The Trump administration has begun laying off thousands of federal workers in an effort to pressure Democrats amid the ongoing government shutdown.
'The RIFs have begun,' White House Office of Management Director Russell Vought announced in a post on X on Friday morning, referring to an acronym for 'reductions in force'.
A spokesman for his office confirmed the cuts had started and were 'substantial'. Their size and scope began coming into focus later on Friday, when the administration disclosed seven agencies had started laying off more than 4,000 workers.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use the shutdown to further his long-held goal of reducing the federal workforce.
By law, the federal government must give its workers at least 30-days notice that it is laying them off. After Vought's tweet, major departments such as Treasury and Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed they were issuing notices to employees.
The Department of Education and Department of Housing and Urban Development intended to lay off at least 400 employees apiece, while the Departments of Commerce, Energy, Housing and Urban Development and Homeland Security each planned cuts ranging between 176 to 315 employees, according to the filing.
The layoffs are unprecedented. In past shutdowns, furloughed employees returned to work when the government reopened and were paid retroactively for their time away. Both furloughed and 'essential' workers who must still carry out their job duties are not paid when government funding is temporarily cut off.
Furloughed employees are legally supposed to receive back-pay after a shutdown ends and they return to work, but the Trump administration has insinuated this might not happen.
Significantly culling the federal workforce has been a long-term priority for Vought. The president and his budget chief have greeted the shutdown as a unique opportunity to make further firings on top of the thousands of cuts they have made since Trump returned to office in January through a combination of firings, buyouts, administrative leave, and resignations.
