Trump blames Democrats after threatening mass layoffs if there is government shutdown
Congress has until Tuesday night to pass a funding agreement to keep the government open, but a disagreement between Democrats and Republicans has pushed it closer to a shutdown.
September 25, 2025 11:49 PM IST
First published on: Sep 25, 2025 at 11:49 PM IST
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Office of Management and Budget said agencies should consider a reduction in force for federal programs whose funding would lapse next week. (Photo: AP)
“This is all caused by the Democrats. They asked us to do something that’s totally unreasonable. They never change. They want to give money away to illegals … people that entered our country illegally,” Trump said.
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Trump blames Democrats
Congress has until Tuesday night to pass a funding agreement to keep the government open, but a disagreement between Democrats and Republicans has pushed it closer to a shutdown. On Tuesday, Trump canceled a planned meeting with Democrats, calling their demands “unserious and ridiculous.”
“They want to give up massive federal money, and we don’t want to do that because it means everyone’s going to just keep pouring back right now,” Trump said.
The federal government is on the brink of its 15th partial shutdown since 1981. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
White House prepares for mass layoff
In a memo released Wednesday night, the Office of Management and Budget said agencies should consider a reduction in force for federal programs whose funding would lapse next week, is not otherwise funded and is “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”
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.
A reduction in force would not only lay off employees but also eliminate their positions, which would trigger yet another massive upheaval in a federal workforce that has already faced major rounds of cuts this year due to efforts from the Department of Government Efficiency and elsewhere in President Donald Trump’s administration.
15th partial shutdown since 1981
The federal government is on the brink of its 15th partial shutdown since 1981 because lawmakers have failed to agree on a plan for discretionary funding for the new fiscal year, or about one-quarter of the $7 trillion budget.
On September 19, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a stopgap bill to fund the government through November 21. Senate Democrats rejected it, demanding that any legislation undo recent cuts to healthcare programs.
“This is an attempt at intimidation,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in response to the OMB statement. “Donald Trump has been firing federal workers since Day One – not to govern, but to scare.”
Trumps job cuts through DOGE
Upon taking office in January, Trump launched a campaign to downsize the 2.4 million-member federal civilian workforce. Roughly 300,000 federal civilian workers will have left their jobs by the end of 2025, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told Reuters in August.
About 154,000 of those employees accepted a buyout and are slated to drop off the U.S. government’s payroll on September 30, the last day of the government’s fiscal year.
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Office of Management and Budget said agencies should consider a reduction in force for federal programs whose funding would lapse next week. (Photo: AP) 
