Budget cuts hitting travel and conferences—here we go again

Just got notified that my travel request for next month’s industry conference was denied despite being pre-approved by my manager last week. The excuse given was 'a sudden enterprise-wide pause on all non-essential spend.' We all know what that actually means. It’s always the same progression: first, the travel freeze, then the hiring pause, and then the 'restructuring.' I checked the internal portal and noticed that several open headcount positions in my department that were supposed to be filled before the end of the year have been scrubbed entirely. No emails, no explanations, just gone. If they’re cutting travel budgets and killing open roles, it’s only a matter of time before they start looking at the tenured heads. I’ve reached out to a few recruiters in the industry just to gauge the market, and it’s pretty brutal out there right now, but I’d rather have a head start than be caught off guard when the ax falls. Anyone else seeing their departmental spend getting throttled?