The administration plans to slash at least 4,100 workers from the government during the shutdown, according to newly filed court documents. Trump said that many of the affected employees worked for programs that were “Democrat-oriented” or were “people that the Democrats wanted,” without providing additional detail.
The firings mark the first large-scale ouster of federal employees during a funding lapse in modern history, going beyond the furloughs that have characterised past temporary shutdowns. More cuts are under consideration, the government said in the filing. The move ups the stakes in a multi-week standoff with Democrats over federal funding and health-care subsidies.Labour unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal workers asked a judge Friday to immediately halt the mass firings. The emergency request to a federal judge in San Francisco seeks to bar the Office of Management and Budget from ordering officials to carry out the firings and block agencies from issuing reduction-in-force notices before the judge holds a hearing next week.
The judge didn’t immediately rule but did move up the hearing by a day to Oct. 15.
Federal Downsizing
The latest move is reminiscent of Elon Musk’s efforts through the Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year to slash the federal workforce. The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer gutted the federal workforce through voluntary resignations, retirements, and targeted firings of probationary employees.About 150,000 of the voluntary departures took effect with the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1, but some other staffing reductions have been tied up by court challenges.
Friday’s job eliminations mark the latest effort by Trump to make the shutdown as painful as possible for Democratic constituencies while deeming his own priorities as essential services.
Hours into the shutdown earlier this month, the Trump administration paused $18 billion in infrastructure spending in New York City, $2 billion for Chicago transit and $8 billion for green energy projects in 16 states — all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election.
The White House has previously admitted that the DOGE job cuts presented political risks. Trump has mused that Musk’s efforts weren’t politically popular and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said DOGE got its attempt to cut federal spending “backward” by leading with mass terminations, rather than looking to create efficiencies.
The tactic gives Trump a chance to talk tough to his MAGA base. He has often derided the federal workforce as being stacked with bureaucrats who he says oppose his agenda. But it also leaves less room for Republicans to blame the most enduring consequences of a shutdown on Democrats.
On Capitol Hill, bipartisan talks have continued in fits and starts, with a handful of Democrats crossing party lines to support short-term spending bills. But party leaders remain divided over whether to tie an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies to reopening the government.
Democrats warned that Vought’s actions would make an agreement to end the shutdown even more difficult as they further erode trust. Reversing the cuts and layoffs will themselves become Democratic demands as part of any deal to stop the shutdown.
Read Also: Trump tariffs upend crypto market, trigger record liquidations
