Federal agencies should implement mass layoffs of their workforces if the government shuts down next week, the White House told agencies on Wednesday, dramatically escalating the stakes of a potential funding lapse.
Agencies should prepare the reduction in force notices for all employees whose work is not funded through means other than annual appropriations and does not align with President Trump’s priorities, the Office of Management and Budget said in its memorandum. Agencies will also prepare the standard furlough notices that go out to employees not otherwise exempted to work during a shutdown, OMB said, and those actions will have no bearing on who is subject to layoffs.
While there is no direct connection between RIFs and a shutdown—and agencies generally have the authority to proceed with layoffs regardless of the status of appropriations—OMB directed agencies to drop their plans should a shutdown be avoided. The House has in a largely party-line vote passed a stopgap funding bill to keep agencies open through Nov. 21, but Democrats have so far blocked that measure from proceeding in the Senate. Democratic leaders have said they will not allow the spending bill to pass without Congress addressing health care premiums set to increase at the end of the year as well as meeting other demands.
In the memo, which was first reported by Politico, OMB told agencies not to repurpose or transfer funds to minimize the shutdown impact. That marks an about face from the approach the first Trump administration took during an extended shutdown that began in 2018.
Agencies typically post details of who will get furloughed and who will work without immediate pay during a shutdown, but OMB scrapped those plans from its website earlier this year. In its new memo, the budget office noted agencies were supposed to turn over their furlough plans by Aug. 1 but some had not done so. It asked all agencies to send the documents as soon as possible.
A Government Executive analysis of the most recently available data showed the Biden administration planned to furlough about 737,000 employees if a shutdown occurred in 2023, or about one-third of the workforce. OMB held its first shutdown planning call with agencies earlier this week. The office noted many programs that received a funding boost in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would be exempt from the impacts of a funding lapse.
While OMB said the RIF plans would “not be necessary” if a shutdown is averted, it suggested agencies should continue to plan for RIFs even after fiscal 2026 appropriations are enacted. Agencies should revise their RIF plans to “retain the minimal number of employees necessary to carry out statutory functions” and send their proposals to OMB. That language mirrors that the Trump administration used earlier this year, when it called for all agencies to deliver layoff plans focused on the “maximum elimination” of functions not required by law.
A federal court previously found that guidance unlawful, with a judge saying OMB and the Office of Personnel Management have no authority to order layoffs at other agencies, but the Supreme Court has since overturned that ruling.
Some agencies have since walked back their plans for mass layoffs, while others, such as the Interior Department, are expected to finalize significant RIFs in the coming weeks.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would not be deterred by the Trump administration’s threats. He predicted the layoffs would be overturned in court or subsequently walked back, as the administration has done in limited circumstances throughout government.
“This is an attempt at intimidation,” Schumer said. “Donald Trump has been firing federal workers since day one—not to govern, but to scare. This is nothing new and has nothing to do with funding the government.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., likened the layoffs to “mafia-style blackmail,” said they would likely be illegal and vowed that Democrats will be “fighting back with every tool we have.”
“These dedicated workers have nothing to do with the ongoing political and policy disputes that have brought us to the brink of a shutdown,” Van Hollen said.
