Trump admin says over 4,100 workers fired since government shutdown began as it looks for ways to pay federal officers
President Trump accused the Democrats for being responsible for the government shutdown and blamed them for the recent firing of the federal workforce.
October 15, 2025 06:07 AM IST
First published on: Oct 15, 2025 at 06:07 AM IST
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., holds a press conference as the government shutdown heads toward its third week, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo)
As the US government shutdown entered its third week, President Donald Trump’s administration has announced that they have fired 4,108 employees since October 1, the day when the shutdown began, according to a statement filed in court by the US Justice Department. In a separate filing last week, the department had estimated the figure to be 4,278, Reuters reported.
The figure of federal workers layoffs was revised downward on Tuesday suggesting that the Trump administration’s initial statement about sweeping job cuts was reportedly too ambitious. The layoffs amount to a fraction of the total US government workforce as the Trump administration employed about 2 million civilians at the start of tenure in January.
Since 1981, the United States has witnessed 15 federal government shutdowns that have furloughed hundreds of thousands of workers but none of the presidents sought to use shutdown as the basis for large scale firings, Reuters reported.
As the shutdown entered its third week, the Trump administration is also looking at alternate ways to ensure that federal law enforcement officers are paid on time. Officials in the government are also exploring ways to keep some key programmes running, including a food programme for women and children.
A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget, in response to a query by BBC, confirmed that the administration is looking at ways to ensure payment continues for military personnel, federal law enforcement officers among others who are considered “essential” and are continuing their duty without pay.
They include officers from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), US Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., holds a press conference as the government shutdown heads toward its third week, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo) 
