President Donald Trump’s administration instructed federal agencies Wednesday night to prepare for mass layoffs if the government shuts down Oct. 1, after federal funding runs out.
The memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget directs agencies to consider firing employees working on any program that is not funded by another law, such as Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacted in July, and which does not align with the president’s priorities. Once government funding is reinstated after a shutdown, agencies should revise their plans to keep only the smallest number of employees necessary to legally operate, the memo says.
Any such layoffs would add to the sweeping reductions in the federal workforce initiated this year under the U.S. DOGE Service, the memo says. DOGE offered to pay federal employees through Sept. 30 to leave their jobs, although some agencies have since tried to rehire workers over concerns that the personnel cuts made it difficult to perform some functions.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Riley Beggin over at The Washington Post
