Journalism of Courage
A federal judge in California on Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from conducting layoffs of federal workers during the ongoing government shutdown.
US District Judge Susan Illston issued the emergency order after federal agencies on Friday started issuing layoff notices aimed at reducing the size of the federal government. The layoff notices are part of an effort by Trump’s Republican administration to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
Illston said the administration was acting without thinking through its decisions.
“It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost,” she said. It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.”
The Trump administration had threatened massive layoff of federal workers if the Democrats refused to fund the government.
The White House Office of Management and Budget advised agencies in late September that the shutdown would provide an opportunity to cut programs that are deemed “not consistent” with Trump’s priorities.
On Wednesday, The director of the White House’s budget office, Russ Vought, said that the administration will cut more than 10,000 jobs during the government shutdown.
Speaking on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” he confirmed that 4,000 jobs have already been cut, and when asked if that number could increase, he said: “It could grow higher. I think will probably end up being north of 10,000.”
The administration began the layoffs last week when more than 4,000 federal employees from various departments, including from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention were terminated from their jobs.
On Wednesday, US Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the federal shutdown offers evidence that her agency is “unnecessary.”
McMahon said the shutdown has forced agencies to evaluate what work is really needed. She made the comment days after her department started firing hundreds of workers amid mass layoffs across the government.
“Two weeks in, millions of American students are still going to school, teachers are getting paid, and schools are operating as normal,” McMahon said in a social media post.
McMahon said no federal education funding was affected by the layoffs.
Advocates say the firings threaten to disrupt the flow of federal money to America’s schools. The cuts eliminated teams that disburse federal money and answer questions on federal education laws.
Meanwhile, on the 15th day of the government shutdown, the Senate for the ninth time failed to advance the House-passed spending bill supported by Republicans to fund the government. The motion to invoke cloture failed, 51-44.
