White House warns of mass firings across government if there is a shutdown: report

The Trump administration is instructing federal agencies to prepare for mass layoffs in the event of a government shutdown on October 1, according to a report.

A Wednesday evening memo from the Office of Management and Budget, obtained by Politico, directed agencies to consider reductions in force if a shutdown occurs. The agencies, according to the memo, should consider reductions in employees in programs that don’t have another source of funding, and are “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”

Agencies should issue reduction-in-force notices to all employees working in such programs, regardless of whether the government worker is furloughed or excepted during a shutdown, the OMB wrote.

Even after the government approves 2026 appropriations, the agencies should revise their plans “to retain the minimal number of employees necessary to carry out statutory functions,” the memo states. Typically, furloughed workers are brought back once the government reopens.

The plans would further reduce the federal workforce, which earlier this year was subject to sweeping cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE had offered a “deferred resignation” to federal employees, agreeing to pay them through September 30 if they left their government jobs. Hundreds of workers who lost their jobs in the DOGE-led mass firings earlier this year have been asked to return on October 6, CNN reported this week.

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The memo noted “many core Trump Administration priorities” will continue, thanks to the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed in July.

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

The programs that will be unaffected were not named. However, an OMB official told Politico that Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits, military operations, law enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and air traffic control will go uninterrupted. The Independent has asked OMB for more information.

The memo stated: “We remain hopeful that Democrats in Congress will not trigger a shutdown and the steps outlined above will not be necessary.”

Unless Congress can support a proposal before September 30, the government will shut down. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution last week that would have kept the government open through November 21, but Senate Democrats prevented the legislation from moving forward in their chamber over demands to include healthcare provisions.

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Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate yet need 60 votes for a continuing resolution to pass.

On Wednesday, hours after Democratic leaders Senator Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said that Trump had agreed to meet with them in the Oval Office, the president appeared to change course, saying he was refusing to meet with the pair.

“I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

“Donald Trump just cancelled a high stakes meeting in the Oval Office with myself and Leader Schumer,” Jeffries wrote. “The extremists want to shut down the government because they are unwilling to address the Republican healthcare crisis that is devastating America.“