The Trump administration has begun laying off thousands of federal workers in an effort to pressure Democrats amid the ongoing government shutdown.
The RIFs have begun, White House Office of Management Director Russell Vought announced in a post on X on Friday morning. A spokesman for his office confirmed the cuts had started and were substantial. Their size and scope began coming into focus later on Friday, when the administration disclosed that seven agencies had started laying off more than 4,000 workers.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use the shutdown to reduce the federal workforce.
By law, the federal government must give its workers at least 30 days' notice before laying them off. After Vought's statement, major departments such as Treasury and Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed they were issuing notices to employees, while Homeland Security announced layoffs at its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Details remained sparse, causing concern among employee unions. The American Federation of Government Employees and AFL-CIO have filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of Vought's announced plans to carry out layoffs during the shutdown. AFGE president Everett Kelley lamented, It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country.
The layoffs are unprecedented. Unlike in past shutdowns where furloughed employees returned to work when the government reopened and were compensated for their time away, currently about 40% of the federal workforce - approximately 750,000 people - are affected.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump and Vought of causing deliberate chaos, while Republicans claimed that Democrats were responsible for the shutdown by not agreeing to a spending plan that they claim would preserve essential funding for health insurance.
Vought's office had been preparing reduction-in-force plans aimed at optimizing federal employment, further intensified by the ongoing lapse in appropriations, which has given the administration leverage to carry out its long-term goals of reducing the federal workforce.
Career services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that the government sector had announced nearly 300,000 planned job cuts this year, with a significant portion attributed to the administration's efficiency efforts.
