After congressional appropriations lapsed and a government shutdown began at midnight on Oct. 1, the Trump administration now warns that further federal employee layoffs are imminent.
It’s unclear which agencies will move forward with potential layoffs, beyond at least one agency — the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — that on Wednesday issued layoff notices. Vice President JD Vance doubled down on the Office of Management and Budget’s last week’s directive to terminate more federal employees in the case of a government shutdown.
“If this thing drags on for another few days, or, God forbid, another few weeks, we are going to have to lay people off,” Vance told reporters during a White House press conference Wednesday afternoon. “We’re going to have to save money in some places so that essential services don’t get turned off in other places.”
The Trump administration’s pursuit of further layoffs illustrates a much more permanent impact on federal employees under the current government shutdown. In past shutdowns, hundreds of thousands of federal employees faced furloughs, but they returned to their positions and were provided with back pay once the shutdown ended.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that approximately 750,000 federal employees will be furloughed in the current shutdown, ultimately costing the government $400 million per day to compensate them.
The vast majority of federal workforce reductions this year have not come from RIFs. Out of the approximately 200,000 federal employees who have left their jobs this year, about 154,000 departures were attributable to employees who opted into the deferred resignation program (DRP).
