Federal government layoffs likely to be in thousands, White House confirms amid shutdown; shifts blame to Democrats

Karolin Leavitt confirmed that the federal layoffs because of the government shutdown are likely to be in the thousands.

After hinting at massive layoffs because of the federal government shutdown, the White House Thursday confirmed that the figure of layoffs is likely to be in the thousands. Ahead of President Trump’s meeting with Office and Management Budget Director Russell Vought, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said thousands are likely to lose their jobs. “It’s likely going to be in the thousands. It’s a very good question, and that’s something that the Office of Management and Budget and the entire team at the White House here again, is unfortunately having to work on today,” Leavitt told reporters. “These discussions and these conversations, these meetings, would not be happening if the Democrats had voted to keep the government open,” she added.Leavitt said that the administration will be looking to make cuts from agencies that don’t align with the values of the president. “We’re going to look at agencies that don’t align the administration’s values that we feel are a waste of the taxpayer dollars,” Leavitt said adding that Democrats should be blamed for the situation as they caused the shutdown. “And look, unfortunately, these conversations are happening because we don’t have any money coming into the federal government right now, and so the president wants to be a good steward of the American taxpayer dollar during a time when our balance sheet is looking very grim because the Democrats chose to shut the government down,” the press secretary said. Trump suggested Tuesday that his administration could make cuts to programs during a government shutdown, and his budget office last week directed agencies in a memo to prepare for mass firings. The president also told One America News, “there could be firings, and that’s their fault,” blaming the Democrats.“And it could also be other things. I mean, we could cut projects that they wanted, favorite projects, and they’d be permanently cut,” Trump said. “I’m allowed to cut things that should have never been approved in the first place, and I will probably do that.”