Trump Gives Dems Choice: Reopen Govt. Or Mass Federal Firings Are Coming
President Donald J. Trump is sending a clear message to congressional Democrats: fix the government shutdown — or face sweeping cuts to the bloated federal bureaucracy.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Tuesday alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, President Trump said his administration is preparing to move forward with major reductions in the federal workforce if the shutdown persists for “four to five more days.”
“I’ll be able to tell you that in four or five days. If this keeps going on, it’ll be substantial, and a lot of those jobs will never come back,” Trump said. “You’re going to have a lot closer to a balanced budget.”
The President’s comments came after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats voted down a continuing resolution that would have reopened the government. Instead, the Democrat-controlled Senate chose to prolong the shutdown — reportedly to demand more funding for programs that benefit illegal immigrants.
When asked which programs might be on the chopping block, Trump hinted that his administration was eyeing a long list of wasteful federal expenditures.
“Oh, sure. We have a lot, I’m not going to tell you, but we’ll be announcing it pretty soon. But we have a lot of things that we’re going to eliminate and permanently eliminate,” Trump said.
The President suggested that Democrats’ refusal to negotiate had ironically given him an opportunity to root out inefficiency across Washington’s sprawling bureaucracy.
“You know, one of the things that we have as some advantage, you could say, but because of the shutdown, which I think they made a big mistake, we’re able to take out billions and billions of dollars of waste, fraud and abuse, and they’ve handed it, you know, to us on a silver platter,” Trump added, per the Daily Caller.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Trump’s Office of Management and Budget has already begun working with federal agencies to identify unnecessary positions and programs for elimination.
“Unfortunately, because the Democrats shut down the government, the president has directed his cabinet and the Office of Management and Budget is working with agencies across the board to identify where cuts can be made and we believe that layoffs are imminent,” Leavitt told the Daily Caller.
The current budget standoff centers on Democrats’ demands for expanded Medicaid reimbursements for states providing healthcare to illegal immigrants, along with additional subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
According to President Trump, several Democrats have privately reached out seeking meetings with him — some claiming to be party leaders — though the President said he was unfamiliar with a number of the individuals who contacted him.
Meanwhile, Democrats appear to be facing growing political backlash for their role in the standoff. A recent op-ed in The Hill by former Wall Street executive and conservative commentator Peek argued that the shutdown “highlights three weaknesses undermining the Democratic Party as we head toward next year’s midterm elections.”
Peek wrote that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is under increasing pressure from the party’s progressive wing, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who could mount a primary challenge against him in New York.
“Second, President Trump has pushed Democrats to burrow into their far-left rabbit holes by occupying the all-powerful center,” Peek noted. “Third, Democrats are pushing endlessly to spend more money; voters think that’s a mistake.”
Schumer has already faced internal criticism this year for briefly working with Republicans to prevent a previous shutdown — a move that infuriated progressives demanding greater confrontation with the Trump administration.
Now, with Democrats again choosing obstruction over cooperation, the White House appears poised to take decisive fiscal action — and voters may soon decide which side was really putting America first.