{"id":13712,"date":"2025-09-25T16:17:02","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/democrats-dig-in-on-shutdown-after-white-house-layoff-threat\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T16:17:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:17:02","slug":"democrats-dig-in-on-shutdown-after-white-house-layoff-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/democrats-dig-in-on-shutdown-after-white-house-layoff-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats dig in on shutdown after White House layoff threat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

If the White House thought its threat to fire federal workers during a government shutdown would spark a Democratic retreat, so far, it\u2019s not happening.<\/p>\n

Instead, multiple congressional Democrats brushed off the prospect of mass layoffs \u2014 floated in an Office of Management and Budget memo first reported by POLITICO<\/a> \u2014 as a negotiating tactic and vowed not to bend as a midnight Sept. 30 shutdown deadline approaches.<\/p>\n

Among the Democrats still standing firm against a Republican-led seven-week funding punt<\/a> include those representing many of thousands public employees who would be most at risk if President Donald Trump and OMB director Russ Vought follow through on their threats.<\/p>\n

“President Trump is engaged in mafia-style blackmail, with his threats ultimately harming the American people,\u201d Sen. Chris Van Hollen<\/a> of Maryland said in a statement, calling the potential layoffs \u201clikely illegal\u201d and pledging that Democrats will be \u201cfighting back with every tool we have.”<\/p>\n

Said Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse<\/a> in a succinct social media post<\/a>, \u201cThese weird sickos enjoy cruelty.\u201d Sen. Patty Murray<\/a> of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, added that Trump is a \u201cpetty wannabe tyrant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump will try to abuse a shutdown \u2014 just like he\u2019s trampled our laws for months \u2014 but that doesn\u2019t mean he gets whatever he wants as a result,\u201d Murray said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Democrats are pushing Trump and GOP leaders in Congress to negotiate on a bipartisan shutdown-averting funding bill, noting that Senate Republicans will need a handful of Democratic votes to vault the chamber\u2019s 60-vote filibuster threshold. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer<\/a> and House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries<\/a> say they want health care to be the centerpiece of those talks.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not only Democrats who are showing signs of unease with the layoff gambit spearheaded by Vought. It\u2019s emerging as the latest crack<\/a> in what had been, until this week, a united GOP messaging front.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo I don\u2019t support mass firings,\u201d Rep. Mike Lawler<\/a> (R-N.Y.) said in a brief interview. \u201cBut there\u2019s a very simple way to avoid it \u2026 pass the CR, which Schumer and Jeffries have repeatedly supported in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top Republican leaders, meanwhile, have stayed mum on the layoff threats and largely stuck to their previous messaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats are holding the AMERICAN government HOSTAGE \u2014 in an attempt to give FREE health care to NONCITIZENS, which was just outlawed by Congress. This isn\u2019t governing. It\u2019s putting illegal aliens FIRST and Americans LAST,\u201d Speaker Mike Johnson posted on X on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s reference to \u201cillegal aliens\u201d is connected to a Democratic proposal to roll back parts of the recently enacted GOP megabill that would create new roadblocks to prevent states from enrolling undocumented immigrants in public benefit programs.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Johnson didn\u2019t respond to an inquiry about if he supports permanently laying off federal employees during a shutdown. Spokespeople for Senate Majority Leader John Thune<\/a> also did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the same question.<\/p>\n

The OMB memo told agencies to start drafting \u201creduction-in-force\u201d plans for agencies and programs that do not have an alternative funding source after Oct. 1, when the government would shutter, and are \u201cnot consistent with the President\u2019s priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The layoff threat comes as Congress and the White House barrel toward the deadline without a clear off-ramp. Trump initially agreed to \u2014 and then backed out of \u2014 a meeting with Schumer and Jeffries to discuss a path forward.<\/p>\n

The OMB memo aligns with concerns Schumer outlined earlier this year when he enraged the Democratic base by shoring up the votes to advance a GOP funding bill \u2014 that a shutdown would only empower Vought and Trump<\/a> to take a sledgehammer to the federal government. But the New York Democrat signaled Wednesday night that Vought\u2019s latest threat was nothing more than an \u201cattempt at intimidation\u201d that would not change his strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is nothing new and has nothing to do with funding the government,\u201d Schumer said in a statement, adding that the actions would be challenged in courts or that the administration would ultimately backtrack and bring workers back on the job \u2014 as Trump has already done.<\/p>\n

Other Democrats have joined Schumer in arguing that, shutdown or not, Trump is determined to wage war against federal employees and would pursue mass firings in any event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that Republicans wouldn’t stand up to Trump for doing any of these things at any other time anyway,\u201d said Rep. Mark Pocan<\/a> (D-Wis.). \u201cThat’s part of the problem is because they’ve shown to have no spine, no ability to stand up to a rogue administration. These threats just aren’t as strong as they could be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every Senate Democrat save for Pennsylvania\u2019s John Fetterman<\/a> voted last week to reject the GOP-led funding bill, which would fund the government until Nov. 21. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, rejected a Democratic alternative<\/a> that would reverse portions of the megabill, restore some funding cut by the Trump administration and also extend health insurance subsidies that are set to lapse on Dec. 31.<\/p>\n

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the White House thought its threat to fire federal workers during a government shutdown would spark a Democratic retreat, so far, it\u2019s not happening. Instead, multiple congressional Democrats brushed off the prospect of mass layoffs \u2014 floated in an Office of Management and Budget memo first reported by Blue Light News \u2014 as a negotiating tactic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}