A Maryland -based technology consulting firm said it reduced 20% of its staff when a freezing federal funds left the business unable to pay their bills.
A professional development company in Colorado said it lost four out of five dollars in income when the federal government canceled all its contracts.
A Logistics company based in Alaska fought mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, of hundreds of federal documents within 36 hours to save millions in government funds, said the company.
A cost of cost reduction carried out by the administration of President Donald Trump has put thousands of public employees without work, but the cutting and burning approach has also extended to the private sector, paralyzing some small companies with ties with the Federal Government and weakening a federal agency responsible for supporting small businesses, according to interviews with seven small companies, as well as the defenders of small businesses.
Companies connected to the United States government represent around 7.5 million jobs, the Brookings institution found. That figure amounts to approximately 4.5% of the nation’s workforce.
Many of these companies are small businesses, which received a total of approximately $ 180 billion in federal contracts during the year ending in September, or almost $ 3 out of $ 10 in contracts during that period, according to the Administration of small US companies.A government agency.
John Arensmeyer, founder and CEO of the defense group of most small businesses, warned earlier this month that the Trump administration actions had left the organization “deeply worried.”
“The directives to stop all federal funds will make small businesses access to critical loans and subsidies,” Arensmeyer added.
In response to the request for comments from ABC News, the White House promoted Trump’s approach to support small businesses.
“After the optimism of small businesses reached record minimal under the Biden administration, President Trump’s economic policies are building the true companies of ‘Mom and Pop’ throughout the country, not to government contractors that generate tens of millions of dollars in taxpayers, “said White House spokesman Taylor Rogers ABC News. “It will continue to reduce the wasteful expense, delivering transparency and mark the beginning of a new golden age for taxpayers, families and owners of small businesses equally.”
Trump’s impulse to stop the federal funds included an executive order last month stopping funds for USAID, a federal foreign aid agency.
Occams Group, a technology consulting firm based in Columbia, Maryland, saw its income almost reduced by half this month after the Trump administration stopped the funds for a USAID contractor that constitutes one of the clients, founders and CEO Greater of Occams Group. .
Some invoices since December remain unpaid, Sinan added, saying that businesses with the contractor represented $ 200,000 per month in income. The annual income in Occams Group is more than $ 5 million, Sinan said.
“They let me fight,” Sinan said. “We couldn’t make payroll.”
The firm reduced ties with approximately 10 of its 50 personnel members, while the remaining employees worked longer hours of the standards while the company was looking for new businesses, he added.
“It is assumed that small business is the engine of the economy,” Sinan said. “My company has been left behind.”
On February 13, a federal judge issued a temporary restriction order that raised the break on foreign aid. Until Friday, Sinan said that Occams Group had not received the payment of the client he hires with USAID.
On Monday, a federal judge discovered that the Trump administration had violated the restriction order, asking the White House to meet millions in foreign aid payments.
The seal if the administration of small businesses is shown outside the headquarters building in Washington, DC
Google Maps Street View
The layoffs of private sector contractors can affect the economy faster than some federal job cuts, he told ABC News, chief economist of Ziprecruiter.
Federal employees who accept a purchase offered by the Trump administration are scheduled to receive full salary until September. On the contrary, private sector employees who lose their jobs could lose salary and benefits almost immediately, delivering a faster blow to the economy, Pollak said.
“There is a certain degree of concern, concern and uncertainty that extends much more than the federal workforce,” added Pollak, pointing out the setback of federal financing as a factor in a recent decrease in consumers’ attitudes about the economy.
“There are many, many non -profit companies and organizations that obtain a substantial part of their federal government budgets, and are now worried that they can be affected by these cuts,” said Pollak.
In addition to a broad scope impulse for government expenses, Trump issued an executive order last month that canceled federal contracts and subsidies for the dei initiatives. The movement had as “all” contracts and subsidies related to equity “, the order Said, cutting funds for companies that helped provide programs.
Hanaa Jimínez, who directs Gold Cardinal Consulting, a management advisory firm in Aurora, Colorado, said the federal government in recent weeks canceled all its contracts, which represented $ 14.5 million or around 80% of the annual income of the company.
“The first contracts from the DEI were the DEI, but then the leadership and training we were providing were also canceled,” Jimínez said. “It was very sad to learn.”
It is possible that the company needs to fire some of its five employees, Jimínez said, but first he will explore ways to reduce his salary to take home.
“It really is to make sure we can avoid layoffs as much as possible,” Jimínez added.
A federal judge in Maryland blocked on Friday the order of the White House that cut the subsidies and contracts of Dei. Until Tuesday, however, the company’s contracts had not been reinstated, nor had the company received an indication that they would be, Jimínez said.
The impulse to eradicate Dei of federal contracts has also imposed onerous compliance challenges, he told ABC News, who directs a couple of logistics companies in Anchorage, Alaska.
A government official who supervises the government contracts of the companies urged Hopkins to eliminate all the mentions of Dei hundreds of documents within a day and a half to ensure that the contracts remained in place, said Hopkins.
Government contracts that total about $ 7 million represent approximately 80% of revenues in the two companies: Federal Services and Advanced Supply Chain International, he said.
The Dei programs focus only on increasing employment for military veterans and their spouses, Hopkins added, who voted for Trump.
“It was frustrating to have to respond in the short term to what I would call politically correct documents,” he said, recognizing that he supports the widest objective of the Trump administration to reduce government waste.
“I don’t conceptually oppose what is happening,” Hendricks added. “I oppose how fast it is happening and with little consideration.”
