US: OMB Director Vought Suggests That Mass Government Layoffs Have Begun

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought writes on X, "The RIFs have begun." The message, which provides no additional details, appears a reference to the 'reduction-in-force' threat Vought issued ahead of the shutdown, promising mass layoffs at federal government agencies. 

• Vought wrote in a memo on September 24, a week before the government shutdown, that federal agencies should prepare reduction-in-force plans for mass firings targeting employees who work for non-legally-mandated programs.
• "In the memo, OMB told agencies to identify programs, projects and activities where discretionary funding will lapse Oct. 1 and no alternative funding source is available. For those areas, OMB directed agencies to begin drafting RIF plans that would go beyond standard furloughs, permanently eliminating jobs in programs not consistent with President Donald Trump’s priorities in the event of a shutdown," per Politico.
• If the OMB follows through on its threat, it would break from regular shutdown procedure, where federal workers have been furloughed and reimbursed with backpay when the government is reopened. So far, the Trump administration has refrained from hardline action but with Democrats dug in for a lengthy shutdown, the White House appears set for sweeping cuts. This strategy is also likely to include additional recissions packages, as noted in earlier bullet.
• Trump said at a Cabinet meeting yesterday, “We’re only cutting Democrat programmes, I hate to tell you, but we are cutting Democrat programmes."
• Andrew Desiderio at Punchbowl notes on X that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) just said the White House “to their credit” has held off on some of the more drastic measures, but added: “They're going to start making some decisions as about how to move money around, which agencies and departments are going to be impacted.”