America's Talking - Trump administration prepares for mass layoffs if government shuts down

Episode Date: September 28, 2025

(The Center Square) – With only six days until the federal government shuts down, Republicans and Democrats have yet to secure a funding deal – and the Trump administration is already planning on how to make the most of it. In a leaked memo, the Office of Management and Budget outlines plans for federal agencies that would run out of funding during a government shutdown to “use this opportunity” to consider permanently eliminating certain positions in federal programs, projects, and activities “not consistent with the President’s priorities,” consistent with applicable law. “[W]e must continue our planning efforts in the event Democrats decide to shut down the government,” the memo reads. Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxRead more: https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_21609d61-bdd8-483a-a1f4-4c43b00821e8.html Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to America's Talking, powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAlipp, Chief Content Officer at Franklin News Foundation, publisher of the Center Square Newswire service. The federal fiscal year ends Tuesday, September 30th, and as of now, there's no path to a deal between minority Democrats and majority Republicans in Congress to keep the federal government funded beginning Wednesday, October 1st. That means there's a very real possibility of a partial federal government shutdown. President Donald Trump's administration,

has threatened mass layoffs in the event of a lengthy shutdown. Joining me to discuss this is the Center Square congressional reporter, Teres Boudot. Terez, what's the latest on budget negotiations? The latest is that there's still a standstill. As you said, the government shutdown, partial government shutdown is that deadline is very close. The federal government runs out of money on September 30th, so shutdown then at midnight, so a shutdown would be October 1st. The problems that Democrats and Republicans just can't agree on a compromise, Republicans have passed through the House a continuing resolution, which essentially would keep government funding on cruise control for about seven weeks.

And that would give them enough time to finish the official proper 12 appropriations bills that reset and renew funding for government agencies. but they're not going to make that deadline, obviously. So they said, okay, we're going to pass a continuing resolution, a CR, bias some time. And so it just put government funding on cruise control and added some extra security for lawmakers. So I passed the House with no Democrat support. And it did not pass the Senate because Democrats introduced their own CR. And they are concerned that the CR the Republicans have doesn't do enough for the American people. say. So their own included more than about a trillion worth of policy riders. One of the big ones

would be permanently extending the COVID-19 era expansion of Obamacare premium tax credits. Those are going to expire in December. And so Democrats are saying, well, we need to take care of us now. Pologans are saying, this is not the time for it. We just need to keep the government open. And they're refusing to compromise on that. And, Democrats are refusing to vote for anything that doesn't include at least some of their health care-related demands. So that's where we're at right now. The Senate is out right now on recess, same at the House, and they're going to return next week, which will give them only 48 hours to come to a deal. And right now, things are not going in that direction. President

Donald Trump actually canceled a meeting recently earlier this week with. with Democratic leaders, because he was saying they're not going to give up on their demands, and there's no way we're granting them. So it was just going to be a waste of time. And so it's been, there's been a lot of back and forth. Each side is accusing the other of not wanting to negotiate or be bipartisan. And, you know, each side is blaming the other as well, if the government does shut down. You know, they're saying, well, this is going to be a Chuck Schumer shutdown, or this is going to be a Trump shutdown. And so it's all very, very up in the air right now, very dramatic and it, you know, who knows what the, what the end will be because political markets

actually are betting at this point that, you know, there's a 75% chance of a government shutdown, which, again, that's just what people think. That's not an official, you know, government estimate, but it's, it's getting down to the wire. So it seems like every several months we get to this point where there's a threat of a government shutdown because Democrats and Republicans can't agree to these continuing resolutions, or a new full-year budget, which seems to almost never happen anymore. When was the last time there was an actual government shutdown, Thras? Last time there was a government shutdown was December of 2018.

And that lasted, I believe, for about 16 days. At that time, Republicans were the minority, and they refused to vote for a Democrat shutdown, or a Democratic, sorry, funding bill, funding stopgap, and the government shut down. And what happens during that is essentially Social Security payments, Medicare, Medicaid, all about stuff stays, all things that are mandatory spending, government spending, all that stuff stays in place. That doesn't change. But non-essential spending and things, they will be prompt pause. So, you know, the work of the U.S. Forestry Service or maybe some, you know, food inspections or health inspections by. the FDA, things like that to where the average person probably wouldn't notice if they were gone for a day or two, but you'd start seeing backlogs of different things if it continues, right?

And that shutdown accomplished nothing. I mean, they eventually just had to fold. So nobody wants a shutdown. No side wants to be blamed for it, certainly. And especially not because there's also a lot of work. will be furloughed, a lot of government workers. So they'll be put on leave and just not be doing anything. Not though once the government opens again,

once some kind of funding deal is reached, they'll get their back pay. But you'll just have thousands and thousands of people just essentially temporarily laid off if the government gets shut down. Trise, you reported on a leaked memo from the Office of Management and Budget this week that looks like the Trump administration, if they're in the event of a long-term shutdown, the Trump administration plans massive layoffs. Tell us about this.

Yeah, they didn't even necessarily specify. It didn't even necessarily specify that it has to be, you know, a certain time frame, just that what it said was, it was addressing federal agencies and saying, hey, if there's a government shutdown, you guys should use this opportunity to, figure out different positions in, you know, your respective agencies that could be permanently gotten rid of. That's called a reduction in force. You know, uses the opportunity to do that because you're going to be having a lot of people temporarily furloughed anyway. And then when the government opens again, you know, those people are going to come back to their positions,

but basically you're saying, see if you can essentially keep as few as possible. Like, you're try to see which which can be permanently gotten rid of. So, you know, there's already been a lot of cuts, obviously reduction in forces to different agencies that the Trump administration has done. Or, I mean, we've seen in the Department of Agriculture, we've seen in the State Department. USAID was practically completely shuttered. I mean, we're seeing it, Department of Education, almost everywhere. So this would further the Trump administration's goal of reducing, you know, waste, fraud, and abuse or excessive government, that kind of stuff. So this was leaked, actually, by Politico, as you said.

So it's, you know, it caused kind of an uproar. So, you know, presumably a Trump administration didn't necessarily want this to be getting out. But now that it is, it does put extra pressure on Democrats because if they refuse to vote for the Republican funding stopgap that just keeps the government open for seven weeks, then there'll be a shutdown. And during that shutdown, Trump wants agencies to use this time to make permanent, make some positions permanently go away. So it's a whole other, it's added, whole added level. you know, so there have been different reactions to that. I mean, Chuck Schumer kind of almost tried to downplay it. Like this, he was saying on X, like, you know, Trump's been doing this anyway with all

these layoffs at different agencies. And this is just going to be, you know, struck down by the courts. Like, it'll be fine, essentially. Like, it's awful, but it'll be fine. So you can tell the tension is kind of getting to them. Like, this is, you know, if they don't come to an agreement, it is quite possible that the majority of people will blame Democrats, and that's obviously something that they don't want. So, you know, like I said, it's coming down to the wire. We have very few days remaining.

So we'll just have to see if lawmakers put aside their differences and just vote to keep the government open. So there could be a flurry of activity Monday and Tuesday, Terrez. Good luck in your coverage. But thank you for joining us. And as always, listeners can keep up with all things of federal government. at thecentersquare.com.