White House: layoffs of federal workers have begun

The White House budget office said Friday that layoffs of federal workers have begun. This is intended to put pressure on Democrats against the background of the ongoing shutdown, i.e. the suspension of the activities of federal agencies, noted the AP agency.

Russell Vought, head of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), wrote on X that plans to reduce the federal workforce have begun to be implemented. An OMB spokesman said the scale of the layoffs was “significant.”

It is known that those dismissed include employees of the Ministry of Health, said the ministry's spokesman.

The administration and President Donald Trump himself have previously announced mass layoffs of federal workers. “Democrats are causing many job losses with their shutdown,” President Trump said on Monday.

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said on Sunday that the administration would begin mass layoffs of federal workers if Trump believes that negotiations with congressional Democrats to end the shutdown are going nowhere.

Friday is the tenth day of the shutdown. For now, there are no signs of a potential break in the deadlock. On Thursday, the Senate failed to pass the provisional budget for the sixth time.

From Washington Natalia Dziurdzińska (PAP)

Sun/ mms/