The White House intends to lay off about a third of its staff due to the partial shutdown of the US federal government. This is stated in a plan published on its website on Thursday.
According to the document, 554 of the 1,733 White House employees will temporarily not report to work. The rest will continue to do so.
According to the plan, the US Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an agency previously led by entrepreneur Elon Musk, will not be affected by the measures taken due to the shutdown. All 45 of its employees will continue to work. The White House Office of Management and Budget will keep 437 of its 530 employees – the most of any White House department.
The US federal government partially shut down at midnight on October 1 due to a lack of funding. This happened after representatives of the ruling Republican and opposition Democratic parties in Congress could not agree on a number of spending items, including health care.
According to US law, departments and agencies responsible for national security and foreign policy activities must continue to operate during a suspension of funding by the federal government. Similar requirements apply to government employees whose work is aimed at “protecting life and property“. These government employees forced to work under these conditions do not receive salaries, but their salaries 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 presidential term of current US leader Donald Trump).