After the departure of thousands of federal workers, rural communities report problems obtaining loans, grants, technical assistance and support for infrastructure and other services.
A union that represents Treasury Department and IRS employees has joined in a lawsuit previously brought to block the Trump administration's "Anti-Weaponization Fund."
Federal agencies are rushing to move hundreds of workers into new buildings. Employees say the moves are significantly disrupting their work.
The new version was created after Congress passed a law in 2022 that banned TikTok from federal devices over national security concerns.
'I love communism'
Behind the scenes, the Trump White House went to extensive lengths to advance its theory of executive power, potentially giving the president remarkable leeway to install loyalists at nearly every echelon of government.
The order moves the employees from a protected status into an at-will position, including high-ranking officials at the top of the government's civil service, known as GS-15 employees.
President Trump signed an executive order that puts some 8,000 high-ranking civil servants into a new category of employees who can be fired for any reason.
Lawyers representing federal workers said the move is intended to chill speech and could be challenged on First Amendment grounds.
The Supreme Court is siding with President Donald Trump's administration in a lawsuit over speech restrictions on immigration judges that raised questions about the rights of federal workers