WH Warns of Mass Firings If Government Shuts Down

The Trump administration is directing federal agencies to prepare for permanent mass firings if the government enters a partial shutdown after 11:59 p.m. ET Sept. 30.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) blasted out a memo to agencies late Wednesday calling for leaders to trim employees in non-essential roles during a partial shutdown.

The memo instructs agencies to prepare Reduction in Force (RIF) plans for programs not statutorily required in a shutdown, which could begin next Wednesday due to Democratic congressional opposition to prior cuts.

“It has never been more important for the Administration to be prepared for a shutdown if the Democrats choose to pursue one,” Russ Vought, director of OMB, declared in the memo.

“Once fiscal year 2026 appropriations are enacted, agencies should revise their RIFs as needed to retain the minimal number of employees necessary to carry out statutory functions,” he added. “Any proposed RIF plan must be submitted to OMB.”

An administration official told The Post agencies will submit their plans to OMB for approval, and that the staff reductions wouldn’t take effect for 60 days — likely long after any shutdown ends.

The longest federal shutdown lasted 35 days in December 2018 and January 2019 over Trump’s demands for border wall funds and ended when the 45th president declared a national emergency to redirect defense spending.

The memo highlights how the Trump administration is eager to make a partial government shutdown as politically painful for Democrats as possible.

Democratic leaders have been trying to leverage the government shutdown fight to extract key concessions from President Trump on healthcare policy and called the memo an attempt at “intimidation.”

“Listen Russ, you are a malignant political hack. We will not be intimidated by your threat to engage in mass firings. Get lost,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) snapped on X.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) accused the administration of planning to go further than necessary to reduce government costs during a partial shutdown.

“This is an attempt at intimidation. Donald Trump has been firing federal workers since day one — not to govern, but to scare,” Schumer complained.

“This is nothing new and has nothing to do with funding the government. These unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back, just like they did as recently as today.”

Typically, during partial government shutdowns, federal workers who aren’t in essential positions get furloughed. Then they return to work once a shutdown ends.

By contrast, Vought’s memo indicated that this time, thousands of federal workers would be permanently dismissed.

Back in March, Schumer had taken intense flak from the progressive base for declining to block a GOP-backed bill to avert a partial government shutdown.

One of the reasons he cited was fear that Trump would take advantage of a shutdown and go on a mass-firing spree with few restraints, fulfilling the longstanding conservative goal of shrinking the government.

Last week, House Republicans passed a “clean” stopgap measure without strings attached, known as a continuing resolution, to keep the government’s lights on through Nov. 21. Ultimately, that measure failed in the Senate due to the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to overcome.

Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate. They will likely need at least eight Democrats due to opposition from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)

Democrats championed an alternative CR in the Senate, which would’ve extended the Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire by the end of the year, reversed the GOP’s Medicaid reform in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (now known as the Working Families Tax Cut Act), and nixed some of Trump’s federal funding freezes.

Initially, Trump planned to meet with Schumer and Jeffries on Thursday to address the looming funding lapse. On Tuesday, he abruptly cancelled that meeting after speaking with GOP leaders about the shutdown fight.

“It’s so easy to just sit down and talk to us, and we know we’re not going to get everything, but he’s not even doing that,” Schumer complained on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Wednesday.

Schumer has not ruled out the possibility of caving during the shutdown showdown.

Both chambers of Congress are on recess this week. The Senate is set to reconvene next week, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has signaled plans to keep the lower chamber out of session until after the government shutdown deadline.