Trump pushing this crucial federal agency to the 'breaking point': analysis

With the help of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Trump Administration is targeting a wide range of federal agencies for mass layoffs — from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to the National Weather Service (NWS). And according to the New York Times, as many as 300,000 federal workers will have been laid off by the end of 2025.

President Donald Trump is claiming that the layoffs are targeting "waste, fraud and abuse," but critics warn that he is cutting these agencies so severely that everything from Social Security payments to tax refunds to programs for military veterans is in danger. And according to environmentalists, cuts to the NWS are coming at a time when — thanks to severe weather events caused by climate change — the agency is needed more than ever.

According to Washington Post reporters Hannah Natanson and Brady Dennis, the threat of severe weather events is making NWS cuts all the more problematic.

"Some National Weather Service staffers are working double shifts to keep forecasting offices open," Natanson and Dennis report in an article published on September 27. "Others are operating under a 'buddy system,' in which adjacent offices help monitor severe weather in understaffed regions. Still others are jettisoning services deemed not absolutely necessary, such as making presentations to schoolchildren. The Trump Administration's cuts to the Weather Service — where nearly 600 workers, or about 1 in every 7, have left through firings, resignations or retirements — are pushing the agency to its limits, according to interviews with current and former staffers."

The reporters note that "hundreds of positions" at the NWS "remain vacant" as "the Atlantic hurricane season peaks" and "wildfires ramp up in the West."

"Forecasters are currently watching two storms, including one that could pose a threat for the eastern United States by early next week," according to Natanson and Dennis. "So far, exhausted employees have maintained weather monitoring and forecasting almost without interruption, staff said. But many are wondering how much longer they can keep it up."

Tom Fahy, legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization — the union for NWS workers — told the Post, "We have a strained and severely stretched situation…. There's a breaking point."

Former NWS employee John Sokich, who retired in January after 45 years with the agency, told the Post, "They're going to run out of gas. They're going to start missing things. They can't sustain that level of effort for much longer. You just can't sprint a mile."

Read the full Washington Post article at this link (subscription required).