Maryland leaders have proposed several measures to support laid-off federal workers as the state is expected to lose more than 28,000 jobs under President Donald Trump’s administration, worsening its already difficult fiscal situation.
The state’s revenues board predicted in a presentation on Thursday that cuts to the federal workforce would lead to $280 million in tax revenue losses by the 2026 fiscal year, adding to the state’s current $3 billion deficit.
Despite the dire budget situation, Gov. Wes Moore and other state lawmakers have vowed to provide job opportunities and financial relief for affected employees through state legislation and initiatives.
“What I have seen over these past six weeks is worse than anything we could have anticipated,” Moore said during a Feb. 28 press conference about supporting the state’s federal workforce. “We have seen chaos and uncertainty all across our state.”
Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency have told federal agency leaders to plan for “large-scale reductions in force” as they evaluate the agencies and freeze trillions of dollars in federal grant funds, the Associated Press reported in February.
More than 11,000 federal employees have already been laid off in Maryland, according to the revenues board’s presentation on Thursday. About 17,000 federal employees in the state are projected to be laid off in the future, the presentation said.
[Trump’s plans to weaken education department could hurt higher education, experts warn]
More than 158,000 people in Maryland worked for the federal government in 2023, comprising nearly 6 percent of the state’s workforce, according to the Maryland Department of Labor.
A proposed Maryland General Assembly bill would provide financial assistance for federal employees who have been laid off.
The Protect Our Federal Workers Act, discussed in the state’s senate’s budget and taxation committee on Thursday, would reclassify funds from another program to provide no-interest loans to laid off federal workers. It would also expand the state’s Catastrophic Event Account, which is designed for natural disaster relief, to include federal layoffs.
The bill would ease the transition of federal workers from their government positions to other jobs, Sen. Nick Charles (D-Prince George’s) said during the hearing.
“A lot of our federal employees who have lost their jobs right now are in financial distress,” Sen. Charles said during the hearing. “They don’t know where to go and they don’t know where to turn to.”
The state government is also taking steps to support federal workers, Moore said in the Feb. 28 press conference.
Moore said federal workers will be recruited into state government positions and that the state will work to expedite hiring processes across Maryland. The state will also work with local leaders to set up events, such as job fairs, and create online resources for federal workers, he added.
Moore’s administration launched a campaign on Feb. 28 to connect laid-off federal workers to jobs in education to help ease the teacher shortage while supporting the federal employees.
“Our top priority is to protect Marylanders,” Moore said during the press conference. “And that includes protecting those who are affected by these arbitrary cuts from Washington.”
Maryland Senate Republicans released a statement Thursday in response to the predicted tax revenue loss from the expected layoffs. The lack of “economic diversification” has contributed to the state’s current fiscal situation, Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey (R-Caroline, Cecil, Kent and Queen Anne’s) said in the statement.
“Maryland’s financial picture has gone from bad, to worse to abysmal,” Hershey said in the statement. “Economists have warned for at least twenty years that our economy is too dependent on federal jobs.”
[Maryland could face up to $1.5 billion in additional budget cuts]
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown led a coalition of 20 attorneys general to file a lawsuit on Thursday against the Trump administration for mass layoffs of federal probationary employees — typically those who are in the first year or two of their position — he said in a news release Thursday.
Brown called the mass firings a “blatant attack on the civil service” in the news release.
“[Trump’s] administration blindsided Maryland, forcing us to deal with the devastating economic fallout and social consequences,” Brown said in the release. “We won’t stand by while he disrupts lives and undermines our state.”
The Maryland General Assembly has until March 31 to balance the state’s growing $3 billion deficit.
The budget could face an additional $1.5 billion in cuts due to Trump’s proposed tax cuts, reduced federal funding for Medicaid and the mass federal employee layoffs, Maryland Senate president Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said in a press conference in February.
The Maryland House of Delegates has already delayed their deadline to submit the budget to the state senate by about two weeks — from March 5 to March 18 or 19, Maryland Matters reported last week. If the budget is not finalized by March 31, Moore will call for this legislative session to continue until the budget is completed, the publication reported.
“We took an oath to defend the constitution, to defend this state’s laws and to protect our people against all challenges,” Moore said during his press conference. “That’s exactly what we are going to do.”
