Democrats shrug off Trump admin threat to fire thousands in shutdown
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 24. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Congressional Democrats are largely dismissing a threat from the Trump administration to use a government shutdown to try to accelerate the firings of thousands of federal workers.
Why it matters: The shrugs are coming even from lawmakers who represent large swaths of the federal workforce — underscoring the extent to which Democrats are dug in on government funding.
Driving the news: White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought sent out a memo to federal agencies Wednesday night warning them to prepare for mass firings.
- Agencies should draft reduction-in-force notices for employees whose funding will lapse on Oct. 1 and whose roles are "not consistent with the President's priorities," Vought wrote in the memo, which was first reported by Politico.
- That would be a drastic escalation of the temporary furloughs that usually accompany government shutdowns.
What they're saying: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) fired back with a post on X labeling Vought a "malignant political hack," adding, "We will not be intimidated by your threat to engage in mass firings. Get lost."
- In a separate post from his political account, Jeffries sought to connect Vought's threat to the upcoming off-year elections in Virginia, telling voters there to "remember in November."
- Similarly, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement that the memo is an "attempt at intimidation" and that the firings "will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back."
The intrigue: Democrats whose districts have high concentrations of federal workers echoed their leaders' dismissals.
- "This is absolute bluster and bs," Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) said in a statement. "A shutdown gives the Administration no additional legal authority to fire or RIF federal employees."
- Said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) in a statement to Axios: "The Trump Administration is clearly hoping to manipulate federal workers and the public into blaming others for the mass firings they are carrying out, but nobody should be fooled."
- Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said: "President Trump is engaged in mafia-style blackmail, with his threats ultimately harming the American people."
Between the lines: At least part of the reason Democrats are so unbothered, lawmakers say, is that the Trump administration has already been purging the federal workforce since January.
- Jeffries had told Axios earlier on Wednesday, ahead of the memo's publication, that Vought has "been completely and totally out of control throughout the entirety of this year, and there's been no shutdown."
- Walkinshaw, in an interview, said some of his constituents are "a little frustrated that ... we're not hearing more in the dialogue that the Trump administration has been shutting down the federal government for nine months."
- "It's one of the reasons, I think, Trump and the White House have a lot less leverage in this fight than they think," he said. "Agency after agency has been effectively shut down. USAID. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Department of Education."
