Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), speaks to the media outside the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., Thursday, July 24, 2025.
Aaron Schwartz | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Trump administration began furloughing thousands of federal workers across various agencies on Friday, the 10th day of the U.S. government shutdown.
President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Friday afternoon that the number of federal workers who would be laid off would be “high.”
“It will be biased toward Democrats,” Trump said, reiterating his promise to target programs he believes are favored by Democratic officials.
Permanent job cuts, officially known as “reductions in force,” are different from furloughing civil servants. Unemployed employees return to work after the government shutdown ends.
The layoffs were first announced by Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget.
“RIFs have begun,” Vought wrote on X.
The OMB soon after confirmed his tweet and said the reductions “are substantial.”
The RIF notices were sent to workers in the Departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services, Commerce, Education, Energy, EPA, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, and the Interior.
A Justice Department filing in U.S. District Court in San Francisco late Friday showed that at least 4,000 federal employees had received layoff notices, with Treasury and HHS seeing the largest reductions, of more than 1,100 employees each.
The complaint follows a lawsuit filed Sept. 30 by two unions that represent many federal workers, the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of County, State and Municipal Employees.
The lawsuit challenges the legality of the RIFs, which, at the time the lawsuit was filed, were under threat from the Trump administration. A hearing on the unions’ request for a temporary restraining order to block the layoffs is scheduled for Wednesday in San Francisco.
“These mass layoffs are illegal and will have devastating effects on the services that millions of Americans rely on every day,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said in a statement.
“Whether it’s food inspectors, public safety officers or the countless other public servants who keep America running, federal employees should not be used as bargaining chips in this administration’s political games,” Saunders said.
The layoffs began four days after National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett warned in a CNBC interview that he could “start taking severe action” if the shutdown continues due to the lack of a congressionally approved interim funding deal.
Hassett said “any public servant who loses their job” will be held accountable for being fired by Democrats.
Although many federal employees have been furloughed due to the shutdown, it is not customary during a shutdown to permanently lay off government employees.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said: “Russell Vought just fired thousands of Americans with one tweet.
“Let’s be frank: No one is forcing Trump and Vought to do this,” Schumer said in a statement. “They don’t have to do this; they want to. They callously choose to hurt people – the workers who protect our country, inspect our food, respond to disasters. It’s deliberate chaos.”
“Here’s what’s worse: Republicans would rather see thousands of Americans lose their jobs than sit down and negotiate with Democrats to reopen the government,” Schumer said.
Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement: “I strongly oppose OMB Director Russ Vought’s attempt to permanently lay off federal workers who were laid off due to a completely unnecessary government shutdown caused by Senator Schumer.
“Whether federal employees are working without pay or furloughed, their work is extremely important to serving the public,” Collins said. “Arbitrary terminations result in insufficient staffing to carry out the agency’s mission and deliver essential programs, and cause harm to families in Maine and across our country.”
Since the shutdown began last week, Vought has announced in tweets the Trump administration’s decisions to freeze and cut billions of dollars in federal funding for projects in states and cities controlled by Democratic elected officials.
The Trump administration and congressional Republicans have repeatedly sought to blame Democrats for the government shutdown and its negative consequences.
Democratic senators have largely refused to vote for a stopgap Republican funding plan that would reopen the government, saying any such resolution must include a deal to extend the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced tax credits.
These tax credits reduce the cost of Obamacare health insurance plans purchased by millions of Americans on government-run ACA marketplaces.
Republican and Democratic funding resolutions failed to pass the Senate on Thursday for the seventh time.
The shutdown is expected to continue at least until early next week, as the Senate is not expected to resume work until Tuesday.
Although Republicans hold majorities in the Senate and House, they need the votes of at least some Democratic senators to pass a funding bill because of the 60-vote threshold in the Senate required to avoid filibusters blocking legislation.
