With the federal government all but certain to shut down at midnight Tuesday, White House aides and one senior official sounded the alarm on what they say is a golden opportunity for the Trump administration to complete what it started in hollowing out the federal government.
Among the defining sagas early in Trump’s second term was his effort to cut government spending, an effort spearheaded by Elon Musk, whom he tapped to head the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
And, while Musk and others wildly overinflated the savings DOGE recouped – savings that were entirely eradicated with Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act – a senior White House official warned that the government shutdown would be the Trump administration’s chance to finish “what DOGE couldn’t do.”
“He’s wanted to hurt the bureaucracy; he’s wanted to shrink the bureaucracy,” a senior White House official told The Atlantic in a report published Tuesday, specifically referencing White House budget director Russell Vought, and speaking with the outlet on the condition of anonymity. “This might be his chance.”
Trump has already signaled as much: in a memo from the White House, the Trump administration outlined reduction-in-force plans in the event of a government shutdown, plans that essentially mean mass firings are on the table. As to who might be targeted in said mass firings, multiple White House aides said positions that don’t align with Trump’s agenda would likely be the target.
“Voluntary-resignation programs were broadly available to most federal workers earlier this year,” The Atlantic report reads.
“Now Trump is using the threat of permanent job cuts to specifically target jobs that don’t align with his priorities, aides told us. The president, who in recent weeks has been firing federal prosecutors who don’t bend to his will, has become bolder in his push to reshape the government to suit his preferences. And he’s empowered Russell Vought, the White House budget director who has long been an evangelist of slashing the government, to cut away.”
According to a spokesperson from the Office of Personnel Management, around 275,000 federal workers, more than 10% of the entire federal workforce, will have voluntarily left their positions by the end of December, the spokesperson told The Atlantic.
“[This will have been] the largest and most effective workforce-reduction plan in history,” the spokesperson said, speaking with The Atlantic via email on the condition of anonymity.