U.S. Govt Has Started To Fire Federal Workers

(RTTNews) - The U.S. government has started to layoff federal employees, the Office of Management and Budget's chief Russell Vought said on the 10th day of the shutdown, which is the first in six years.

In a post on the social media platform X, Vought said, "The RIFs have begun." RIF is an acronym for reduction in force.

President Donald Trump had signaled such a move, which he said was intended to reduce the excess workforce that Democrats had created.

The government went into shutdown on October 1 after congressional leaders failed to reach a consensus over federal funding. The OMB had asked federal agencies to provide RIF plans. The shutdown is set to extend to next week as the Senate is set to meet next only on Tuesday.

A report in the news website POLITICO cited an OMB spokesperson as confirming what the White House budget chief said regarding layoffs and added that the RIFs are substantial. The spokesperson also clarified that these were not furloughs, the report said.

According to POLITICO, the federal agencies affected by mass firings are Interior, Homeland Security, Treasury, Environmental Protection Agency, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development departments.

A White House official blamed the Democrats for the government and the current predicament of federal workers, reports said.

HHS and the education department confirmed that some of their workforce will be affected by the layoffs, CNN reported.

Republican Senator Susan Collins voiced strong opposition to the White House's decision to layoff federal workers. The U.S. has witnessed government shutdowns for brief periods in the past, but permanently laying off federal employees did not happen then. They are usually furloughed during the shutdowns and, reinstated and paid when the blackout is over.

The Congressional Budget Office had estimated that about 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed each day during the shutdown and the total cost of their compensation would be around $400 million.

On September 30, Federal employee unions - AFGE and AFGSCME, jointly filed a lawsuit in a San Francisco district court against the government to prevent layoffs during a shutdown.

The unions asked the court to declare that OMB unlawfully exceeded its statutory authority in ordering the shutdown firings and to invalidate any actions agencies take pursuant to the order.