https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-federal-worker-firings-0439e8d0979d9a32e021c5c851fea1cfWASHINGTON (AP) — The White House budget office said Friday that mass firings of federal workers have started, an attempt by President Donald Trump’s administration to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown dragged into a 10th day.Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said on the social media site X that the “RIFs have begun,” referring to reduction-in-force plans aimed at reducing the size of the federal government.In a court filing, the budget office said well over 4,000 employees would be fired, though it noted that the funding situation was “fluid and rapidly evolving.”The firings would hit the hardest at the departments of the Treasury, which would lose over 1,400 employees, and Health and Human Services, with a loss of over 1,100. The Education Department and Housing and Urban Development each would lose over 400 staffers. The departments of Commerce, Energy and Homeland Security and the Environmental Protection Agency were all set to fire hundreds of more employees. It was not clear which particular programs would be affected.The aggressive move by Trump’s budget office goes far beyond what usually happens in a government shutdown and escalates an already politically toxic dynamic between the White House and Congress. Talks to end the shutdown are almost nonexistent.Typically, federal workers are furloughed but restored to their jobs once the shutdown ends, traditionally with back pay. Some 750,000 employees are expected to be furloughed during the shutdown, officials have said.In comments to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday night, Trump said many people would be losing their jobs, and that the firings would be focused on Democrat-oriented areas, though he didn’t explain exactly what that meant.
“It’ll be a lot, and we’ll announce the numbers over the next couple of days,” he said. “But it’ll be a lot of people.”Trump said that, going forward, “We’re going to make a determination, do we want a lot? And I must tell you, a lot of them happen to be Democrat oriented.”“These are people that the Democrats wanted, that, in many cases, were not appropriate,” he said of federal employees, eventually adding, “Many of them will be fired.”Still, some leading Republicans were highly critical of the administration’s actions.“I strongly oppose OMB Director Russ Vought’s attempt to permanently lay off federal workers who have been furloughed due to a completely unnecessary government shutdown,” said Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, who blamed the federal closure on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski called the announcement “poorly timed” and “yet another example of this administration’s punitive actions toward the federal workforce.”For his part, Schumer said the blame for the layoffs rested with Trump.“Let’s be blunt: nobody’s forcing Trump and Vought to do this,” Schumer said. “They don’t have to do it; they want to. They’re callously choosing to hurt people — the workers who protect our country, inspect our food, respond when disasters strike. This is deliberate chaos.”The White House had previewed its tactics shortly before the government shutdown began on Oct. 1, telling all federal agencies to submit their reduction-in-force plans to the budget office for its review.
An official for the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents federal workers and is suing the Trump administration over the firings, said in a legal filing Friday that the Treasury Department is set to issue layoff notices to 1,300 employees.The AFGE asked a federal judge to halt the firings, calling the action an abuse of power designed to punish workers and pressure Congress.“It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said in a statement.Democrats have tried to call the administration’s bluff, arguing the firings could be illegal, and had seemed bolstered by the fact that the White House had not immediately pursued the layoffs once the shutdown began.But Trump signaled earlier this week that job cuts could be coming in “four or five days.”“If this keeps going on, it’ll be substantial, and a lot of those jobs will never come back,” he said Tuesday.
Literally all the dems are asking for is that healthcare does not get denied to people. If big strong America can't even care for the most basic needs of its people, it might as well be dead already.
>>1446830They'll be fine. The ACA benefits middle class self-employed people mostly. You hate the middle class so it's not a loss for Dems, it's win.
>>1446825>Firings of federal workers beginDid it ever stop? Regardless, as scummy as expected. Trump deliberately hurting his own country in order to get his political opposition to capitulate. You can't even pretend it's anything else, he's outright saying they're democrats. Fucking disgusting. >>1446833You hate America.
>>1446825>Russ VoughtThis is the Heritage Foundation architect of Project2025, who has been trying to get rid of the government for 30 years.
>>1446844This country is lost.
>>1446825Keep in mind, congress isn't even in session. The republicans won't open it. Democrats literally cannot end the government shutdown right now.
>>1446851Congress is technically in session, just not the House. The Senate just passed a massive defense spending bill on Friday.https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/09/senate-defense-policy-bill-shutdown-troop-pay-00601585The rumor is Johnson won't convene the House because he's scared of Massie's Epstein bill getting enough Republican votes to bring it to the floor, but who knows if that's true.
>>1446854>The rumor is Johnson won't convene the House because he's scared of Massie's Epstein bill getting enough Republican votes to bring it to the floor, but who knows if that's true.It is. Four Republicans have openly admitted they will support it, and with Dems gaining another vote due to that one rep that needs to be sworn in, they have the votes to force it.
>>1446825I don’t get the White House’s “logic” - They’re doing the thing that the Dems are shutting down Congress & the Nation for - mass firings! Soooooo keep the government open and Trump would fire everybody OR shutdown the government and Trump would fire everybody….. What’s the concession here?! He’s doing the thing he’d be doing, anyway!!!
>>1446854My mistake.
GOP controls White HouseGOP controls SenateGOP controls House>Shutdown is Democrats fault.
>>1446856I don't think the White House gets the White House's logic beyond some vague concept of "this will trigger the libs".
>>1446868This.&This: >>1446865
>>1446865Yes, the Democrats are not voting to open the government since they don't have a senate super majority.I'm glad you get it.
