{"id":196060,"date":"2025-10-02T01:26:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T01:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/196060\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T01:26:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T01:26:10","slug":"threat-of-federal-firings-hangs-over-washington-as-government-will-remain-shut-down-through-at-least-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/196060\/","title":{"rendered":"Threat of federal firings hangs over Washington as government will remain shut down through at least Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Congress left town Wednesday without a solution to break its bitter impasse over government funding<\/a>, with the shutdown now set to last until at least Friday<\/a> when members return for more votes.\n <\/p>\n

\n But with both parties dug in, many believe it could last even longer than that.\n <\/p>\n

\n The White House is amplifying pressure on Democrats to cave, as President Donald Trump\u2019s budget chief privately warned House Republicans on an afternoon conference call that mass layoffs would go into effect within the next two days, according to multiple people on the call. Russ Vought told the senators that layoffs would target agencies that don\u2019t fit into the Trump administration\u2019s priorities, the people said.\n <\/p>\n

\n So far, however, Democratic leaders show no signs of backing down in the shutdown fight.\n <\/p>\n

\n Many Democrats \u2014 including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries \u2014 downplayed the threat of mass firings as they argued that the White House had been already whittling down the size of the federal workforce.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis is a job killing administration,\u201d Jeffries said, arguing that Trump has been doing this since he was inaugurated. \u201cSo all this talk that we see right now as if it had anything to do with the shutdown that Republicans have caused. No, it\u2019s their ideology. Cruelty is the point.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"House<\/p>\n

\n Inside the Capitol, little changed Wednesday. Senate Democrats again voted down the GOP\u2019s funding plan because it did not include a guarantee for enhanced Obamacare subsidies. And Republican leaders reiterated that they\u2019re only willing to negotiate on that soon-to-expire policy once Democrats help reopen the government.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe just keep telling them, just open up the government and we\u2019ll get on with all the other business,\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Wednesday. He suggested he could soon meet with his Democratic counterpart, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, but said bluntly: \u201cI\u2019m not sure what we\u2019ll achieve by that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In addition to the threat of mass layoffs, Vought announced the White House was withholding $18 billion on a pair of critical New York City infrastructure projects in a clear attempt to pressure Congress\u2019 top two Democrats, who both represent the state.\n <\/p>\n

\n Democrats were particularly critical of the White House\u2019s move to sit on the New York infrastructure cash. In a joint statement, Schumer and Jeffries blasted Trump for \u201ctreating working people as collateral damage.\u201d Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts accused Trump of using the government to \u201cpunish his political adversaries.\u201d Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York called it \u201cTotal BS.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n On the first full day of the shutdown, the only signs of movement came from a small group of bipartisan senators, who have begun scrambling behind the scenes to reach a bipartisan deal to end the shutdown before it results in nationwide closures and layoffs.\n <\/p>\n

\n Those talks \u2014 some of which have been happening in private \u2014 spilled into the open Wednesday afternoon as more than a dozen senators huddled on the floor to discuss a potential end to the shutdown. Members said they\u2019re discussing a deal on Obamacare subsidies that would be slightly less generous than current policy, while also allowing the Senate to move ahead with bipartisan appropriations bills.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n Some emerged surprisingly upbeat, even as senators left for the next 24 hours to allow members to observe the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal walked away from the conversation on the floor predicting a shorter shutdown now that the two parties are engaged in conversations \u2014 even preliminary ones.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere is a lot of bipartisan hope that we can make this shutdown as short and costless as possible,\u201d the Connecticut Democrat said before adding: \u201cObviously we\u2019re standing strong.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But GOP leaders in both chambers are skeptical of these bipartisan talks, insisting that Democrats must take the offer that\u2019s already on the table, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions.\n <\/p>\n

\n But some Republican senators \u2014 including Sen. Mike Rounds, who is in favor of a deal on Obamacare subsidies \u2014 believe they can nudge enough Democrats to support their plan if they can convince them that the GOP is truly willing to reach a deal on the other side of a shutdown.\n <\/p>\n

\n Rounds said he believes he could get 10 or 12 Democrats to agree, but many of them are wary of hanging their own leadership out to dry.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe problem is they\u2019ve kind of backed themselves into a corner. It\u2019s a matter of, how can they save face without simply being seen as capitulating? I don\u2019t know how they do that now,\u201d Rounds said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Rounds, like multiple other Republicans in both chambers who support the Affordable Care Act subsidies, were clear though: They will not strike a deal with Democrats until the government is reopened.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI really do think that the Democrats own this shutdown,\u201d GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said, explaining that he and several other Republicans are open to talks over ACA subsidies and asking Democrats to extend current funding levels through November.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s irrational. On every level, the Democrats are pushing back, and I like to think of myself as a fairly rational person, but they have missed it on this point,\u201d he said, predicting that it would be Democrats who reverse course on their position once Americans see their premiums rise.\n <\/p>\n

\n One big reason Republicans insist they can\u2019t veer in their position: Setting a precedent for future showdowns over funding. \u201cThe fear of many is setting the new precedent of holding federal workers hostage at every CR expiration,\u201d one House GOP member added to CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\"Office<\/p>\n

\n Speaking on the House GOP conference call, Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, did not offer clarity on which federal workers could see layoffs or how many people could be affected, sources on the call said. But Vought signaled it would take place within one to two days.\n <\/p>\n

\n Vought and others in the Trump administration have previously warned that they would use their powers during a shutdown to further shrink the size of the federal government to reflect the White House\u2019s agenda. Even GOP committees, however, have gotten little information about what that means for key federal agencies.\n <\/p>\n

\n Vought also warned that a popular federal safety net program for mothers and young children \u2013 called WIC \u2013 will run out of money by next week.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis is just mafia style blackmail and I don\u2019t think the American people will stand for it,\u201d Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said of the White House\u2019s overarching threats to federal workers during a shutdown, including mass firings.\n <\/p>\n

\"Rep.<\/p>\n

\"Headphone<\/p>\n

\n Asked about the call Wednesday by CNN\u2019s Kristen Holmes, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Vought was \u201cgoing to kind of walk them through what this, unfortunately, is going to look like, so they can discuss it with their constituents back home in their respective districts.\u201d She declined to say if any force reductions during the shutdown would be permanent.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWell, sometimes you have to do things you don\u2019t want to do, and it\u2019s because the Democrats have put us into this position,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cIf the Democrats did not vote to shut down the government, we would not be standing up here talking about layoffs today, we\u2019d be talking about all the other news stories going on in the world in our country.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, whose state includes a large number of federal workers, said he\u2019s been surprised how many federal workers have been backing Democrats in their fight after Vought and his budget team have \u201cterrorized\u201d the government\u2019s workforce.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey may be the strongest group yet saying you got to push back. Now, the question will become, will they have that same view three weeks from now? I don\u2019t know,\u201d Warner said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Congress left town Wednesday without a solution to break its bitter impasse over government funding, with the shutdown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530],"class_list":["post-196060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}