White House Directs Federal Agencies to Prepare for Unprecedented Mass Firings in Government Shutdown Scenario

The White House budget office has instructed federal agencies to prepare plans for mass firings in the event of a government shutdown.

This directive represents a significant departure from standard shutdown procedures followed in recent years.

Typically, government employees considered nonessential during funding lapses are temporarily furloughed and later reinstated once funding resumes, usually receiving back pay for the interim period.

The directive for potential mass terminations was communicated in a memo sent Wednesday evening from the White House Office of Management and Budget to agency budget departments.

The full extent of these potential cuts remains unclear, and the OMB has broken with tradition by not publishing agency contingency plans for a shutdown scenario.

The memo instructs agencies to identify programs and expenditures where discretionary funding will expire on October 1 without alternative funding sources available.

"Such programs are no longer statutorily required to be carried out," states the memo.

Agencies would then develop plans to permanently eliminate positions in areas not aligned with Trump administration priorities.

These plans would be implemented if Congress fails to pass funding legislation before the October 1 deadline.

During typical shutdowns, approximately 60% of federal employees are classified as essential and continue working.

The remaining 40% are designated nonessential and instructed to stop working until funding is restored.

A large-scale termination of federal workers could significantly impact economic growth.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer characterized the move as an "attempt at intimidation" in a statement, adding that "these unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back."

Politico was first to report on the memo's existence.

Bobby Kogan, a former OMB official during the Biden administration who now serves as senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress, criticized the approach, stating: "Setting aside the question of legality, this would be an action of enormous self-harm inflicted on the nation, needlessly ridding the country of talent and expertise. It's also extortive. 'Give us what we want in a funding fight, or we'll hurt the country.'"

Lawmakers currently face an impasse regarding government funding beyond September's end.

Democratic lawmakers had scheduled a meeting with Trump on Thursday, but the president canceled the talks via social media.

He stated that Democrats must abandon their demands for renewed health care subsidies and an end to Medicaid cuts before he would agree to in-person discussions.

Earlier Wednesday, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries claimed that the Trump administration is already violating federal spending laws outside of a shutdown context.

He noted that Democrats are pushing for language in a stopgap measure to restrict the president's powers in this regard.

"Donald Trump continues to make up reasons to exercise emergency powers that don't exist, and he has done this outside of the context of a government shutdown," Jeffries remarked during a roundtable with Bloomberg editors and reporters.

In a post on X, Jeffries warned that Democrats "will not be intimidated" by the threat of mass firings.