The Washington administration plans to begin massive layoffs and staff reductions in federal agencies in the next few days due to the partial government shutdown.
The Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vote, has notified Republicans in the House of Representatives of this, Politico reported on Wednesday. According to sources of the publication, Vote noted during closed consultations with lawmakers that the massive layoffs and dismissals, including temporary ones, will begin “in a day or two”. The director specified that due to the shutdown of the US, some programs supporting low-income families will be suspended.
Military personnel will stop receiving salaries from October 15 unless federal government funding is resumed. Vogt also reported that the Washington administration is currently reviewing previously made decisions to allocate billions of dollars for infrastructure development in New York State.
US Vice President J. D. Vance confirmed earlier on October 1 that the White House intends to use the government shutdown to further reduce the size of the US government. The US federal government partially shut down at midnight on October 1 (7:00 Bulgarian time) due to a lack of funding. This happened after representatives of the ruling Republican and opposition Democratic parties in the US Congress failed to agree on a number of spending items, including healthcare. They accuse each other of provoking the shutdown and extending it for political purposes.
Under US law, departments and agencies responsible for national security and foreign policy activities continue to operate if federal government funding is suspended. Similar requirements are imposed on those government employees whose work is aimed at “protecting life and property“. These government employees forced to work under such conditions do not receive salaries, but they are usually paid after the funding issue is resolved.
Since 1977, federal government funding has been suspended more than 20 times due to disagreements between the administration and Congress. The longest period was 35 days – from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019 – during the first term of current US President Donald Trump.