White House sends mixed messages on layoffs during government shutdown
The White House on Wednesday sent mixed messages about upcoming firings as a result of the ongoing government shutdown.
Last week, the Trump administration threatened mass layoffs of some federal workers during the shutdown. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump threatened that "a lot" of federal workers may get fired in a shutdown.
Speaking at the White House press briefing just one day later, Vice President JD Vance downplayed the likelihood of layoffs, telling ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce that "no final decisions have been made." Just moments later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Reductions in Force (RIFs) are happening "soon."
Leavitt declined to specify what departments or workers would be targeted, or what percentage of the workforce will be fired, but made clear "these RIFs are unfortunately going to have to happen very soon," adding they will likely come in the next "two days, imminent, very soon."
That tracks with what the Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has said.
On a conference call with House Republicans on Wednesday, Vought warned lawmakers that the Trump administration will start firing federal workers in the next "day or two," according to multiple sources on the call. Congressional sources on the call say he did not provide any additional details on which departments and agencies could be impacted, or how deep a new round of RIFs may cut into the federal workforce.
Vought issued a memo last week warning of possible cuts in the event of a shutdown.
Layoffs would be a drastic escalation from the fallout of past shutdowns, when federal workers were furloughed.
Asked why Trump feels he has to fire -- not just furlough -- these workers, especially given that firings are not usually part of a response to a shutdown or needed to keep basic government services running, Vance suggested layoffs may be necessary to keep basic government services operating.
"We haven't made any final decisions about what we're going to do with certain workers. What we're saying is that we might have to take extraordinary steps, especially the longer this goes on, we're going to have to take extraordinary measures to ensure that people's government operates again, not perfectly, because it's not going to operate perfectly in the midst of a shutdown, but operate as well as it possibly can," Vance said.
Vance was adamant that firings were necessary to save money and keep essential service running -- and were not a political move, even though Trump said Tuesday that layoffs will target Democrats.
"We're not targeting federal agencies based on politics, we're targeting the people's government so that as much as possible of the essential services can continue to function," Vance said.
Vance never offered any explanation of the math or what essential services are at risk to the point that it would require layoffs.
Vance also declined to engage in follow-up questions about potential cuts to benefits, something Trump floated Tuesday, in addition to the firings.
ABC News' Rachel Scott, Lauren Peller and Jay O'Brien contributed to this report.
