(NewsNation) — The Trump administration is reportedly ironing out the details of expected mass layoffs, which could come as soon as tomorrow and kick off a round of federal downsizing.
On Friday, Democrats and Republicans failed to advance competing bills to fund the government and end the shutdown. The bills were expected to fail, and now the shutdown will extend into next week.
Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and his department are organizing the government’s plans to downsize amid the shutdown.
Vought and President Donald Trump have gone on the record that upcoming layoffs and furloughs could be permanent — and part of a larger administrative plan.
Calling the shutdown an “unprecedented opportunity” from “the Radical Left Democrats” in a social media post, Trump has doubled down on his DOGE-era goal of slashing the federal workforce.
If Trump were to sign off on Vought’s plan Friday, the layoffs could begin immediately, putting federal workers’ paychecks, benefits and critical public services on the line.
A senior White House official told NewsNation’s Libbey Dean that the White House already has a list of around a dozen agencies that it plans to target with firings during the shutdown.
Government shutdown layoffs: What to expect
In the past, federal workers have been furloughed when the government shuts down and returned to their jobs once the shutdown is over. Since 2019, those workers automatically receive back pay for the time the government was closed.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the number of layoffs and firings could be in the thousands if the current shutdown continues.
“We don’t like laying people off. Nobody takes joy and if you think that, that’s very sad you view the White House and our staff as wanting to put people out of work. Nobody wants to do that, but sometimes in government, you have to make the tough decisions,” Leavitt told ABC News’ Mary Bruce.
Approximately 580,000 federal workers could be furloughed, according to NewsNation estimates based on public personnel data.
NewsNation’s Steph Whiteside and Libbey Dean contributed to this report.