[WASHINGTON] The White House said on Friday (Oct 10) that it had begun substantial layoffs across the US government, as US President Donald Trump followed through on a threat to cut the federal workforce during the government shutdown.
Job cuts were under way at the Treasury Department, the US health agency and the departments of education, commerce, and Homeland Security’s cybersecurity division, spokespeople said, but the total extent of the layoffs was not immediately clear. Roughly 300,000 federal civilian workers had already been set to leave their jobs this year due to a downsizing campaign initiated earlier this year by Trump.
“The RIFs have begun,” White House budget director Russell Vought wrote on social media, referring to so-called reductions in force. A spokesperson for the budget office characterised the cuts as “substantial,” without offering further details.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to fire federal workers during the shutdown standoff, in its 10th day on Friday, and has suggested his administration will aim primarily at parts of the government championed by Democrats. He has ordered the freezing of at least US$28 billion in infrastructure funds for New York, California and Illinois – all home to sizable populations of Democratic voters and critics of the administration.
Democratic votes needed to end shutdown
Trump’s Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of Congress, but need at least seven Democratic votes to pass a funding bill in the Senate, where Democrats are holding out for an extension of health-insurance subsidies.
Democrats said they will not cave to Trump’s pressure tactics.
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“Until Republicans get serious, they own this – every job lost, every family hurt, every service gutted is because of their decisions,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said.
Labor unions representing federal workers have sued to stop the layoffs, saying they would be illegal during a shutdown.
A federal judge is due to hear the case on Oct 16.
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The government is required by law to give workers 60 days’ notice ahead of any layoffs, though that can be shortened to 30 days.
Targeting furloughed workers
The announcement of the layoffs came on the same day that many federal workers were due to get reduced paychecks that do not include any pay for the days since the shutdown began. Hundreds of thousands have been ordered not to report to work, while others have been ordered to keep working without pay. The nation’s two million active-duty troops will miss their Oct 15 paycheck entirely if the shutdown is not resolved before then.
Employees across multiple divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services have received layoff notices, communications director Andrew Nixon said. The 78,000 workers at the sprawling agency monitor disease outbreaks, fund medical research, and perform a wide range of other health-related duties.
Nixon said the layoffs were targeted at agency staff who have been ordered not to work, but did not provide further details. Roughly 41 per cent of agency staff have been furloughed, including three out of four workers at the National Institutes of Health and two out of three employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to government shutdown plans.
The layoffs do not include the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees several major public insurance programs, according to an employee familiar with the matter.
Layoffs have also begun at the Treasury Department, according to a spokesperson who requested anonymity.
A labor union official, Thomas Huddleston of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a court filing he had been told Treasury was preparing 1,300 layoff notices. Those layoffs could hit the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service, which has been targeted for steep job cuts this year. Some 46 per cent of the agency’s 78,000 employees were furloughed on Wednesday.
Officials also confirmed job cuts at the Education Department, which Trump has vowed to shutter completely, and the Commerce Department, which handles weather forecasting, economic data reports, and other tasks.
Other media outlets reported layoffs at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, the Department of Interior, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Spokespeople at those agencies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Department of Homeland Security said layoffs were taking place at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which incurred Trump’s wrath after the 2020 election when its director said there was no evidence voting systems were compromised. Trump falsely claims that he lost that election to Democrat Joe Biden due to voter fraud.
“This is part of getting CISA back on mission,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.
The Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration are not affected, according to a source familiar with the situation. REUTERS
