As President Trump slashes the federal bureaucracy, Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Tuesday sought to stay upbeat about what it all may mean for the state — even as he expressed concerns over inconsistent messaging and uncertainty coming from the administration.

“There are going to be big changes, believe me,” Little said at a press conference weeks after a trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with Trump and other officials in the Republican administration. “The question for we states is, ’How prepared are we for those changes?’ It is going to be of some magnitude.”

Little expressed confidence that Idaho had managed its budget well and is well-positioned for shifts at the national level away from the Democratic policies of the Biden administration. He didn’t specify exactly what changes he anticipated, though he alluded to a drop in funds flowing into the state from the federal government.

“I tell people all the time that, if you were going to bet on a state that has the ability to withstand an economic shock … bet on Idaho,” he said. Behind only Florida, Idaho has the second-strongest economy in the country, according to U.S. News rankings.

But “whether it’s on the research side, whether it’s on the Health and Human Services side, whether it’s on the transportation side — fill in the blank of what’s important to you — if there’s changes there, we’re going to have to have the balance sheet and the income statement, the resiliency to be able to tolerate that,” said Little, a two-term Republican.

Little ‘concerned’ about deportations, effect on agriculture

Before last year’s election, Trump promised to deport millions of undocumented immigrants from the U.S., which could have an outsized effect on key Idaho industries. Agriculture, which leans heavily on undocumented labor, is among them, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.

There are about 4,400 on-site dairy workers in Idaho, nearly 90% of whom are foreign-born, according to the Idaho Dairymen’s Association. Many of those are likely undocumented, though it’s hard to know exactly how many, Phil Watson, an economist at the University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, told the Statesman last fall.

Industry leaders are adamant that “nobody (they) hire is undocumented,” Watson said, but “whether or not those documents are legitimate or not … they would say, ‘That’s not up to us.’ ”

Immigration officials haven’t conducted any raids, though some business owners have worked with officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in cases of workers involved in criminal activity, Rick Naerebout, the chief executive officer of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, told the Statesman last week.

On Tuesday, Little told the Statesman at the press conference that he had received “mixed signals” from the Trump administration on how deportations might play out, and that he was “interested in and concerned” with how its actions could affect the state’s economy. He assessed that the administration was deliberately sending inconsistent messages about its plans.

“It’s the art of the deal,” he said. Trump’s 1987 memoir has the same name.

“Do I worry about it? Yes,” Little added. “But I do not lose sleep over it.”

Little ‘confident’ federal roles will remain even as layoffs begin

Much of Idaho’s resiliency to federal funding cuts will depend on its maintenance of a state budget surplus, Little said Tuesday. But tax cuts that the Legislature is pushing through this session could reduce the state’s general fund by about $450 million. If passed, they could imperil that goal, he said.

In his January State of the State address, Little called for a reduction of the fund by about $100 million.

“We need to be light on our feet” in the transition to the Trump administration, Little said Tuesday. “I think we’ve got to be careful.”

Asked about cuts to critical federal positions in Idaho, including the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service firefighters, Little said he was “confident” those roles would remain funded.

“Most administrations, particularly with a change in party, do that. They do a freeze. That is not uncommon,” he said. “Perhaps the style and the person who delivered the message could have been a little more diplomatic about it.”

But many of those workers, one reporter said, have already been laid off.

“We’ll be fine,” Little responded.

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