By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
The White House’s budget office on Tuesday confirmed that it will continue layoffs as the government shutdown drags on with little end in sight.
“OMB is making every preparation to batten down the hatches and ride out the Democrats’ intransigence,” the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a post on X. “Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue the RIFs, and wait.”
RIFs refer to reductions in force, a more technical term for layoffs. Other details about what agencies or positions might be targeted were not provided.
President Donald Trump and OMB Director Russell Vought began shutdown-related layoffs on Friday, coming days after both Trump and Vought signaled that layoffs would be on the table.
The Trump administration and Republicans have accused Democrats of not wanting to hold talks on reopening the government, while Democrats have said that any reopening plans need to also include an extension of COVID-era health care subsidies. GOP lawmakers say the subsidies should be considered after the government reopens.
After the Friday announcement, government lawyers submitted court papers in a lawsuit seeking to block the layoffs, confirming that more than 4,100 federal workers have received notices of layoffs across seven agencies. That includes nearly 1,500 Treasury Department workers and between 1,100 and 1,200 Department of Health and Human Services employees, the papers stated.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans are to blame. In a post on X last week, he wrote, “Republicans control the Senate, the House, and the White House.”
The Senate needs 60 votes in order for a shutdown bill to pass, and Republicans only have 53 members in the upper chamber.
The Democratic leader also told Politico last week that he believes the Republicans will turn around.
“[Constituents] are seeing how devastating [the year-end expiration of the health care subsidies] is, and they are putting a lot of pressure on their Republican congressmen and senators,” he said.
Trump ordered Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to release funds to ensure military members can get paid this month.
On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that the shutdown is starting to produce real impacts on the U.S. economy.
“This is getting serious. It’s starting to affect the real economy,” he told Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” program. Bessent said in order to allow paychecks to U.S. military service members, the government was having to hold back on payments to other federal workers and services in areas such as Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo.
“We are having to shuffle things around. We are having to furlough workers here in D.C. and around the country,” Bessent said in the interview.
Reuters contributed to this report.
