Federal Workforce Layoffs Begin Amid Government Shutdown
In today’s episode of Are We Winning? Are We Great Again Yet? The Trump administration has sounded the alarm that the post-government shutdown layoffs have already begun, and federal employees are getting their pink slips.
“The RIFs have begun,” White House budget director and Project 2025 architect Russell Vought posted on X Friday afternoon, using an acronym for reductions-in-force.
According to the Washington Post, “The Trump administration moved to begin laying off federal workers Friday while the government was shuttered, fulfilling threats from President Donald Trump to take advantage of the closure to shave off still more parts of the federal workforce he dislikes.” In other words, not only is the Trump administration using blatant propaganda in an attempt to convince America that it is the Democrats who caused the shutdown — by having virtually all federal government websites say as much — but Trump is using the shutdown as an excuse to cut the federal workforce under the guise of reducing waste and fraud.
In fact, according to Politico, during a Cabinet meeting Thursday, Trump flat-out said he would also be using the shutdown to target government programs started by Democrats, not necessarily because they are wasteful, but because the opposing party launched them, and, apparently, this administration is no longer even pretending it would prioritize what’s best for the people and the nation over partisan nonsense.
“We’re only cutting Democrat programs, I hate to tell you, but we are cutting Democrat programs,” Trump reportedly said. “We will be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans, frankly.”
Mind you, lest we forget, this shutdown happened while the Republican Party controls both chambers of Congress, the White House and most of the Supreme Court.
It’s also worth mentioning that while this agenda didn’t begin with the shutdown, it almost seems as though the Trump administration had already planned to take advantage of the funding lapse that ultimately caused it.
From Politico:
Since before the government shutdown began, the White House budget office has been previewing plans to seize on the funding lapse to permanently terminate the employment of federal workers.
In a memo to agencies two weeks ago, OMB instructed Trump administration officials to prepare to carry out reduction-in-force — or RIF — plans during the shutdown, targeting employees who work for programs that are not legally required to continue or clash with Trump’s policy priorities.
“I think they held off as long as they could,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
Anyway, White House officials, speaking under the condition of anonymity, told the Post that the RIFs “will be substantial” and will extend to the departments of Commerce, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security, and others, including the EPA.
And because this is the Trump administration, we should have expected that they would gut programs that provide help to those in need. As NPR reports, the Department of Education gutted “the office responsible for overseeing special education, according to multiple sources within the department.”
More from Politico:
The reduction-in-force, or RIF, affects the dozens of staff responsible for roughly $15 billion dollars in special education funding, and for making sure states provide special education services to the nation’s 7.5 million children with disabilities.
“This is decimating the office responsible for safeguarding the rights of infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities,” said one department employee, who, like the others NPR spoke with, requested anonymity for fear of retribution.
According to sources, all staff in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), with the exception of a handful of top officials and support staff, were cut in Friday’s RIF. The office is the central nervous system for programs that support students with disabilities, not only offering guidance to families but providing monitoring and oversight of states to make sure they’re complying with the landmark Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
One can imagine that loyal Trump supporters who don’t actually know things are buying the waste reduction narrative and continuing to praise everything their messiah is doing.
Those MAGA-supporting federal workers who are getting fired might feel a little different, though.
SEE ALSO:
Here’s Where We Are In The Current Government Shutdown
In Shutdown, Trump Praises Project 2025 Lead As Health Care Cuts Loom
