In Kansas City, DOGE federal worker layoffs hit close to home

Steep government layoffs driven by DOGE are hitting hard far beyond Washington, especially in cities like Kansas City with thousands of federal workers.

Baseball’s opening day is usually one of jubilation for Kansas City, whose Royals are two-time World Series champions. But for Jason Buck, this year’s home opener against the Cleveland Guardians served as a reminder of the uncertainty he faces. Buck took on a part-time job bartending at the team’s Kauffman Stadium after being terminated – and then placed on administrative leave after the position was restored – from the General Services Administration. He took a pay cut from a prior job to join the federal government a year ago, managing fleets of government vehicles for the Pentagon, Veterans Affairs department and the Secret Service, hoping it meant longer-term job security. “It was a risk worth taking for me,” Buck told CNN. “I knew the value of working for the government.” Steep federal layoffs driven by the Department of Government Efficiency have caused shockwaves in the nation’s capital, but the ripple effects extend far beyond Washington. In the Kansas City region, where the federal government is the largest employer, big regional hubs for federal agencies are bracing for new waves of cuts in the coming weeks. Employees across a variety of agencies including the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration say they expect to know their fate in mid-April. Under plans proposed by the Trump administration, some government agencies could shrink by up to half; the moves are expected to leave thousands of Kansas City’s 30,000 federal workers looking for a new job.