Trump Administration Signals Imminent Federal Workforce Reductions

(MENAFN) On the first day of the U.S. federal government shutdown, White House Budget Director Russell Vought announced Wednesday that large-scale layoffs of federal workers could begin within “one to two” days, marking a dramatic escalation by the Trump administration in the ongoing budget standoff.

The shutdown—America’s first in nearly seven years—was triggered after the U.S. Senate failed to pass a short-term funding bill to keep government operations running.

“A lot of good can come down from shutdowns,” President Donald Trump said Tuesday. “We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn't want.”

Echoing the president’s tone, Vice President JD Vance confirmed the administration’s intent to reduce the federal workforce if the budget deadlock persists. “We are going to have to lay some people off if the shutdown continues,” he said. “We don't like that. We don't necessarily want to do it, but we're going to do what we have to do to keep the American people's essential services continuing to run.”

In a memo circulated last week, Vought directed federal agencies to slash staffing in any programs, projects, or activities “not consistent with the President's priorities.” However, no estimates were provided on the potential number of job losses.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected that approximately 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed each day during the shutdown, with a daily price tag of $400 million in compensation.

“The effects of a shutdown depend on its duration and on an Administration's decisions about how to proceed,” the CBO said in a recent statement.

According to Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, the Trump administration has already taken steps to freeze large federal grants and is now “threatening massive layoffs of federal employees.”

“Trump has said he wants to target programs and people favored by Democratic leaders. That could backfire in the upcoming elections because voters want leaders to work together to resolve important budget issues,” West told media.

Asked about the potential fiscal impact of the proposed cuts, Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told media the savings would be minimal. “It is very trivial. Federal salaries in total are only about 5 percent of the budget,” he said.

“It's not clear how many people will actually be laid off, but let's say it's 20,000 ... That saves you less than 2 billion dollars over a year, or 0.03 percent of the federal budget,” Baker added.

Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, warned of the public fallout. “Many Americans grossly underestimate how much they rely on actual day-to-day government services. So whether they oppose the layoffs or support them, when they discover there's something they can't do because of the shutdown, they are likely to be surprised.”

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