These Things In Amarillo Have Been Impacted By Federal Spending Freeze

One of the biggest topics in the news lately has been the freeze on federally funded programs and how it's impacting these programs across the country. Amarillo isn't immune to this as they've had several things impacted by it.

There hasn't been much else said about why the freeze has been happening aside from the new administration is re-evaluating the use of the funds.

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Because of the fund freeze, many people have lost their jobs as they can't afford the number of employees they have and aren't sure what else is going to happen. That's the concerning part, most of these programs affected have no idea what's even happening.

How does all of this affect Amarillo?

PANTEX

We've heard all sorts of different things that have happened at Pantex because of this freeze. There were 100+ employees who lost their jobs in the immediate aftermath, however they had those releases rescinded and were allowed to return to work.

However, it doesn't mean they aren't immune to future layoffs. They are part of the National Nuclear Security Administration and word is up to 350 employees in that administration could ultimately be let go.

AMARILLO VA HOSPITAL

When the funding froze, one of the directives inside it was that 1,000 VA hospital employees immediately be let go from their positions. This wasn't all Amarillo of course, but across the country. When you do the math, that's 20 people per state.

The VA hospital here in Amarillo is unsure of how it's going to impact them with employees and overall operations.

AMARILLO FAA

Because we have an international airport here, we obviously have FAA employees, and they were impacted in this as well. Several hundred FAA employees across the United States were impacted in the freeze.

No word on how the Amarillo FAA has been, or will be, impacted.

LAKE MEREDITH PARK

National parks seemed to be one of the big ones the government went after as that division will lose a staggering 3,400 employees across the country. What makes this even more alarming is there are only 433 national parks across the country.

That means nearly 8 people at each park could lose their job as a result of this. Lake Meredith Park is a National Park Service site, but they aren't allowed to speak on the impact unless they have approval from Washington D.C.