Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought speaks to a television camera at the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., July 7, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
The Trump administration could cut more than 10,000 federal jobs during the government shutdown, White House budget director Russell Vought said Wednesday.
“We want to be very aggressive where we can be in closing down bureaucracy, not just funding,” said Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget.
“We have the opportunity now to do it, and that’s where we’re going to look for our opportunities,” he said during an appearance on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” broadcast from the White House.
The Trump administration has warned that the shutdown, now in its third week with no end in sight, would lead to mass layoffs of federal workers.
The White House said it sent layoff announcements, called reduction in force notices or RIFs, to about 4,200 federal employees on Friday. This figure was revised slightly downward on Tuesday.
But Vought, during his podcast appearance Wednesday, said he expects the number of RIFs to increase.
“It could increase,” he said. “I think we’ll probably end up being north of 10,000.”
The White House shared its rolling RIF estimates in court papers as part of a federal lawsuit filed by unions representing public workers, who are seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out layoffs during the shutdown.
At a hearing in the case Wednesday, a federal judge said she was inclined to grant that request for now.
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