Washington,USA – September 29, 2025
The Looming Threat: Why This Shutdown Is Different
As the deadline for a US government funding lapse looms at midnight tonight, the crisis threatens to bring more than just temporary furloughs.
The White House has dramatically escalated the consequences of a shutdown, directing federal agencies to prepare for mass permanent layoffs—known as a Reduction in Force (RIF)—for employees whose programs lack funding and are deemed “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”
This is a stark departure from past shutdowns, where hundreds of thousands of non-essential workers were temporarily furloughed but guaranteed back pay upon the government’s reopening.
The Trump administration’s directive, issued via the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), essentially instructs agencies to use the lack of funding as an opportunity to eliminate jobs that the administration has already targeted for cuts.
The move risks stripping tens of thousands of federal civil servants of their livelihoods, compounding the massive workforce reductions that have already taken place this year under the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The total number of federal jobs that could be on the line in this manner is not yet finalized, but the scale of announced cuts and buyouts this year already totals over 100,000 workers.
Headline Points of the Job Threat
* Mass Firings: The OMB memo directs agencies to “consider” issuing Reduction in Force (RIF) notices—a permanent firing mechanism—instead of just temporary furlough notices.
* Targeted Cuts:
Layoffs would focus on employees working in programs where discretionary funding lapses and which are “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”
This targets programs and agencies that have already faced significant budget and staff cut proposals.
* Beyond Furlough:
Unlike a furlough, an RIF eliminates the employee’s position, making the layoff permanent and resulting in a fundamental restructuring and reduction of the federal civil service.
* Precedent of Cuts:
The threat follows a year of aggressive federal workforce reduction efforts, including buyouts and mass layoffs attributed to the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
* Democrats Decry “Intimidation”:
Democratic leaders have condemned the action as a political “attempt at intimidation” designed to force a funding bill and predict the firings would be legally challenged.
Strategic Use of the Shutdown
The OMB memo outlines three conditions for permanent RIF consideration: the program’s discretionary funding lapses on October 1st; no other funding source is available; and the program is not consistent with the administration’s priorities. This appears to transform the budget impasse from a negotiating tactic into a strategic regulatory tool aimed at downsizing the government.
Agencies whose missions have clashed with the administration’s deregulatory focus, such as those related to environmental protection, consumer safety, and certain social services, are seen as being particularly vulnerable to the RIF process. Once a spending bill is enacted, agencies are only required to “revise their RIFs as needed to retain the minimal number of employees necessary to carry out statutory functions,” cementing a much smaller workforce footprint.
Federal employee unions and Democratic lawmakers have fiercely criticized the plan, arguing that it is both legally questionable and morally bankrupt, using the nation’s funding crisis to eliminate the jobs of dedicated public servants. While furloughed workers traditionally receive back pay, a permanently laid-off worker would not, turning a temporary financial inconvenience into a job-ending catastrophe for tens of thousands of American families.
