Federal job cuts reduced Missouri's federal workforce by 13% and Kansas' by 15% in 2025, KCUR reported, and Kansas lost 32 percent of its USDA staff, the largest share in the central U.S. Kansas Senator Roger Marshall voted to confirm the officials who ordered and carried out the cuts, starting with budget director Russell Vought and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and he voted against cutting off DOGE's funding and against a 2025 amendment to reverse Social Security staff cuts that failed by one vote.
Marshall said that in Elon Musk's place he would "double down, not slow down" on the cuts. At an Oakley town hall in March 2025, after a resident raised job cuts affecting veterans, he abruptly ended the meeting.
What It Cost: Kansas Federal Offices and Workers Under the Cuts Roger Marshall Backed
- Federal workforce. Kansas's federal workforce fell 15% from January to November 2025, and the Kansas City metro lost about 2,800 federal jobs, KCUR reported, using federal personnel data.
- Farm agencies. Kansas's USDA staff losses came to "more than 500 positions, and the largest percentage in the region," and the Kansas Farmers Union says farmers are waiting longer for help applying for financial assistance, Harvest Public Media reported. At the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, USDA cut "About a dozen" administrative jobs, KSHB reported.
- Social Security. Social Security's Kansas staff fell by 44, or 11 percent, from January 2025 to April 2026, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found, and a Kansas City-area Social Security employee told KCUR that disability "claims that should take 30 to 60 days are now taking seven months, sometimes 11 months."
- Veterans' care. In 2026 the VA Eastern Kansas Healthcare System in Topeka designated 70 severe occupational staffing shortages and the Wichita VA Healthcare System designated 20 such shortages, according to the VA inspector general's facility table.
- Haskell Indian Nations University. In the February 2025 federal layoffs, Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, which had roughly 160 employees, saw more than a quarter of its staff get cut, Stateline reported, and "25 positions recently terminated at Haskell Indian Nations University and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute have been reinstated," the tribal colleges' association said on March 7, 2025.
Roger Marshall's Votes, Confirmations and Statements Behind the Kansas Federal Job Cuts
- Marshall Voted to Confirm the Budget Director Who Ordered Agencies to Plan Mass Layoffs. On February 6, 2025, Roger Marshall voted to confirm Russell Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget; he was confirmed 53 to 47. On February 26, 2025, Vought's office and the Office of Personnel Management told every agency to plan "A significant reduction in the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions," and the federal workforce shrank by 10.3% in 2025, or a net of nearly 238,000 workers, the Pew Research Center found.
- Marshall Voted to Confirm Brooke Rollins, Under Whom Kansas Lost a Third of Its USDA Staff. On February 13, 2025, Marshall voted to confirm Brooke Rollins as secretary of agriculture. Under Rollins, Kansas lost 32 percent of its USDA staff measured from September 2024, Harvest Public Media reported, the people who process farm loans and conservation contracts for Kansas farmers.
- Marshall Cast the Vote That Defeated Reversing Social Security Staff Cuts in April 2025, and Confirmed Its Commissioner. On April 4, 2025, Marshall voted no on Senator Jon Ossoff's budget amendment to reverse cuts to the Social Security Administration, including cuts DOGE ordered; it failed 49 to 50, so a yes vote from Marshall would have adopted it. The next day he voted against amendments to prevent DOGE from closing Social Security offices and to preserve Social Security's phone service, and on May 6, 2025 he voted to confirm Frank Bisignano as commissioner. The number of disability hearings awaiting a decision rose by more than 73,000 from January 2025 to February 2026, to nearly 344,000 nationally, CBPP found.
- Marshall Voted to Confirm Doug Collins, Whose VA Cut Nearly 30,000 Jobs. On February 4, 2025, Marshall voted to confirm Doug Collins as secretary of veterans affairs. The VA said it was "on pace to reduce total VA staff by nearly 30,000 employees" in fiscal 2025, and its inspector general found the severe staffing shortages at Kansas's two VA health systems listed above.
