Trump administration begins massive federal layoffs amid government shutdown

The Trump administration has begun laying off thousands of federal workers, marking an unprecedented escalation in the ongoing government shutdown and intensifying political tensions in Washington.

“The RIFs have begun,” White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought announced Friday on X, referring to “reductions in force,” the formal term for permanent layoffs. A spokesperson confirmed the cuts had started and were “substantial.”

According to court filings later that day, seven federal agencies have begun notifying more than 4,000 employees that their jobs are being eliminated.

Broad layoffs across key agencies

The layoffs—unlike past shutdown furloughs—represent permanent job cuts, not temporary unpaid leave. The OMB filing revealed that:

• The Treasury Department will dismiss roughly 1,446 workers, the largest share of the total.
• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will lay off between 1,100 and 1,200 employees.
• The Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) each plan to cut at least 400 workers.
• The Departments of Commerce, Energy, and Homeland Security expect reductions ranging from 176 to 315 employees.
• Around 20–30 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received preliminary “intent to RIF” notices, meaning more cuts could follow.

A spokesperson from the White House budget office told the BBC on Saturday that these numbers are “just a snapshot in time,” adding that “more RIFs are coming.”

Legal and political backlash

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the AFL-CIO filed an emergency lawsuit Friday in federal court, seeking to block the layoffs. They argue that firing federal workers during a shutdown is illegal.

“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 to communities across the country,” said AFGE President Everett Kelley.

In response, government attorneys argued that agencies have wide discretion to manage their internal operations, and that a restraining order would “irreparably harm the government.”

A sharp break from past shutdowns

The move marks a historic departure from previous government shutdowns, during which furloughed employees typically returned to work and received back pay once funding was restored.

Under the current shutdown—now in its 10th day—about 750,000 federal employees, or 40 percent of the federal workforce, have been affected. Both “non-essential” and “essential” workers are currently working without pay, though it remains unclear whether they will receive compensation later.

A strategic push to shrink government

President Donald Trump has long vowed to shrink the federal bureaucracy, and insiders describe the current layoffs as part of a broader ideological goal rather than a temporary cost-saving measure.

Republican Senator John Thune defended the decision, saying, “At some point they were going to have to make these decisions and prioritize where they’re going to spend money when the government is shut down.”

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump of creating “deliberate chaos” to advance his agenda. Democrats have refused to approve the Republican-backed spending bill, demanding protections for health insurance tax credits and restoration of cuts to Medicaid.

Meanwhile, Trump has publicly embraced the reductions. On Truth Social, he said he had met with Vought “to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political scam, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”

Long-term workforce reductions

Since Trump’s return to office in January, the administration has already cut thousands of federal positions through firings, buyouts, and resignations. The Partnership for Public Service estimates the federal workforce has shrunk by about 200,000 employees since September.

A report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that the government had announced nearly 300,000 planned job cuts this year—most affecting federal workers through the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), a White House cost-cutting initiative reportedly overseen by Elon Musk.

The Trump administration now appears poised to use the shutdown as a tool to make those cuts permanent, signaling a major transformation of the federal government’s size and scope not seen in modern U.S. history.