By Scott McCaffrey – December 5th, 2024
Fairfax officials have promised resistance to Trump administration policies that conflict with their values.
But when it comes to keeping the federal workforce rooted in the local area, they may try another tack: flattery, or at least finding common ground.
At a legislative committee meeting last Tuesday (Nov. 26), the Board of Supervisors discussed president-elect Donald Trump’s professed desire to both downsize the federal workforce and get much of it out of the D.C. region — a prospect that has left Fairfax officials aghast.
“The notion that that somehow would improve the efficiency of government is just wild to me,” Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman said. “They are the people who know very often how to move the government — [and are] committed to making the government work.”
The incoming administration has also called for federal workers to fully return to office work after five years that saw many work at least partly from home. That proposal may give Fairfax County an opening, supervisors suggested.
If Donald Trump believes in the value of an in-person workforce, Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw, who heads the legislative committee, noted that “there’s value in having those agencies in one region.”
Walkinshaw and other county officials hope that “one region” will be the D.C. region, but it will be up to local leaders to make that case to the new president and those under him.
About 373,000 federal workers currently reside in the D.C. region, by one estimate. That figure has varied over the past 30 years from 332,000 to 386,000, according to federal data.
Fairfax County is home to more than 50,000 federal employees and draws over $38 billion for local contractors, Walkinshaw and Board of Supervisors Jeff McKay said in a recent board matter directing staff to evaluate the potential impacts of the new president on local policies.
McKay has expressed hope at that Nov. 19 meeting that Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who has been supportive of Trump, will go to bat for the region with the incoming administration.
Perhaps not since the late U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd attempted to move the federal government piece by piece to West Virginia has anyone desired to deprive the region of its federal workforce with the same fervor as Trump.
Any widespread moves of agencies or personnel likely would require congressional authorization and would come under blistering attack from local members of Congress. But as is shown when the local delegation attempts to prevent colleagues from meddling in airport operations, their power only extends so far.
Fairfax County itself may not have many ins with the new administration. Only one of 10 supervisors is a Republican, and the entire Northern Virginia congressional delegation — two senators and three representatives — is Democratic.
Even longtime local Republicans aren’t necessarily in step with Trump: former U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-10th) was among those who broke ranks to support Kamala Harris for president.
The Nov. 26 discussion of priorities to include in their recommendations for the next Congress also included a host of matters county leaders think could be imperiled in the next four years, including support for immigration, efforts to address climate change, safety net programs, housing, health care, public education, child care and transit funding.
“We will incorporate as much as we can, based on the feedback,” Walkinshaw said when wrapping up the discussion.