On Friday afternoon, May 30, President Donald Trump held a media event in the White House Oval Office to thank Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for his work with his administration and the South African centibillionaire’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But critics of the mass layoffs of federal government workers being carried out by the Trump administration with DOGE’s help are not feeling thankful. As they see it, layoffs at the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other agencies are a recipe for major problems — not something to celebrate.
Another agency experiencing major layoffs is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In an article published on June 2, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jason Nark details the problems that Army Corps cuts are having in Pennsylvania thanks to campsite closings along Raystown Lake in Huntingdon County.
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“The lake’s Seven Points, Susquehannock, and Nancy’s Boat-to-Shore Campgrounds — all popular and often booked out far ahead of summer — were closed, and the Army Corps began refunding campers who had made reservations,” Nark reports. “In addition, farther north in Tioga County, Tompkins Campground on Tioga-Hammond and Cowanesque Lakes also closed, along with its swim beach and boat ramp. Tompkins has approximately 125 sites.”
Nark points to 81-year-old Judy Norris, who has owned Seven Points Bait & Grocery for 49 years, as an example of a Pennsylvania business owner who is hurting because of Army Corps cuts and campsite closings. According to Norris, business was way down on Memorial Day Weekend.
Norris told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “We’re way off, maybe 40 to 50 percent down. This is Memorial Day Weekend — you normally can’t move in here. The parking lot is usually jammed.”
Norris, according to Nark, “reached out to elected officials and the Army Corps to no avail.”
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Norris told the Inquirer, “This affects the entire county, not just us. This is recreation. We’re talking about campsites. This isn’t hurting anyone, and it’s not going to save the government any money by closing these campgrounds.’
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Read the full Philadelphia Inquirer article at this link (subscription required).
