White House budget chief says government job cuts have begun

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s administration has begun laying off federal workers on Friday during the government shutdown, with a White House budget office spokesperson characterizing the layoffs as “substantial” in number.

The U.S. health agency confirmed that some of its workers have received layoff notices.

“The RIFs have begun,” White House budget director Russell Vought wrote on social media, referring to so-called reductions in force. He offered no other details.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to fire federal workers during the shutdown standoff, in its 10th day on Friday, and has suggested his administration will aim primarily at “Democrat agencies.”

He has ordered the freezing of at least $28 billion in infrastructure funds for New York, California and Illinois — all home to sizable Democratic voters and critics of the administration.

Trump’s Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of Congress, but need at least seven Democratic votes to pass a stopgap funding measure in the Senate, where Democrats are holding out for an extension of subsidies for Americans who buy health insurance through a government program.

Employees across multiple divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services have received layoff notices, communications director Andrew Nixon said. The 78,000 workers at the sprawling agency manage major health insurance programs, monitor disease outbreaks, fund medical research, and perform a wide range of other health-related duties.

Roughly 41% of the agency’s staff have been ordered not to report to work during the shutdown, while others have been ordered to continue working without pay.

Nixon said the layoffs were targeted at those who had been furloughed but did not provide further details.

“HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda,” he said.

Other government agencies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been ordered not to report to work during the shutdown.

Roughly 300,000 federal civilian workers will leave their jobs this year due to a downsizing campaign initiated by Trump.

Labor unions representing federal workers have sued to stop him, saying any layoffs during a shutdown would be illegal.

A federal judge is due to hear the case on October 16.

The government is required by law to give workers 60 days’ notice ahead of any layoffs, though that can be shortened to 30 days.