The Schumer Shutdown stopped being an argument and became a real problem for working people. Democrats have kept the government closed to score political points with the party’s left, and that decision has consequences no one should cheer. Now the debate is about paychecks, not messaging.
After ten days of stalemate the administration moved to use the tools available to it. White House Budget Director Russell Vought made the change public, signaling a hard next step for federal staffing.
“The RIFs have begun,” White House Budget Director Russell Vought posted on social media Friday, referring to reductions in force, the federal government’s term for layoffs.
Thousands of people will be laid off as a result of the shutdown, according to a senior White House official. The scope of the cuts was not immediately clear.
Department of Health and Human Services employees were among those affected, according to HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon.
https://twitter.com/russvought/status/1976686105199268177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
That blunt notice made the stakes clear: this is no longer theoretical. People who show up to work, pay mortgages and support families could see notices in their inboxes, and agencies are scrambling to identify which positions continue. The human cost is immediate.
Make no mistake, the responsibility sits with Democrats. They are the lawmakers holding funding hostage and choosing a shutdown over compromise, and that political decision is the trigger here. If leaders keep prioritizing internal feuds, ordinary workers pay the price.
The White House is forcing their hand and conservative reformers who have long pushed reducing bureaucracy are watching this play out with mixed feelings. Some conservatives welcome a chance to shrink what they call waste, while others worry about the immediate fallout for loyal public servants. The arguments over size and scope of government just turned very personal for many families.
Here’s the wife of Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL):
Agencies being hit are already talking about how positions were designated. Officials say many receiving notices were labeled non-essential and divisions are moving quickly to comply with guidance tied to funding gaps. That shift has people inside agencies and in affected communities scrambling for answers.
A spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department, in a statement to CNBC, said, “HHS employees across multiple divisions have received reduction-in-force notices as a direct consequence of the Democrat-led government shutdown.”
“HHS under the Biden administration became a bloated bureaucracy, growing its budget by 38% and its workforce by 17%,” department spokesman Andrew Nixon said.
“All HHS employees receiving reduction-in-force notices were designated non-essential by their respective divisions. HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda,” Nixon said.
A number of Treasury Department employees also have received RIF notices.
Vought’s message has put Democrats in a box: end the shutdown or accept more job cuts. A legal challenge from AFGE, the largest federal employee union, is already underway, so this fight will be contested in courts.
