Washington: The White House has stated that federal job layoffs are “imminent” as a consequence of the government shutdown that began on October 1.
In a press conference on Wednesday (local time), the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blamed Democrats for the impending firings of federal workers, saying the opposition party has “put us into this position.”
“Unfortunately, because the Democrats shut down the government, the President has directed his cabinet, and the Office of Management and Budget is working with agencies across the board to identify where cuts can be made. And we believe that layoffs are imminent,” she added.
Vice President J.D. Vance also took the podium and blamed Democrats for the situation.
“If this thing drags on for another few days, or, God forbid, another few weeks, we are going to have to lay people off. We’re going to have to save money in some places, so the essential services don’t get turned off in other places,” he asserted.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries countered the firing threat, calling the government “a job-killing administration.”
“These are all things that the Trump administration has been doing since January 20, the mass firings of federal workers. The Trump administration has been killing jobs. This is a job-killing administration,” he added.
The Republicans have accused Democrats of demanding healthcare subsidies for illegal immigrants, which the Democrats reject as a lie peddled by the Trump administration.
Democrats say they are asking to reverse the healthcare cuts for American citizens in the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which was passed earlier this year.
Republicans assert they would not agree to Democrats’ demands and had proposed to extend funding until November 21.
While the Republicans control both the Senate and the House of Representatives, they are eight votes short in the Senate, as the funding bill requires 60 votes to pass.
It is the first US government shutdown in seven years, as the last one happened under Trump 1.0 and lasted for 35 days — the longest in history.
Essential services such as border protection, law enforcement and air-traffic control continue to function while food assistance programmes, government-funded pre-school, food inspectors and operations at national parks could be adversely affected.
If the shutdown is extended over a long period, air travel could face challenges as many of those workers would be forced to work without pay and may not report for duty.
(IANS)
