The White House began a sweeping downsizing of its workforce on Friday as the government shutdown dragged into a second week.
“The RIFs have begun,” White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought wrote on X, using an abbreviation for reductions in force. An OMB official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Fox News Digital that the downsizing would be “substantial.”
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The Trump administration has placed the blame squarely on Democrats for the funding stalemate, which is expected to trigger sweeping layoffs across the federal workforce.
Previous government shutdowns have tended to be more about political drama than economic disruption, with markets and jobs recovering quickly afterward.
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However, this shutdown, stretching into its first week, comes as the Trump administration warns that furloughs across the federal government could become permanent. Typically, furloughs are temporary; once Congress resolves the standoff, employees return to work and receive back pay.
On Sunday, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said that layoffs will start “if the president decides that the negotiations are absolutely going nowhere.”
He told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he’s hopeful “we can get the Democrats to see that it’s just common sense to avoid layoffs like that.”
If Democrats are “reasonable once they get back into town on Monday,” Hassett added, then Trump will see “no reason for those layoffs.”
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