White House says layoffs are imminent (Pic credit: AP)
The Trump administration has warned that mass layoffs of ‘nonessential’ federal employees could begin within days if the ongoing US government shutdown continues. At a White House press briefing on Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt announced that federal layoffs are imminent, slamming Democrats for the looming cuts. “We believe layoffs are imminent. They are, unfortunately, a consequence of this government shutdown,” she told reporters.“Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do and it’s because the Democrats have put us in this position. If the Democrats did not vote to shut down the government, we would not be talking about layoffs today.”Leavitt stated that President Donald Trump and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought are working with agencies “across the board” to identify where cuts may be implemented. However, she did not state a specific percentage of layoffs that will occur. She also did not state a specific day when the layoffs would happen, but simply said it would occur “soon.” Leavitt confirmed that Vought will discuss the layoffs with members of the House Republican Conference to prepare them for constituent backlash. “It would be irresponsible of us not to take a look at each and every agency and get an understanding of what we’re going to have to do moving forward to do the best we can in the midst of this government shutdown,” she added. Vice President JD Vance, who joined the briefing at the White House, stressed that “nonessential” employees would be the first to lose their jobs if the standoff persists. “We’re not targeting federal agencies based on politics. We’re targeting the people’s government so that as much as possible of the essential services can continue to function,” he said. Vance added that the administration would “have to save money in some places so the essential services don’t get turned off in other places.”Nonessential employees are generally those whose roles are not vital to national security or public health. They include administrative personnel, staff at national parks and museums, certain research positions, The remarks came a day after President Trump said he would use the shutdown to fire “a lot” of civil servants and cut federal programs and benefits he opposes. The US government officially entered shutdown at 12:01 am Wednesday after lawmakers failed to reconcile competing spending bills. Republicans have blamed Democrats’ health care demands for the deadlock, while Democrats insist the GOP must return to the negotiating table.