- Marshall Voted Against Cutting Off DOGE's Funding and Against Rehiring Fired Workers in Early 2025. On March 14, 2025, Marshall voted no on an amendment that would have barred the full-year spending law's funds from use by "the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization, or any successor agency," and the same day voted no on making veterans dismissed from federal jobs without cause eligible for reinstatement. On February 20, 2025 he had voted against a budget amendment for "reinstating the fired Federal employees at the Forest Service" and other land agencies (48 to 52), and on April 4, 2025 against protecting federal workers' union contracts. The Government Accountability Office found that agencies spent $9.5 billion in salary costs on paid administrative leave in 2025, much of it for workers who took the deferred resignation offer.
- Marshall Cast One of the Votes That Kept $100 Million for Vought's Office in July 2025. On July 1, 2025, Marshall voted no on an amendment to strike $100,000,000 that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act gives the Office of Management and Budget for finding budget efficiencies. It was rejected on a 50 to 50 tie, so a switch by Marshall alone would have adopted it. The money went to the office that had ordered the 2025 workforce reductions behind Kansas's lost federal jobs.
- Marshall Said He Would Double Down, Not Slow Down, on DOGE's Cuts. Roger Marshall joined the Senate DOGE Caucus in December 2024, saying "DOGE has our work cut out for us, but it's honorable work," and in early 2025 he said on Newsmax that if he were Elon Musk he would "double down, not slow down," Kansas Public Radio reported on March 1, 2025. His statements endorse the DOGE-directed cuts that followed, including the Social Security staff losses after which Kansas City-area disability claims took seven months, sometimes 11 months.
- Marshall's Office Claimed DOGE Had Saved Each Kansas Taxpayer $1,118; GAO Found DOGE's Savings Claims Unsupported. On June 9, 2025, Marshall's office said that "DOGE has eliminated more than $180 billion in federal spending," which it called "$1,118 in savings for each Kansas taxpayer." When the Government Accountability Office reviewed DOGE's published savings in 2026, it found that some savings estimates are incorrect or lack supporting evidence.
- Marshall Ended an Oakley Town Hall After a Resident Raised Job Cuts Affecting Veterans. At a town hall in Oakley, Kansas, on March 1, 2025, a resident raised funding freezes and job cuts affecting veterans, and Marshall abruptly ended the meeting as members of the crowd booed and shouted, Kansas Public Radio reported. He told the crowd, "We don't have time for everyone to stand up." The VA went on to cut nearly 30,000 employees that year.
Frequently Asked Questions About Roger Marshall on Kansas federal jobs
What is Roger Marshall's record on Kansas federal jobs under Trump?
Roger Marshall voted to confirm Russell Vought, whose office ordered agencies to plan mass layoffs, and the secretaries of agriculture and veterans affairs whose departments cut Kansas staff. He voted against cutting off DOGE's funding, cast the vote that defeated a 2025 amendment to reverse Social Security staff cuts, and said he would double down on DOGE. Kansas's federal workforce fell 15% in 2025.
How many federal jobs did Kansas lose under DOGE?
Under the cuts Roger Marshall backed, Kansas's federal workforce fell 15% from January to November 2025, the Kansas City metro lost about 2,800 federal jobs, and Kansas lost more than 500 positions at the Agriculture Department alone.
What happened at Roger Marshall's Oakley town hall?
Roger Marshall ended a March 1, 2025 town hall in Oakley after a resident raised job cuts affecting veterans, and Kansas Public Radio reported that members of the crowd booed and shouted as he left. About 20 percent of federal workers are employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the station noted.
Did Roger Marshall support Elon Musk's DOGE?
Yes. Roger Marshall joined the Senate DOGE Caucus in December 2024, said in early 2025 that he would "double down, not slow down" on the cuts, and in June 2025 helped introduce a bill to "codify some of the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) cost-saving actions," in the words of his office.
Last updated: 2026-10-25