Trump Pursues Mass Federal Workforce Cuts

President Trump met with OMB Director Russ Vought during the partial government shutdown to weigh “temporary or permanent” spending cuts and mass firings targeting agencies he called “Democrat Agencies,” invoking elements of Project 2025. The White House has requested Reduction-in-Force plans from agencies, and press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned job losses are “likely going to be in the thousands,” on top of about 750,000 federal workers furloughed daily, according to CBO estimates. Vought has begun pressing cuts and holds, including withholding roughly $18 billion for the Hudson River rail tunnel/Second Avenue subway and canceling about $8 billion in green-energy projects in Democratic states. Administration officials say they have legal authority to enact RIFs where funding has lapsed, while Democrats call the strategy a “maximum pain” plan that could punish families and ripple through small businesses and local economies by disrupting paychecks, loans and contracts. The White House has also floated using tariff revenues for direct payments as it presses the shutdown to advance its government-restructuring agenda.