Small businesses across America are feeling the impact of Trump's decisions
Donald Trump was elected to power for a second time on the premise of affordability and employment promises. However, so far this term, he has yet to deliver on both. In fact, on the employment front, he seems to be deliberately going back on his word, costing several people their jobs. In recent news, the administration made cuts to federal science programs, which have left several small businesses in that field scrambling and forced to lay off employees due to financial concerns.
As per a report in Politico, one such company is Wildlife Computers. It is a small technology company that makes the data-collecting tags that scientists use to track animals in the field. The business is owned by Melinda Holland, who has been under duress. The cuts forced Holland to cut 15% of her 70-strong workforce, and now she’s looking for nonfederal partners to help the business.
“The EU is still very interested in mitigation and climate and conservation,” she said. “So we are hoping to see at least continued funding from those sources.” Holland’s business is not the only one that has been affected by these cuts. Some industry experts believe that such federal policies would stunt the US’s ability to research landscapes and place scientific advancement in peril.
“We invent research and instruments,” said the atmospheric technology company president, who asked to remain anonymous. “If you go to any atmospheric chemistry group in the world — if they’re a high-flying successful group — you’ll find [our] instruments in their laboratory, because they’re almost essential for doing world-class atmospheric research.” What’s more is that apart from making these cuts, some believe that doing business with the government these days has gotten increasingly difficult.
Tonya Saunders, co-founder of the nonprofit Mid-Tier Advocacy, which champions the interests of small and midsize federal contractors, said that small businesses were missing support systems that used to exist prior to Trump’s second term. “Some of the companies are finding that they’re missing the internal small business support system that used to exist, such as the advocates within the agencies. Something is not matching up with how small business was accustomed to doing business,” she explained.
The President, however, believes that making these cuts would benefit the government as, in his eyes, he was removing everyone who was not necessary to be on federal funding. “I say, get rid of everybody that’s unnecessary, because that’s the way you make America great again,” he said on January 20. “When you have all these jobs where people are sitting around doing nothing, and they get a lot of money from the government, it’s no good.”
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