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The White House said Friday that mass layoffs of federal employees have begun, marking one of the most severe escalations yet in the government shutdown that has paralyzed Washington for 10 days.
Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), confirmed the move on X, writing that “the RIFs have begun,” referring to reduction-in-force plans that will cut thousands of jobs across federal agencies.
An OMB spokesperson described the layoffs as “substantial” but did not specify the total.
Court filings later showed the administration plans to dismiss at least 4,100 federal employees during the ongoing shutdown.
President Donald Trump reiterated his pledge to use the cuts to “inflict pain” on Democrats, telling reporters the number of firings would be “a lot, and it’ll be Democrat-oriented because we figure they started this thing.”
Democratic leaders in Congress denounced the layoffs as an intimidation tactic.
“Russell Vought just fired thousands of Americans with a tweet,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement, calling the move “deliberate chaos.”
“Let’s be blunt: Nobody’s forcing Trump and Vought to do this. They don’t have to do it; they want to,” he said.
Unions representing some 800,000 federal employees filed an emergency motion in a San Francisco court to halt the firings, ahead of an Oct. 16 hearing on their legality.
A U.S. Treasury Department spokesperson told AFP that layoff notices had been sent out, while the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) confirmed that it had begun dismissing nonessential workers “as a direct consequence of the Democrat-led government shutdown.”
Other agencies implementing layoffs include the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Homeland Security, and Energy, according to court filings.
Federal employees who remain on the job are going without pay as the standoff drags into its second week.
Adding to the pressure, 1.3 million active-duty military personnel are expected to miss their pay next Wednesday—an unprecedented event in modern U.S. shutdown history.
“We’re not in a good mood here in the Capitol—it’s a somber day,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters at a press briefing marking the 10th day of the shutdown.
Nonessential government operations halted after the Sept. 30 funding deadline, with Senate Democrats repeatedly blocking a Republican proposal to reopen agencies. The main point of contention has been GOP opposition to extending subsidies that make health insurance affordable for 24 million Americans.
With the crisis worsening, lawmakers have urged Trump to personally intervene, but he has focused instead on the Gaza ceasefire deal and his domestic deportation campaign targeting Democratic-led cities, including Chicago and Portland.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said it rescheduled key inflation data—initially due next week—to Oct. 24, citing the need to “ensure accurate and timely payment of benefits” through the Social Security Administration.
Court filings submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California detailed the first breakdown of the layoffs.
According to Stephen Billy, a senior OMB adviser, notices were sent on Friday to:
That totals between 4,152 and 4,262 positions, with more potential cuts under review.
Billy said some agencies “are actively considering additional layoffs,” while others are still determining which offices may face reductions. “All figures remain tentative and subject to change,” he said.
Federal employee unions blasted the move as unlawful and politically driven.
“It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which filed the lawsuit.
Union leaders said the Education Department was hit hardest, with nearly all employees below the director level in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education dismissed.
Democrats accused the White House of weaponizing the shutdown for political ends.
“They’re callously choosing to hurt people—the workers who protect our country, inspect our food, and respond when disasters strike,” Schumer said. “This is deliberate chaos.”
Even some Republicans voiced concern.
“I strongly oppose OMB Director Russ Vought’s attempt to permanently lay off federal workers who have been furloughed due to a completely unnecessary government shutdown,” said Sen. Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The administration defended the layoffs as “lawful, necessary, and fiscally prudent,” arguing they would pressure Senate Democrats to approve a stopgap funding bill extending government operations through Nov. 21.
Officials said agencies had been ordered to prepare RIF plans before the shutdown began, targeting programs deemed “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”
Trump warned earlier this week that if the standoff continued, “a lot of those jobs will never come back.”
“These unnecessary and misguided reductions in force will further hollow out our federal government, rob it of critical expertise, and hobble its ability to serve the public,” said Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan watchdog.
Judge Susan Illston, who is presiding over the union lawsuit in California, is expected to rule within days on whether to halt the layoffs.
Her decision could determine how long federal operations remain crippled as the shutdown nears its third week, with hundreds of thousands of workers furloughed or working without pay.
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