The Trump administration’s plans for a mass reduction in force if a partial government shutdown begins at midnight Oct. 1 have drawn sharp criticism from AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and other union leaders.
The Office of Management and Budget reportedly indicated Wednesday that mass firings could be on the table. Congress remains deadlocked on a funding deal just days before the fiscal year ends. The House on Sept. 19 passed a stopgap spending bill to fund the federal government, but the measure failed in the Senate on Wednesday.
An OMB memo Wednesday directed agencies to “use this opportunity to consider reduction in force notices for all employees in programs, projects, or activities.” The directive applies if three conditions are met: discretionary funding lapses Oct. 1, no other funding is available, and the work is not “consistent with the president’s priorities.”
“America’s federal workers — the hardworking people across the country who keep our essential government services running — have already suffered immensely from the chaos and destruction inflicted by this administration’s Project 2025/DOGE agenda,” Shuler said Thursday in a statement. “They are not pawns for the president’s political games.
“This administration must fix the mounting healthcare crisis and find a funding solution now to avoid a costly government shutdown. We urge the administration to get to work. Time is running out.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., are pushing to undo Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed July 4, The Hill reported. They said they are not opposed to a government shutdown if their demands are ignored.
But Trump has held firm on the topic and abandoned a previously scheduled meeting with them, alleging they have “unserious and ridiculous demands.”
“The truth is simple: Republicans cannot fund the government without Democratic votes,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the nation’s largest federal employee union, in a statement Thursday. “That means the only path forward is compromise. The president and congressional leaders must sit down and negotiate in good faith to keep the lights on for the American people. Nothing less is acceptable.
“Federal employees are not bargaining chips. They are veterans, caregivers, law enforcement officers, and neighbors who serve their country and fellow Americans every day. They deserve stability and respect, not pink slips and political games.”
Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, called the partisan standoff “stalemate politics at its worst.”
“Instead of the parties working together, we face another potential government shutdown,” Greenwald said Thursday in a statement. “This is politics at its [worst], using the federal budget as a game of chicken with federal employees as the collateral damage. Again. And this time even more so with the administration’s latest illegal threat of mass layoffs if the government shuts down. This needs to stop.
“We must expect more from the government and stand with federal employees so they can continue to provide the services we rely on and are not used as political pawns. We all need to call on Congress and the administration to do their jobs. The mandate is clear: Negotiate a bipartisan deal to fund the government so that services continue and taxpayer dollars are not wasted by a shutdown that serves no one.”
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