The US Government shutdown is in its 10th day. Photo / Brendan Smialowski, AFP
The White House has begun mass layoffs of federal workers as US President Donald Trump tries to amp up pressure on opposition Democrats to end a Government shutdown that has crippled public services.
With the crisis set to go into a third week and no end in sight, Trump’s budget chief Russ Vought announced on social media that the administration had begun following through on threats to fire some of the 750,000 public servants placed on enforced leave.
The Office of Management and Budget, headed by Vought, told AFP the layoffs would be “substantial”, but gave no precise numbers or details of which departments would be most affected.
The President has repeatedly emphasised that he views cutbacks as a way of increasing pain on Democrats and said last week he was meeting Vought to determine which of “the many Democrat agencies, most of which are a political scam” should be targeted.
Democratic leaders in Congress have dismissed the threats as an attempt at intimidation and said mass firings would not stand up in court.
“A shutdown does not give Trump or Vought new, special powers to cause more chaos or permanently weaken more basic services for the American people, and the simple fact is this administration has been recklessly firing – and rehiring – essential workers all year,” said Patty Murray, the party’s lead senator on government funding.
“This is nothing new and no one should be intimidated by these crooks.”
A US Treasury spokesperson told AFP the department had begun sending out notices of layoffs, while the Health and Human Services Department said it had started firing non-essential workers “as a direct consequence of the Democrat-led Government shutdown”.
Education officials were also reducing their workforce, a source with knowledge of staffing decisions at the department told AFP.
Public servants who hang on to their jobs still face the misery of going without pay while the crisis remains unresolved, with the stand-off expected to drag on until at least the middle of next week.
Adding to the pain, 1.3 million active-duty service military personnel are set to miss their pay due next Wednesday, which has not happened in any of the funding shutdowns through modern history.
“We’re not in a good mood here in the Capitol – it’s a sombre day,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a news conference marking the 10th day of the shutdown.
Rising tensions between the two parties have been on full display this week, with Johnson and Democratic senators clashing over the shutdown in front of the gathered press.
And there was a fiery exchange after a House Democratic leadership press conference when Republican Congressman Mike Lawler needled House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries over his role in the crisis.
Jeffries told Lawler to “keep your mouth shut” as the two traded barbs and he later called the Republican a “malignant clown”.
Non-essential government work stopped after the September 30 funding deadline, with Senate Democrats repeatedly blocking a Republican resolution to reopen federal agencies.
The sticking point has been a refusal by Republicans to include language in the bill to address expiring subsidies that make health insurance affordable for 24 million Americans.
With a prolonged shutdown looking more likely each day, members of Congress have been looking to Trump to step in and break the deadlock.
But the President has been largely tuned out, with his focus on the Gaza ceasefire deal and sending federal troops to bolster his mass deportation drive in Democratic-led cities such as Chicago and Portland.
“The American people are sick and tired of the chaos, crisis and confusion that has been visited upon the country by Donald Trump and Republican complete control of Congress,” Jeffries told a news conference.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, meanwhile, announced it would delay publication of key inflation data due next week to October 24, with the shutdown logjamming government data releases.
The consumer price index data is being published to allow the Social Security Administration to “ensure the accurate and timely payment of benefits”, it said.
– Agence France-Presse