Trump shutdown warning: Federal employees could lose jobs

President Donald Trump’s administration has raised the stakes in a showdown with US Senate Democrats over a looming partial government shutdown, threatening to permanently remove workers from some federal agencies if funding runs out next week.

Late Wednesday, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) — which has played a key role in Trump’s campaign to reduce the size of government — sent a memo out to federal agencies. It instructed the departments to identify programmes, projects and activities where discretionary funding will lapse on October 1 if the US Congress does not pass legislation to keep the federal government open.

“Programs that did not benefit from an infusion of mandatory appropriations will bear the brunt of a shutdown,” it said.

The memo, which the White House shared with the media, told agencies to submit their proposed reduction-in-force plans to the OMB and to issue notices to employees if they are ultimately shut down.

The federal government is on the brink of its 15th partial shutdown since 1981 because lawmakers have failed to agree on a plan for discretionary funding for the new fiscal year, or about one-quarter of the $7 trillion budget.

On September 19, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a stopgap bill to fund the government through November 21. Senate Democrats rejected it, demanding that any legislation undo recent cuts to healthcare programs.

“This is an attempt at intimidation,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in response to the OMB memo. “Donald Trump has been firing federal workers since Day One — not to govern, but to scare.”

This is an attempt at intimidation.

Donald Trump has been firing federal workers since day one—not to govern, but to scare.

This is nothing new and has nothing to do with funding the government.

These unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the… pic.twitter.com/M4mms6tFGS

Shrugging off the threat of mass firings is a change in approach for Democrats compared to earlier this year, when a shutdown was avoided.

Since the first week of the Trump administration, Schumer has railed against OMB leader Russ Vought, calling his plans “dangerous” to working people and to the US.

Trump has waged a campaign to reduce the 2.4 million-member federal civilian workforce since January. Roughly 300,000 federal civilian workers will have left their jobs by the end of 2025, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told the Reuters news agency in August.

About 154,000 of those employees accepted buyouts and will drop off the US government’s payroll on September 30, the last day of the government’s fiscal year.

When Congress faced a funding fight in March, Schumer and top Democrats worried about how Trump could use a government shutdown to propel the downsizing of the federal government.

Schumer voted with nine other Senate Democrats in March to deliver the necessary votes to pass stopgap funding. Many rank-and-file Democrats, including leaders in the House, criticised leaders for failing to stand up to the Republican administration.

Republican leaders have so far held off on negotiating with Democrats.

“These dedicated workers have nothing to do with the ongoing political and policy disputes that have brought us to the brink of a shutdown,” Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat who represents many federal workers near the nation’s capital, said in a statement.