White House begins plan for mass firings if there’s a government shutdown

President Donald Trump’s administration instructed federal agencies Wednesday night to prepare for mass layoffs if the government shuts down Oct. 1, after federal funding runs out.

The memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget directs agencies to consider firing employees working on any program that is not funded by another law, such as Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacted in July, and which does not align with the president’s priorities. Once government funding is reinstated after a shutdown, agencies should revise their plans to keep only the smallest number of employees necessary to legally operate, the memo says.

Any such layoffs would add to the sweeping reductions in the federal workforce initiated this year under the U.S. DOGE Service, the memo says. DOGE offered to pay federal employees through Sept. 30 to leave their jobs, although some agencies have since tried to rehire workers over concerns that the personnel cuts made it difficult to perform some functions.

The directive increases pressure on congressional Democrats, who have insisted they will not support a funding extension through Nov. 21 if Republicans do not agree to their demands on health care. However, Democratic leaders indicated Wednesday night that the memo does not change their calculations.

“This is an attempt at intimidation. Donald Trump has been firing federal workers since Day One — not to govern, but to scare,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Wednesday. “These unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back, just like they did as recently as today.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wrote on X that the administration’s “goal is to ruin your life and punish hardworking families already struggling with Trump Tariffs and inflation.”

It is also a departure from previous shutdowns, when employees have been temporarily taken off the job and then returned when new funding was approved. The memo instructs agencies to tell employees that they could be fired even if they aren’t furloughed during a shutdown. When the government closes due to lack of funds, some employees typically continue working — temporarily without pay — and others stay home.

The GOP law passed this summer “provided ample resources to ensure that many core Trump Administration priorities will continue uninterrupted,” OMB officials wrote in the memo. “Programs that did not benefit from an infusion of mandatory appropriations will bear the brunt of a shutdown.”

The memo continued: “We remain hopeful that Democrats in Congress will not trigger a shutdown and the steps outlined above will not be necessary.”

A spokesperson for OMB did not respond to a request Wednesday night for information on which programs would remain open under a shutdown. The GOP law increased spending on defense and immigration enforcement, among other areas, which could mean more money is available to pay for those programs.

The memo was first reported by Politico.

As news of possible mass reductions in force trickled out among federal workers in Signal group chats and Reddit on Thursday morning, many employees reacted with fear and anger — although others said they hoped it was just a ploy to bring Democrats to the bargaining table. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

“In a year already filled with cruel and relentless attacks on the federal workforce, this is yet another example of this administration treating us like pawns,” said an EPA staffer.

“Personally, I am numb,” said a Federal Emergency Management Agency worker. “But I know my colleague who is sole supporter of her family is worried.”

One worker at the General Services Administration said he wished Trump officials would just hurry up and fire him if that’s the ultimate plan.

“I’m done living in fear,” he said, adding that he and every one of his remaining colleagues feel miserable and ineffective most days. “Congratulations on ruining the federal workforce in less than a year.”

Many departments appear to have done little, if any, formal planning for a shutdown, according to more than a dozen staffers across multiple agencies — including the State Department, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration. Most federal workers said they were learning about what might happen to the government, and their jobs, from the news.

That is atypical, some said. Discussions about the shutdown at the State Department are taking place by the water cooler or in private chats, sending rumors filtering throughout the agency by word-of-mouth, one worker there said. There has been “zero guidance” released, which seems unusually behind schedule, the employee said.

“We are going in blind,” the person said.

Other places are just starting to plan, employees said. Two employees at FEMA said their agency has begun determining which staffers will have to keep working during a shutdown and which will be furloughed part or full time. Agency leaders are also busy preparing for long-term reductions, warning that there will be fewer positions and less money for everything starting next fiscal year, one staffer said.

As all this is going on, the second FEMA employee noted, the agency is also trying to develop plans to handle an earthquake in the New Madrid zone and possible tropical storms or hurricanes next week. The employee said they have no idea what chaos might be unleashed if large-scale firings proceed. FEMA will somehow have “to recall us unpaid if a storm comes up,” the employee said.

The fiscal year will end next week, and Republicans and Democrats in Congress are at an impasse over how to fund the government after that. While Republicans have the majority in both the House and Senate, they need some Democratic support to pass a funding extension in the Senate.

Republicans have proposed a funding extension known as a continuing resolution, or CR, through Nov. 21. It would continue operations at current spending levels and is what’s known as a “clean” CR, because it does not include policy priorities except for new funding for security in each branch of government after conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s killing.

Democrats countered with their funding proposal, which would fund the government through Oct. 31 and implement several of their priorities, including extending subsidies for people on Affordable Care Act insurance plans and reversing cuts to Medicaid enacted under the GOP’s tax and immigration bill.

Both failed in the Senate late last week before lawmakers left Washington for a weeklong recess. The upper chamber plans to vote again on the Republican plan Monday.

In March, Schumer supported a six-month funding extension due to fears that a shutdown would empower OMB Director Russell Vought and Elon Musk, then the overseer of DOGE, to make unilateral decisions on government spending, despite fierce backlash from the Democratic base.

“A shutdown gives the executive branch — in this case Trump, Musk, Vought and DOGE — pretty much complete freedom as to what parts of the government to fund and what parts not to fund,” Schumer told reporters at the time. “They would use their power in a shutdown to decimate the government and close all kinds of agencies that they didn’t like.”

But this time, Schumer says the situation has changed and that Democrats must fight to improve health care in the wake of cuts implemented under the GOP tax and spending law.

Schumer and Jeffries planned to meet with Trump this week to negotiate a path forward, but Trump canceled via a social media post, arguing that no meeting “could possibly be productive” given the Democrats’ “unserious and ridiculous demands.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) called Trump this week to urge him not to meet with Jeffries and Schumer, arguing their wish list is too expensive and would subsidize health care for people in the country illegally. Other congressional Republicans reiterated that concern in statements Thursday.

“The only reason a government shutdown is on the table is because Democrats are demanding $1.5 trillion in unrelated spending demands including handouts for illegal immigrants, bailouts for insurance companies and extensions of wasteful covid-era programs,” said House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.).

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• Kadia Goba and Meryl Kornfield contributed.