President Trump's administration has laid off thousands of federal workers in an effort to pressure Democrats to end the ongoing government shutdown. A spokesman for his office confirmed that the cuts had begun and were significant.
Their size and scope began to come into focus when the administration revealed that seven agencies had begun laying off more than 4,000 employees. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use the shutdown to further his goal of shrinking the federal workforce. He wants to downsize the workforce within the administration.
By law, the federal government must give its employees at least 30 days' notice of layoffs. Following Vought's tweet, major departments such as the Treasury and Health and Human Services confirmed they were issuing notices to employees, and Homeland Security, where many of its employees are considered essential, said it would lay off employees at its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Two major unions, the American Federation of Government Employees and the AFL-CIO, have filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of Vought's announced plans to conduct layoffs during the shutdown.
"It is shameful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of employees who provide critical services to communities across the country," said AFGE President Everett Kelley.
