Trump Governance Initiates Federal Layoffs Amid shutdown, Unions Sue
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration began implementing widespread layoffs of federal employees Friday, impacting over 4,000 workers across seven agencies as the government shutdown continues. The move, signaled by Director Russell Vought in a post on X referencing “reductions in force” (RIF), fulfills President Trump’s repeated pledges to leverage the shutdown to shrink the federal workforce.
Meaningful reductions occurred at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including the complete layoff of its Washington D.C. office, according to sources cited by CBS News. Affected CDC programs included the Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, Ebola response efforts, and immunization initiatives, alongside cuts within the human resources department. Layoffs also impacted employees at the Treasury Department and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within the department of Homeland Security.
Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon told CBS News that the laid-off workers were deemed non-essential, stating, “HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda.”
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and AFL-CIO have filed a lawsuit in northern California seeking a temporary block on the layoff orders. “It is indeed disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country,” said AFGE president Everett Kelley.
A White House budget office spokesman indicated to the BBC on Saturday that these layoffs represent only the initial wave of cuts, stating, “These RIF numbers from the court filing are just a snapshot in time. More RIFs are coming.”
Court filings from the Justice Department reveal potential staff cuts at the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Progress, Commerce, Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Government lawyers argued against the unions’ request for a temporary restraining order, asserting the unions failed to demonstrate irreparable harm to their members, while claiming a restraining order would ”irreparably harm the government.”
