The White House said on Friday it had begun mass layoffs of federal workers as President Donald Trump sought to amp up pressure on opposition Democrats to end a government shutdown that has crippled public services.
With the crisis set to go into a third week and no off-ramp in sight, Trump’s budget chief Russ Vought confirmed on social media that the administration had begun following through on its threat to begin firing some of the 750,000 public servants placed on enforced leave.
The Office of Management and Budget, headed by Vought, told AFP the layoffs would be “substantial,” but gave no precise numbers or details of which departments would be most affected.
The announcement came days after Trump said he was meeting Vought to determine which agencies “he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”
The president has repeatedly emphasised that he views cutbacks as a way of increasing pain on Democrats.
Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his House counterpart Hakeem Jeffries have dismissed the job cuts threat as an attempt at intimidation and said mass firings would not stand up in court.
Those public servants who hang onto their jobs still face the misery of going without pay while the crisis remains unresolved, with the standoff expected to drag on until at least the middle of next week.
Adding to the pain, 1.3 million active-duty service military personnel are set to miss their pay due next Wednesday— something that has not happened in any of the funding shutdowns through modern history.
“We´re not in a good mood here in the Capitol — it’s a sombre day. Today marks the first day federal workers across America will receive a partial paycheck,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a news conference marking the 10th day of the shutdown.
Rising tensions between the two parties have been on full display this week, with Johnson and Democratic senators clashing over the shutdown in front of the gathered press.
There was a fiery exchange after a House Democratic leadership press conference when Republican Congressman Mike Lawler needled Jeffries over his role in the crisis.
Jeffries told Lawler to “keep your mouth shut” as the two traded barbs and later called the Republican a “malignant clown.”
‘Tired of the chaos’
Nonessential government work stopped after the September 30 funding deadline, with Senate Democrats repeatedly blocking a Republican resolution to reopen federal agencies.
The sticking point has been a refusal by Republicans to include language in the bill to address expiring subsidies that make health insurance affordable for 24 million Americans.
With a prolonged shutdown looking more likely each day, members of Congress have been looking to Trump to step in and break the deadlock.
But the president has been largely tuned out, with his focus on the Gaza ceasefire deal and sending federal troops to bolster his mass deportation drive in Democratic-led cities such as Chicago and Portland.
“Donald Trump can find the time to play golf, but he can’t be bothered negotiating a bipartisan agreement to reopen the government… and House Republicans remain on vacation for three weeks,” Jeffries told a news conference.
“The American people are sick and tired of the chaos, crisis and confusion that has been visited upon the country by Donald Trump and Republican complete control of Congress.”
The Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS), meanwhile, announced it would delay publication of key inflation data due next week to October 24, despite the ongoing shutdown, which has halted the release of most government data.
The consumer price index data is being published to allow the Social Security Administration to meet its statutory deadlines “to ensure the accurate and timely payment of benefits,” the BLS said on Friday in a statement.
