White House says federal worker layoffs begin amid shutdown
The White House says it is making good on threats to fire thousands of federal workers amid a government shutdown now in its 10th day, with job cuts at agencies including the departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security and Commerce.
“The RIFs have begun,” White House Budget Director Russell Vought posted on social media Friday, referring to reductions in force, the federal government’s term for layoffs.
Thousands of people have been laid off as a result of the shutdown, according to a senior White House official. The scope of the cuts was not immediately clear.
Labour unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal workers asked a judge Friday to immediately halt the mass firings. The emergency request to a federal judge in San Francisco seeks to bar the Office of Management and Budget from ordering officials to carry out the firings and block agencies from issuing layoff notices before the judge holds a hearing on Oct. 16.
HHS employees were among those affected by the layoffs, according to HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon, while spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said DHS workers were included. Commerce Department workers were also terminated, according to a United States official.
The firings mark the first large-scale layoffs of federal employees during a funding lapse in modern history, going beyond the furloughs that have characterized past temporary shutdowns. The move ups the stakes in a multi-week standoff with Democrats over federal funding and health-care subsidies.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune sought to lay blame for the layoffs at Democrats’ feet.
“To their credit, the White House has now for 10 days laid off doing anything in hopes that enough Senate Democrats would come to their senses and do the right thing and fund the government,” Thune said Friday before the layoffs were announced.
Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington cast the job cuts as being out of step with the priorities of voters — and even some of the president and Vought’s allies on Capitol Hill.
“Once again, when President Trump and his self-described ‘grim reaper’ decide to ignore the pleas of congressional Republicans and conduct more mass firings, they are choosing to inflict more pain on the American people,” Murray said in a Friday statement.
The job cuts come hours ahead of a court deadline for the Justice Department to file a report detailing any plans to terminate workers during the shutdown. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 16 on a request by federal worker unions for an order blocking layoffs.
More than two-thirds of civilian federal employees have remained on the job this shutdown — either as essential workers or in roles that receive longer-term funding — with the rest being sent home. The vast majority of federal employees go without pay.
Federal Downsizing
The latest move is reminiscent of Elon Musk’s efforts through the Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year to slash the federal workforce. The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer gutted the federal workforce through voluntary resignations, retirements, and targeted firings of probationary employees.
About 150,000 of the voluntary departures took effect with the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1, but some other staffing reductions have been tied up by court challenges.
Friday’s job eliminations mark the latest effort by Trump to make the shutdown as painful as possible for Democratic constituencies while deeming his own priorities as essential services.
Hours into the shutdown earlier this month, the Trump administration paused US$18 billion in infrastructure spending in New York City, US$2 billion for Chicago transit and US$8 billion for green energy projects in 16 states — all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election.
The White House has previously admitted that the DOGE job cuts presented political risks. Trump has mused that Musk’s efforts weren’t politically popular and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said DOGE got its attempt to cut federal spending “backward” by leading with mass terminations, rather than looking to create efficiencies.
But the tactic gives Trump a chance to talk tough to his MAGA base. He has often derided the federal workforce as being stacked with bureaucrats who he says oppose his agenda. But it also leaves less room for Republicans to blame the most enduring consequences of a shutdown on Democrats.
On Capitol Hill, bipartisan talks have continued in fits and starts, with a handful of Democrats crossing party lines to support short-term spending bills. But party leaders remain divided over whether to tie an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies to reopening the government.
Democrats warned that Vought’s actions will make an agreement to end the shutdown even more difficult as they further erode trust. Reversing the cuts and layoffs will themselves become Democratic demands as part of any deal to stop the shutdown.
—With assistance from Catherine Lucey, Zoe Tillman and Ellen M. Gilmer.