Donald Trump signalled on Thursday that he planned to follow through on his threat for mass lay-offs of US federal workers as he ratcheted pressure on Democrats to back moves to end the government shutdown.
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The Republican US president announced he would meet budget chief Russell Vought “to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent”.
Trump’s announcement on social media came with the government entering the second day of a stoppage that is expected to see 750,000 employees sent home without pay across a wide range of agencies.
Vought told House Republicans on Wednesday that many of those workers would be targeted for permanent lay-offs to be announced in the next day or two, echoing Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt’s threat that firings were “imminent”.
Leavitt told reporters on Thursday the job cuts were likely going to number “in the thousands”.
Trump has emphasised that he views cutbacks as a way of increasing pain on Democrats, arguing that “we can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them”.