Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought speaks to members of the media outside the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, July 24, 2025.
Aaron Schwartz | Bloomberg | getty images
The Trump administration on Friday began laying off thousands of federal employees from various agencies for the 10th day in the US. government shutdown,
chairman donald trump He told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon that the number of federal employees being laid off “will be very high.”
“It will be Democrat-oriented,” Trump said, reiterating his promise to target programs he believes are supported by Democratic officials.
permanent job cuts, formally called “cut in force,” are different from furloughs of government employees. Furloughed employees return to their jobs after the government shutdown ends.
The layoffs were first announced Russell WattDirector of Office of Management and Budget,
“RIF has begun,” Watt written on x,
OMB confirmed his tweet shortly thereafter, saying the cuts were “substantial.”
RIF notices went to employees at the departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services, Commerce, Education, Energy, EPA, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, and Interior.
A filing by the Justice Department A filing late Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco showed at least 4,000 federal employees received layoff notices, with the largest cuts of more than 1,100 employees seen at Treasury and HHS.
The filing came in response to a trial Filed Sept. 30 by two unions representing several federal employees American Federation of Government Employees and this American Federation of County, State and Municipal Employees,
The lawsuit challenges the validity of the RIF, which was threatened by the Trump administration at the time the lawsuit was filed. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in San Francisco on the unions’ request for a temporary restraining order to stop the layoffs.
“These mass shootings are illegal and will have a devastating impact on the services millions of Americans rely on every day,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. in a statement,
“Whether they’re food inspectors, public safety workers, or the countless other public service workers who keep America running, federal employees should not have to bargain in this administration’s political games,” Saunders said.
Layoffs began after four days Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council Warned in a CNBC interview that “tougher measures could be initiated” if the shutdown continued due to the lack of a stopgap funding deal approved by Congress.
Hassett said that Democrats would be to blame for the layoffs of “any government employee who loses their job.”
While many federal employees have been furloughed due to the shutdown, it is not common practice to permanently fire government employees in a shutdown.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said, “Russell Vought freaked out thousands of Americans with one tweet.
“Let’s be clear: No one is forcing Trump and Wyatt to do this,” Schumer said in a statement. “They don’t have to do this; they want to do this. They are recklessly choosing to hurt people — the workers who protect our country, inspect our food, respond when disasters strike. This is deliberate lawlessness.”
“What’s even worse here is that Republicans would rather see thousands of Americans lose their jobs than sit down and negotiate with Democrats to reopen the government,” Schumer said.
Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement, “I strongly oppose OMB Director Russ Vought’s effort to permanently fire federal employees who have been furloughed because of Senator Schumer’s completely unnecessary government shutdown.”
“Regardless of whether federal employees are working without pay or have been furloughed, their work is incredibly important to serving the public,” Collins said. “Arbitrary layoffs result in a shortage of adequate personnel needed to carry out the agency’s mission and deliver essential programs, and harm families in Maine and across our country.”
Since the shutdown began last week, Watt has tweeted to announce the Trump administration’s decision to cut and freeze billions of dollars in federal funding for projects in states and cities controlled by Democratic elected officials.
The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have repeatedly tried to blame Democrats for the government shutdown and any negative consequences of it.
Democratic senators have largely refused to vote for a Republican stopgap funding plan to reopen the government, saying any such proposal must include a compromise to extend Advanced Affordable Care Act tax credits.
Those tax credits reduce the cost of Obamacare health insurance plans purchased by millions of Americans in the government-run ACA marketplaces.
Republican and Democratic funding proposals failed to pass the Senate for the seventh time on Thursday.
The shutdown is expected to last at least until early next week as the Senate is not scheduled to resume business until Tuesday.
Although Republicans hold majorities in both the Senate and the House, they need the votes of at least some Democratic senators to pass a funding bill because the 60-vote threshold in the Senate is required to avoid filibusters blocking legislation.
