Vought Vows to Slash Hundreds of Agencies, Says Cuts Could Top 10,000 Jobs
Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, told listeners Wednesday the Trump administration intends to eliminate more than 10,000 federal positions during the current government shutdown. He’s been quietly building a blueprint to pare back large swaths of the federal bureaucracy and now says the shutdown gives him the chance to move. Supporters call it tough stewardship of taxpayer dollars, while critics warn about human costs.
Vought made the remarks on The Charlie Kirk Show and painted an aggressive plan for agency cuts. “We want to be very aggressive where we can be in shuttering the bureaucracy, not just the funding but the bureaucracy, [so] that we now have an opportunity to do that, and that’s where we’re going to be looking for our opportunities,” Vought said.
He listed targets by type rather than by building, saying the administration will hunt for programs it considers ideological or redundant. “We’re gonna keep those rips rolling throughout this shutdown because we think it’s important to stay on offense for the American taxpayer and the American people in getting a government that, if there’s an opportunity to have less bureaucracy,” Vought said.
“Think of Green New Deal programs at the Department of Energy.”
“Think [of] the minority business development agency at Commerce that divvies up business grants on the basis of race.”
“Think environmental justice at EPA.”
“Think about CISA. CISA was an area that we riffed which was participating in censorship [of] the American people.”
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Hours after Vought’s remarks, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston issued a temporary restraining order blocking the administration from proceeding with layoffs, saying the firings appeared to violate federal law. The court moved quickly to halt any immediate personnel actions while the parties sort out the legal arguments. That order puts the brakes on the White House’s near-term plans.
“It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost,” Illston said, as reported by The Associated Press. “It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.”
The White House had already issued reduction-in-force notices to roughly 4,200 federal workers, with Vought predicting that number would rise. “It could grow higher,” Vought said. “I think we’ll probably end up being north of 10,000.”
The layoffs are unfolding as the shutdown moves into its third week, with thousands of government employees furloughed or forced to work without pay. For now, workers and taxpayers will watch court rulings and the White House’s next steps.
Vought has been building this playbook for years, and allies say the goal is to stop the federal government from funding experiments that split taxpayers into winners and losers. Conservatives argue trimming such programs returns power and money to the private sector and local communities.
The restraining order from Judge Illston is a legal speed bump, not the final chapter, and lawyers on both sides will be moving quickly. Expect appeals and courtroom fights to unfold while agencies try to adapt.
At the same time, unions and advocacy groups are raising alarms about layoffs and the immediate pain for families who depend on federal paychecks. Those human concerns are central to the plaintiffs’ legal arguments and to the public debate.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to use remaining congressional funds to keep active-duty military personnel paid. The message was clear: troops come first even as the White House presses its case to shrink civilian bureaucracy.
For now, the battle is procedural and political; agencies must plan for possible cuts even as courts weigh in. How the judiciary, the White House, and Congress move in the next weeks will decide which programs survive and who keeps working.
