Democrats hit back Thursday at President Donald Trump’s threat to fire thousands of federal workers if the government shuts down as soon as next week.
After the White House budget chief warned of permanent layoffs, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., vowed Democrats won’t be bullied into supporting a Republican stopgap spending bill to fund the government past Tuesday night.
“We will not be intimidated by your threat to engage in mass firings. Get lost,” Jeffries wrote on social media.
“Democrats are united in defense of the healthcare of the American people,” he added Thursday.
Trump countered by claiming Democrats actually want to use the shutdown fight to encourage illegal immigration, without elaborating.
“This is all caused by the Democrats,” Trump said at the White House. “They’ve asked us to do something that’s totally unreasonable. They never change.”
Republicans proposed a stopgap spending measure that would extend government funding through about Thanksgiving. They passed it in the House but they need some Democratic votes to get it through the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster.
Democrats demanded the restoration of some health care cuts and an extension of subsidies to Obamacare insurance plans in exchange for allowing the continuing resolution to pass.
Trump canceled a White House meeting with Democrats planned for Thursday, leaving both sides pessimistic that a deal can be reached to avert a shutdown.
The Office of Management and Budget said in a memo late Wednesday that agencies should present plans for mass layoffs of workers handling federal programs whose funding would lapse next week and are “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”
The memo, penned by OMB chief Russ Vought, notes that Trump’s signature "Big Beautiful Bill" provides "ample resources to ensure that many core Trump Administration priorities will continue uninterrupted."
That would be a much more aggressive step than in previous shutdowns, when federal workers not deemed essential were furloughed but returned to their jobs once Congress approved government spending.
Mass layoffs would amount to another massive upheaval in a federal workforce that has already faced major rounds of cuts this year from the austerity campaign launched by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
The move from OMB is a clear effort to ratchet up pressure on Democrats to cave.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., gave in to GOP pressure during a similar standoff six months ago, when he eventually provided enough Democratic votes to let that extension pass.
Schumer said in a statement that the OMB memo is an “attempt at intimidation" and predicted the “unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back.”
Democrats believe Trump is in a much weaker political position now and they are more galvanized to fight back, especially over the explosive issue of health care cuts.
Trump’s approval ratings have dropped significantly and American voters tell pollsters they don’t approve of his handling of the economy amid price rises and his unpopular trade war. The draconian Medicaid cuts that Republicans included in Trump’s signature bill are also deeply unpopular.
Jeffries and Schumer believe voters will blame the president for fallout from the shutdown that now appears likely.
But Trump relishes the chaos that comes with a shutdown and may take unforeseen steps to punish his political enemies like cutting funding to blue states and scrapping programs that Democrats support.
OMB noted that it held its first planning call with other federal agencies this week to plan for a shutdown.
The budget office plays point in managing federal government shutdowns, particularly planning for them ahead of time. Past budget offices also posted shutdown contingency plans — which would outline which agency workers would stay on the job during a government shutdown and which would be furloughed — on its website, but this one has not.
OMB noted that it had asked all agencies to submit their plans in case of a government shutdown by Aug. 1.
“OMB has received many, but not all, of your submissions,” it added. “Please send us your updated lapse plans ASAP.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
