U.S. Government Shutdown Enters Third Week With 10,000 Federal Layoffs Looming

As the US government shutdown drags into its third grueling week—Day 16 and counting with Congress in total deadlock—the Trump administration is ramping up aggressive layoffs, eyeing over 10,000 federal workers to slash what it labels as wasteful bureaucracy and force Democratic concessions. White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, speaking on the Charlie Kirk show, forecasted the cuts soaring "north of 10,000," vowing to be "very aggressive" in dismantling operations tied to opposition priorities. "We want to be very aggressive where we can be in shuttering the bureaucracy," Vought asserted, positioning the moves as essential belt-tightening in a standoff sparked by Trump's October 1 veto of a stopgap funding bill.

The axe fell sharply last Friday, with Justice Department court filings disclosing more than 4,100 immediate dismissals across key agencies, hammering the Treasury (disrupting IRS operations), Health and Human Services (halting family planning and disease prevention), Education (slashing special needs programs), Housing and Urban Development (freezing affordable housing funds), plus Commerce, Energy, and Homeland Security (weakening cyber defenses). Vought brushed off the tally as just a "snapshot," hinting at escalating rounds of reductions in force (RIFs) that could strip billions from Democratic bastions—$18 billion from New York City's infrastructure alone, $2 billion from Chicago, and climate funds from 16 blue states—while sparing core Trump-aligned sectors.

President Trump, intensifying the pressure, has branded Democrats as "hostage-takers" on X, threatening targeted purges of "opposition-aligned" staff unless a House-passed resolution funding through November passes. He pledged to shield military pay somehow, but uncertainty has driven uniformed personnel to food banks in droves, with reports of 30% surges in visits from service families facing their first skipped checks. Civilian fallout is equally dire: veterans and long-timers like IRS tax processors and HHS grant managers received abrupt terminations via email, accounts locked without notice, violating standard 60-day RIF protocols (shortened to 30 in crises).

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Unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees, cried foul over the "politically motivated purge," securing a temporary injunction Wednesday from California federal Judge Susan Illston, who lambasted Trump's "Democrat agencies" rhetoric as unlawful. The admin appealed instantly to the Ninth Circuit, prolonging anxiety for thousands. Senate Democrats, under Chuck Schumer, dig in against Trump's $2 trillion cut demands, decrying the tactic as sabotaging expertise—the federal workforce already trimmed by 200,000 in recent years.

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