The White House is now making good on its threats to fire federal workers because of the government shutdown, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said Friday.
“The RIFs have begun,” Mr. Vought wrote on X, referring to the reductions in force or layoffs of federal workers.
A budget office spokesperson said the reductions are “substantial.”
OMB had directed agencies to look for reductions in force in a memo sent late September.
Roughly 750,000 nonessential federal employees are furloughed during the shutdown, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The administration had been hinting that the RIFs were coming, but never gave a concrete deadline.
The government shutdown entered its 10th day on Friday with no signs of a resolution to the standoff in the Senate over approving funding.
Senate Democrats have been filibustering a House-passed temporary spending bill that would fund the government through Nov. 21, while Congress works on long-term spending bills to cover the remainder of the fiscal year.
The Democrats are demanding negotiations about adding $1.5 trillion to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies and other programs.
The government shut down Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year,
The layoffs are one of many decisions that the White House has to make while managing limited funds during the shutdown.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, told reporters Friday that the White House would “probably” move money around to pay active duty military troops who will miss a paycheck on Wednesday because of the government shutdown.
“I think to their credit, the White House has now for 10 days laid off doing anything in hopes that enough Senate Democrats would come to their senses and do the right thing and fund the government,” he said. “But now that … people are going to start missing paychecks, this gets real. This gets real for families, a lot of military families who live paycheck to paycheck, a lot of American families who live paycheck to paycheck, who are federal employees.”
Mr. Thune said he expects the White House “to start making some decisions about how to move money around, which agencies and departments are going to be impacted, which programs are going to be impacted, which employees are going to be impacted.”
• Lindsey McPherson contributed to this article, which also includes wire service reports.
