By Thérèse Boudreaux
The Center Square

The Office of Management and Budget will begin eliminating thousands of civilian positions across the federal government, fulfilling the Trump administration’s plan to use the ongoing government shutdown as a vehicle for mass layoffs.

OMB Director Russ Vought announced Friday in an abrupt social media post that the office has started issuing Reduction in Force notices to an unspecified number of federal employees currently on unpaid leave.

The goal is to further reduce the size of government and permanently scrap as many federal positions “not consistent with the President’s priorities” as permissible by law.

The American Federation of Government Employees has already filed a lawsuit in response.

“It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley stated. “It’s time for Congress to do their jobs and negotiate an end to this shutdown immediately.”

The RIF significantly raises the political stakes for congressional Democrats, who have so far voted seven times against Republicans’ Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government. Democratic senators have refused to support any stopgap that doesn’t include an extension of costly health care subsidies set to expire in December.

But Republican leaders have refused to discuss the issue until the government opens. They are hoping that mounting political pressure from economic disruptions – and now, mass layoffs – will cause enough lawmakers to fold.

A White House official referred The Center Square to OMB for data on the number of federal employees affected. OMB’s media office did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.