Senior government officials privately warn against firings during shutdown

Source: Washington Post

October 2, 2025 at 11:30 a.m. EDT


Senior federal officials have quietly counseled several agencies against firing employees while the government is shut down -- as President Donald Trump has suggested he will -- warning the strategy may violate appropriations law, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.

The officials cautioned that firings -- known as RIFs, or reductions in force -- could be vulnerable to legal challenges under statutes labor unions cited this week in a lawsuit seeking to block threatened mass layoffs. For example, the Antideficiency Act prohibits the federal government from obligating or expending any money not appropriated by Congress. It also forbids incurring new expenses during a shutdown, when funding has lapsed; some federal government officials have concluded the prohibition could extend to the kind of severance payments that accompany reductions in force.

Trump and White House Budget Director Russell Vought, whose office oversees apportionment law and has led the administration's preparation for terminations, have repeatedly said mass dismissals would come during a government shutdown. Plans for such firings have been developed at several agencies, according to three federal officials familiar with the matter who, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail internal conversations. Those plans, which have yet to take effect, dictate smaller reductions in force than what the White House has projected.

Asked about the legal concerns, White House Office of Management and Budget communications director Rachel McCauley said in a written statement that "issuing RIFs is an excepted activity to fulfill the President's constitutional authority to supervise and control the Executive Branch, similar to conducting foreign policy." The warnings from top officials are at odds with the confident rhetoric that has emerged from the White House in recent days as administration officials have sought to use the stalemate with Democratic leaders to their advantage.


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/02/shutdown-rifs-government-warnings/

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[link:https://wapo.st/3KDJw0tNo paywall] (gift)



They have been violating the "Antideficiency Act" and "Budget Control and Impoundment Act" continually since almost day one.

What I recall a few months ago as the epitome of ironic, was Muskrat suddenly "discovering" and citing the [link:https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far"FAR" (Federal Acquisition Regulation"] ) when his contracts were being threatened.