White House announces federal worker layoffs as shutdown nears third week | US federal government shutdown 2025

The White House announced layoffs of federal officials on Friday, making good on the threat it had made in response to the US government shutdown, which now appears to extend into a third consecutive week.

Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, wrote on social media that “RIFs have begun,” referring to the government’s downsizing process of letting employees go.

A document filed in federal court revealed that hundreds of layoffs took place across the executive branch, including notices sent to employees at the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Education and several others.

The document shows that approximately 315 Department of Commerce employees, 466 Department of Education employees, 187 Department of Energy employees, 1,100 to 1,200 Department of Health and Human Services employees, 442 Department of Housing and Urban Development employees, 176 Department of Homeland Security employees and 1,446 Department of Treasury employees received RIF notices.

Union leaders warned that the layoffs would have “devastating effects” on services that millions of Americans rely on and vowed to challenge the measures in court.

“It is shameful that the Trump administration used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally lay off thousands of workers who provide essential services to communities across the country,” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents 800,000 federal and Washington, D.C., workers.

Vought had warned that federal agencies could cut jobs in a government shutdown, but the Trump administration largely resisted after funding expired last week. Asked at a news conference before Vought’s announcement why no layoffs had occurred, the Senate’s top Republican, John Thune, signaled it would happen soon.

“The White House has now been fired for 10 days to do anything in the hopes that enough Senate Democrats would come to their senses, do the right thing and fund the government,” he said.

“I expect them to start making decisions about how to move the money, which agencies and departments will be affected, which programs will be affected and who will be employees. That’s what a shutdown does.”

The AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the United States, responded to Vought’s post on Friday, saying: “America’s unions will see you in court.” »

Last week, AFGE and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) filed a request for a temporary restraining order to prevent the Trump administration from conducting reductions in force (RIF) during the shutdown. The unions filed an emergency motion Friday for a temporary restraining order, following Vought’s post.

Lee Saunders, president of AFSCME, said, “These mass layoffs are illegal and will have devastating effects on the services that millions of Americans depend on every day. Whether it’s food inspectors, public safety workers, or the countless other public servants who keep America running, federal employees should not be a bargaining chip in this administration’s political games.”

“By illegally terminating these workers, the administration is not only targeting federal employees, it is harming their families and the communities they serve every day. We will use every legal avenue available to stop this administration’s illegal attacks on the freedoms and jobs of public employees.”

Congressional Democrats have refused to vote for a Republican-backed bill to restore funding unless it includes a package of concessions focused on health care. After seven unsuccessful votes on party spending bills, Senate Republican leaders have suspended the chamber until next Tuesday, meaning the impasse likely won’t be resolved before then.

The layoffs occurred on the same day that government employees received only partial pay covering the last days of September but not the beginning of October, since the credits expired at the beginning of the month.

At a news conference Friday morning, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson blasted Senate Democrats for failing to support the GOP bill, which passed his chamber on a near party-line vote. If the government is not reopened by next Wednesday, U.S. military personnel face missing pay.

“This is the last paycheck 700,000 federal workers will receive until Democrats in Washington decide to do their job and reopen the government,” Johnson said.

“Starting next week, America’s service members, many of whom are living paycheck to paycheck, will miss a full paycheck. If Democrats don’t end this shutdown by Monday, then October 15 will slip away.”

Johnson kept the House out of session throughout the shutdown in an effort to pressure Senate Democrats into supporting the Republican funding proposal. Earlier this week, a group of House Democrats sent the president a letter asking him to allow legislation to pass that would ensure U.S. troops would be paid during a shutdown, but Johnson refused to bring lawmakers back to Washington.

The Senate has become a choke point in the funding battle because any bill requires at least 60 votes to advance in the House. In exchange for their support, Democratic senators are demanding that premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans be extended beyond their end-of-year expiration date.

They also seek guarantees against Donald Trump’s rollbacks of funding approved by Congress, a restoration of money for public media and reversal of cuts to the Medicaid health program for poor and disabled Americans.

Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, condemned the impact of the impasse on public servants.

“It is wrong to make federal employees suffer because our leaders in Congress and the White House have failed to keep our government open and operational,” Stier said.

“Our air traffic controllers, VA nurses, smoke bombers and food inspectors are not responsible for this government shutdown, and they should not bear the financial burden created by the failures of our elected officials. The irony is that members of Congress and senior White House officials continue to get paid.”

Earlier this week, on October 7, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to provide details on the status of any planned layoffs, the agencies involved, and whether any federal employees have been called back to work to conduct layoffs, by Friday, October 10.

A September 30 report from the Center for American Progress claimed that a government shutdown limited the Trump administration’s ability to make layoffs, citing Office of Management and Budget guidance that recognized that any permanent layoffs must have been initiated before the shutdown began.

“Constraints on permanently laying off federal employees during a shutdown exist largely because of the Anti-Deficiency Act and the distinction between “closure furloughs” that occur during an expiration of congressional appropriations and “administrative furloughs,” which are department and agency procedures on how to permanently lay off personnel, including – for example – through a RIF,” the report, written by Greta Bedekovics, associate director of democratic policy at the Center for American Progress, says. “The Trump administration’s threats to lay off federal employees should be understood as an administration goal that will be pursued with or without a government shutdown and should not guide lawmakers’ decisions about whether to support government funding bills.”

Shrai Popat contributed additional reporting