'Batten down the hatches': White House issues ominous new shutdown threat
After firing thousands of federal government workers on Friday, the Trump White House Office of Management and Budget is threatening even more layoffs, which some experts and Democratic lawmakers say could be unlawful.
The Office of Management and Budget last week fired about 4,000 federal employees and now says an additional reduction in force (RIF) should be expected.
“OMB is making every preparation to batten down the hatches and ride out the Democrats’ intransigence,” the office, run by Russ Vought, said in a social media post. “Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue the RIFs, and wait.”
President Trump directed the Pentagon to pay the U.S. military with “all available funds,” which some suggest could also be unlawful without congressional approval. On Tuesday, the White House said it was looking for ways to pay law enforcement officers as well, as first reported by Punchbowl News.
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The layoffs, Bloomberg News reported, “marked the first large-scale ouster of federal employees during a funding lapse in modern history, going beyond the furloughs that have characterized past shutdowns. Republicans claim the terminations are necessary consequence of the shutdown, an assertion Democrats and federal budget experts have disputed.”
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on Friday wrote that “a shutdown provides no new legal authority to engage in mass layoffs, nor does it provide any sound management or policy reason to do so.”
“Raising the prospect of mass layoffs as direct retaliation if Democrats do not accede to the House Republicans’ short-term funding proposal is simply an Administration threat to hurt the American people if it does not get its way,” CBPP added.
Washington senior reporter Jennifer Shutt of the States Newsroom called OMB’s statement “Another sign Republicans don’t plan to negotiate with Dems and will wait for more to break ranks on [the Senate’s] procedural vote.”
Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman also reported that “The bet Dems have made is that Trump will push Johnson/Thune to sit down and make a deal. At this point, that’s not happening.”
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