Fired Federal Worker Colleen Jones: “Not only did I have to scramble to look for future employment, but I had to scramble to ensure that my son was taken care of in all of his expensive therapies due to his special needs”
 

VIRGINIA – New reporting from Public News Service details the devastating impact that Donald Trump’s attacks on federal jobs have had on Virginia families. While Winsome Earle-Sears has backed the attacks and said they aren’t “real issues,” Virginia Veteran and fired federal worker Colleen Jones shares the very real and devastating impact on her family: 
 
“Jones, her husband and three children are now balancing life on one income as she searches for a job. They canceled their spring break vacation and are trying to find more places in the budget to cut. But Jones explained one of her children is autistic nonverbal, and her health insurance benefits from work helped get her son the care he needed, such as behavioral, speech and occupational therapies.
 
‘Not only did I have to scramble to look for future employment, but I had to scramble to ensure that my son was taken care of in all of his expensive therapies due to his special needs,’ Jones added.”
 
Public News Service: As Trump remakes federal workforce, some Virginia families suffer

• President Donald Trump’s effort to reshape the federal government and its workforce has directly affected federal employees in Virginia.
• Colleen Jones was one of the more than 600,000 veterans employed by the federal government. After serving in the Coast Guard, she worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development, which the Trump administration shut down earlier this year. 
• Economic forecasts predicted the Commonwealth will lose more than 30,000 jobs this year, largely driven by Virginia’s connection to federal jobs.
• Jones, her husband and three children are now balancing life on one income as she searches for a job. They canceled their spring break vacation and are trying to find more places in the budget to cut. 
• But Jones explained one of her children is autistic nonverbal, and her health insurance benefits from work helped get her son the care he needed, such as behavioral, speech and occupational therapies.
• “Not only did I have to scramble to look for future employment, but I had to scramble to ensure that my son was taken care of in all of his expensive therapies due to his special needs,” Jones added.
• Trump’s cuts to federal jobs could have effects in November in Virginia. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger has blasted Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earl-Sears over expressing support for Trump’s actions.

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