The director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, announced on Friday that the Trump administration has started terminating federal employees following the government shutdown initiated by Democrats.
“RIF has begun,” Vought mentioned on X, indicating troop reductions that would significantly cut down the federal workforce.
An OMB representative confirmed to Breitbart News that the RIF has commenced and is considerable.
Eric Teetzel, CEO of the Center for Renewing America, emphasized that RIF represents a permanent job elimination rather than a temporary furlough.
PBS noted on Friday:
Shortly before the government shutdown began on October 1, the White House revealed plans to aggressively pursue layoffs, instructing federal agencies to submit their layoff strategies to the Budget Office for evaluation. The report mentioned that reductions could impact federal programs lacking funding during a government shutdown, which would otherwise be unfunded and not aligned with the president’s priorities.
Approximately 300,000 federal civil servants are set to leave their positions this year as part of President Donald Trump’s initiative to downsize the federal government.
OMB further contended that federal employees not receiving pay due to the shutdown are not necessarily entitled to back pay.
Breitbart News reported:
The number of affected workers may rise as the White House continues its legal review. Senate Democrats aim to resolve the week-long shutdown by denying back pay to around 750,000 federal workers afterward.
A memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget stated that the Public Employees Fair Treatment Act (GEFTA), enacted during President Trump’s first term, is “defective” and does not ensure automatic compensation for federal workers post-shutdown.
A senior official from the White House remarked: “Does this law automatically include all furloughed employees? The usual belief is, ‘Yes, they’re included.’ Our perspective is, no, they aren’t.”
“If Democrats had approved a straightforward continuing resolution, none of this would have occurred,” a senior administration official told Axios.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) informed Breitbart News that taxpayers are incurring a cost of $400 million daily to keep nonessential federal workers off the job during the Democratic-led shutdown.
