【By Observer Net, Li Qi】

On October 10 local time, US President Trump fulfilled his previous threat during the government shutdown, officially initiating the federal employee cutback action. Previously, US government shutdowns only led to temporary unpaid leave, and if this layoff is realized, it will be the first time in American history that a large-scale permanent layoff occurs during a government shutdown.

The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Russell Vought, briefly announced on the social platform "X" in the afternoon: "The layoffs have begun." He used the personnel terminology abbreviation "RIFs," which stands for "Reduction in Force."

X platform

A White House insider confirmed this action to The Washington Post and said, "The scale of the layoff will be quite significant," but did not disclose specific numbers of affected individuals or department details.

According to a court filing from OMB, the scope of the layoff is extensive, affecting multiple key federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Education, and the Department of Treasury, with more than 4,000 people affected. Among them, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a key department responsible for national cybersecurity, is also listed on the layoff list, while over 1,300 positions at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are expected to be cut.

Estimates suggest that approximately 300,000 federal civilian employees will be affected. The root cause of this large-scale layoff can be traced back to a systematic government downsizing plan initiated by the Trump administration earlier this year.

On February 11, the White House website released an executive order titled "Implementing the President's 'Department of Government Efficiency' Workforce Optimization Plan," which required federal agencies to cut non-essential positions, streamline personnel, and establish a dedicated "Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)" team to carry out the plan.

Additionally, the executive order explicitly set a strict "hiring ratio" of 4 to 1, meaning that for every four employees who leave, only one person can be hired.

In the accompanying statement released on the same day, the White House outlined the goal of the plan as "restructuring the federal workforce," aiming to make government agencies "smaller and more efficient" through a combination of natural attrition and formal layoffs. Subsequently, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) jointly issued detailed implementation guidelines, requiring departments to submit detailed layoff and restructuring plans, preparing for this concentrated layoff action.

Moreover, according to the guidance issued by the White House, affected employees will receive at least a 30-day notice before the layoff takes effect, with most receiving at least a 60-day buffer period.

The Washington Post evaluated the layoff during the government shutdown as the result of years of planning by Water, the head of the White House Budget Office.

Russell Vought (right), Reuters

As one of the core designers of the "layoff plan," Vought designed a plan to significantly reduce the federal bureaucracy for Trump's second term. His office had previously threatened massive layoffs potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of people during a government shutdown, and also informed agencies that adjustments to the layoff plan might be needed after the government resumes operations.

Before the government shutdown, Trump told American media that he might fire "a lot of people"; after the shutdown began, Vice President Vance and White House Press Secretary Karoline Levet also hinted that the layoffs would proceed.

Although the White House stated that the layoff was a "routine practice during the shutdown," in reality, the layoff has no direct connection to the payment capacity of the shutdown.

It is understood that during a US government "shutdown," federal employees are generally not fired. The usual practice is that employees providing "essential services" continue to work without pay, while hundreds of thousands of non-essential position employees are forced to take unpaid leave. Once the government resumes operations, these employees usually get their wages paid back.

However, on October 8, Trump said in an interview that employees forced to take leave may not receive back pay this time. On the 9th, he further threatened at a cabinet meeting, "We will cut some very popular but not supported by Republicans Democratic projects."

The New York Times reported on October 9 that attempting to fire federal employees during a "shutdown" could exacerbate the current fiscal deadlock and come at a high cost. The report suggests that the Trump administration is viewing the "shutdown" as a political advantage, trying to reorganize the federal budget and retaliate against political opponents.

According to several federal employees who were aware of the situation, the layoffs implemented this week seem mainly targeting departments that do not align with the policies of the Trump administration. Affected agencies include the family and community policy unit under the Department of Health and Human Services, and the office responsible for fair housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Additionally, six employees revealed that a department within the Department of Education responsible for improving students' academic performance was also cut.

Nevertheless, this layoff action contradicts internal warnings issued by senior government officials. These officials believe the measure is legally questionable. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that, during the initial phase of the shutdown, several officials privately advised agencies not to conduct layoffs without funding, as it could likely be illegal.

These officials warned that the Anti-Deficiency Act prohibits the government from incurring new expenses when Congress has not allocated funds. Since the layoff process is complex and involves financial commitments such as severance compensation, such actions could likely violate the act.

Currently, the Federation of Federal Employees has filed a lawsuit, arguing that the government has neither the authority nor the ability to carry out layoffs during the shutdown. The national president of the organization, Everett Kelley, criticized the Trump administration in a statement, saying that the government "illegally fired" thousands of employees who provide essential services to communities across the country, calling the act "shameful."

Kelly stated, "Federal employees have had enough of being pawns for politicians pursuing political and personal interests. It's time for Congress to fulfill its responsibility and immediately negotiate to end this 'shutdown.'"

Kelly retweeted the union's legal statement on X platform

Senate Pro Tempore, Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Patty Murray (Democrat) accused Trump of "choosing to bring more pain to the American people" through this new round of layoffs.

Murray said, "No one forced Trump and Vought to harm American workers; they just wanted to do it themselves. But this isn't anything new, and no one should be scared by these frauds."

However, Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, defended the layoffs, stating that the purpose was to curb personnel growth in the department during the Biden administration's response to the pandemic.

Nixon said, "All employees of the Department of Health and Human Services who received layoff notices were identified as 'non-essential' by their respective departments. The Department of Health and Human Services will continue to close wasteful and redundant institutions, especially those units that conflict with the Trump administration's 'Make America Healthy Again' agenda."

This article is an exclusive article by Observer Net. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7559840410886079027/

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