid off and harrassed
Some USAID contractors in North Carolina have found themselves facing not just the devastation of losing their jobs, but also growing hostility and insults – both from strangers online and from political leaders who have pushed extreme views about the agency.
The research institute RTI International, a major USAID contractor, has been listed among the top corporate philanthropists in the Raleigh-Durham region and, in addition to its global initiatives, has worked on projects to improve health outcomes in the state. But when the nonprofit organization announced last month that it was temporarily laying off dozens of staffers in North Carolina due to the Trump administration’s pause on foreign assistance, the news was met with glee from MAGA supporters online.
“They have been stealing from the taxpayers for a very long time,” one user wrote on X. Another declared that the “grift for NC is over. The majority of us are so here for it.”
Some zealous USAID critics have taken it upon themselves to snail mail their disdain. “I hope [your company] goes bankrupt and you and everyone else get laid off and stay unemployed forever,” stated a letter, a copy of which was obtained by CNN, that was sent to a foreign aid group that has also furloughed some workers in North Carolina. A staffer for another USAID contractor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of concerns about backlash, said her firm has received “threat letters mailed to our office,” and that some employees had been directly targeted with harassment.
The anger at USAID, where most staff have been fired or placed on leave, has echoed vitriol expressed from the top of the Trump administration. Trump adviser Elon Musk, who has led efforts to slash USAID’s budget in his role with the Department of Government Efficiency, declared the agency a “criminal organization,” calling it “a viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America.” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said USAID was “a sinister propagator of totalitarianism and war across the globe.” Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson accused the agency of “sowing bizarro destabilizing sexual politics into other people’s cultures” and “paying to wreck a lot of other places.”
But staffers who have been laid off say that criticism radically distorted the work they were doing to try to save lives, promote the rule of law and boost America’s image abroad.
“The rhetoric has felt like we are expendable, that foreign aid is not important, that, in fact, we’re wasteful,” said Ruth Garfinkel, a Durham mother of two who lost her job with a USAID contractor. “That’s very hurtful when you’ve spent 20 years doing this work and attempting to help people.”
At least some North Carolina-based organizations that have received USAID funds have seemingly welcomed the gutting of the agency. Franklin Graham, a Trump ally and the president of Boone-headquartered relief group Samaritan’s Purse, which has received millions from USAID, said in a statement, “I think it’s a good thing for the government to assess and reexamine the various programs that the U.S. is funding around the world. I encourage the State Department to continue providing life-saving aid such as food and medicine. We have a limited amount of money to spend, and I believe it should be spent wisely.” Graham said less than 5% of his group’s funding last year came from government grants.
The Trump administration has portrayed various USAID projects as examples of “waste” and “abuse.” A White House webpage criticized specific initiatives, such as $1.5 million given to support opportunities for LGBTQ people in Serbia that according to contract data would increase employment potential and reduce workplace discrimination. Another project referenced is $6 million for development in Egypt that according to a linked USAID press release involved transportation access for rural communities and economic programs for families.
Former USAID staffers argue that in addition to causing job losses, the agency’s undoing could more broadly undermine US security.
Foreign assistance “prevents pandemics back home. … it prevents violent extremism from coming to our shores. It stems the tide of migration,” retired USAID counselor Chris Milligan told CNN. “When you turn that off and you fire the experts that are doing that, what’s the plan for keeping America safe?”
Garfinkel, the laid-off development worker in Durham, said her job made up about three-quarters of her household’s income, so now her family has had to find new ways to make ends meet. The day after she learned of her termination, she went to the bank to get a home equity line of credit. Her family had hoped to save money and invest in home renovations this year – but now they’re going into debt, she said.
“I’d like them to know that they are harming ordinary people, who are just trying to get by,” Garfinkel said of those responsible for the funding cuts. “It’s really shortsighted and, frankly, cruel.”
