The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said on Friday that the mass dismissal of federal workers has begun. Many people see this as an attempt by the Donald Trump administration to put pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown approaches its ninth day.
Russ Vought, the head of the OMB, acknowledged the action in a post on X, saying, “RIFs have begun.” Reductions in Force, or RIFs, are a formal way to permanently cut the number of government employees.
A Key Difference Between RIFs and Furloughs
The administration’s choice is a huge and never-before-seen break from the usual way of doing things when funding runs out. In the past, non-essential government workers were furloughed.
Furlough: A temporary status of not working and not getting paid because the government has run out of money for the year (a government shutdown). When the government reopens, furloughed workers usually get their jobs back with full back pay. About 750,000 government workers were scheduled to be sent home without pay during this closure.
Reduction in Force (RIF) is a permanent layoff process that agencies utilize when they don’t have enough money, need to reorganize, or need to adjust the number of employees they can have. When funding comes back, employees who were let go through a RIF don’t automatically get their jobs back. However, they may have the right to be reassigned or to appeal.
The government is taking the shutdown as a justification to permanently cut jobs by starting RIFs during a temporary funding gap. This has led to strong legal and political opposition.
The number of layoffs and the agencies that are affected
The Justice Department’s court petition says that the administration is sending layoff notices to more than 4,200 federal employees in seven departments. However, the budget office said that the financing situation is still “fluid and rapidly evolving.”
These layoffs are aimed at projects and workers who are considered “non-essential” and “not in line with the President’s priorities.” For instance, the Department of Education is firing almost all of the people who work in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education below the director level. At the same time, layoffs at DHS are impacting the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Political Condemnation
Congress has criticized the use of RIFs during a shutdown from all sides of the aisle. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the administration was to fault for the decision, calling it “deliberate chaos.”
“Let’s be clear: no one is making Trump and Vought do this,” Schumer said. “They want to do it; they don’t have to.” They’re choosing to hurt individuals on purpose—the workers who keep our country safe, check our food, and help when calamities happen.
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also strongly opposed: “I strongly oppose OMB Director Russ Vought’s attempt to permanently lay off federal workers who have been furloughed because of a completely unnecessary government shutdown.”
The firings started on the same day that a lot of federal workers, both those on furlough and those who were working without pay, were supposed to get less or missing paychecks. The mass layoffs are likely to make it even harder for Congress and the White House to negotiate a compromise on funding and end the shutdown.