White House Preparing to Carry Out Mass Layoffs If Democrats Force Government Shutdown
With the Sept. 30 fiscal deadline looming, President Donald J. Trump is turning a potential government shutdown into an opportunity to cut Washington’s bloated bureaucracy down to size.
Every year, Congress drags its feet on passing a budget, often resorting to short-term “continuing resolutions” to keep the lights on. But this year’s standoff is sharper than usual, with the Trump White House demanding cuts while Democrats push for trillions in new spending.
In preparation, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo to federal agencies — first obtained by Politico — directing them to treat a shutdown as more than a pause. It should be seen as a chance to eliminate wasteful jobs and programs that either lack funding, cannot be supported by other appropriations, or run contrary to the president’s America First agenda.
“Programs that did not benefit from an infusion of mandatory appropriations will bear the brunt of a shutdown, and we must continue our planning efforts in the event Democrats decide to shut down the government,” the memo stated.
The directive made clear that essential services — Social Security, Medicare, veterans’ benefits, the military, law enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and air traffic control — will continue uninterrupted.
But agencies were instructed to use this moment to issue Reduction in Force (RIF) notices to employees tied to programs meeting three criteria:
- Their discretionary funding ends Oct. 1.
- They lack alternative funding, such as that provided under H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
- Their activities are not consistent with President Trump’s priorities.
The guidance was blunt: these cuts should not stop once Congress eventually passes a new budget. “Once fiscal year 2026 appropriations are enacted, agencies should revise their RIFs as needed to retain the minimal number of employees necessary to carry out statutory functions,” the memo read.
In other words, Trump is using the possibility of a shutdown to accelerate one of his long-term goals: permanently shrinking the federal workforce and reining in the entrenched bureaucracy.
Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress are signaling they will block a Republican-backed continuing resolution unless their partisan demands are met. As The Wall Street Journal noted, the Senate returns just one day before the deadline, with little time to reconcile differences between the chambers.
The president has made it clear: if Democrats force a shutdown, it will be their doing. And if it happens, Trump is prepared to make sure Washington comes out leaner, not larger.