A federal government shutdown was all but certain Tuesday night as the White House's budget chief ordered federal agencies to begin implementing plans for exactly that after Democrats in the Senate blocked a GOP plan to fund the government past midnight, according to a report.
White House budget director Russell Vought sent a memo to leaders of executive branch departments and agencies to "execute their plans for an orderly shutdown,” Politico reported. The result will be the first federal shutdown since Trump’s first term.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers were poised to be furloughed, and myriad government services face imminent suspension. Additionally, Vought asked agencies to prepare for permanent reductions in workforce via a mass purge during the shutdown.
Democrats have dug in on refusing to fund the government primarily over demands to extend expiring health care benefits, rolling back Medicaid work requirements, and undoing some spending cuts from Trump's megabill.