On the second day of the partial government shutdown, President Donald Trump said he is weighing permanent cuts to the federal workforce, a move that could trigger a prolonged legal battle.
In a post on Truth Social Thursday morning, Trump revealed he was meeting with his former budget director Russell Vought to determine which agencies could face layoffs. He called the shutdown an “unprecedented opportunity” to target what he described as “Democrat agencies.”
“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of Project 2025 fame, 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 wrote, referencing the conservative policy blueprint Vought helped author.
While presidents typically use shutdowns to apply pressure on Congress to reach a funding deal, Trump suggested he may use the moment to permanently shrink parts of the federal government. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the administration is reviewing agencies “that don’t align with this Administration’s values” and described them as “a waste of taxpayers’ dollars.”
Federal law, however, may complicate Trump’s plan. Traditionally, shutdowns lead to furloughs, in which many government employees are temporarily sent home without pay until Congress restores funding. Permanent reductions in force, or RIFs, are normally carried out under a separate legal process that does not apply during shutdowns.
On Wednesday, unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal workers filed a lawsuit seeking to block any attempt to fire employees while the government remains unfunded. The American Federation of Government Employees argued in its filing that the administration lacks legal authority to enact permanent layoffs during a shutdown, citing the Antideficiency Act of 1870 and other statutes governing federal employment.
Despite the legal questions, some administration officials defended Trump’s stance. OMB spokeswoman Rachel Cauley said reductions in force fall under the president’s constitutional powers. “Issuing RIFs is an excepted activity to fulfill the President’s constitutional authority to supervise and control the Executive Branch,” she said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the shutdown has already forced agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Education Department, Commerce Department, and Housing and Urban Development to send home large portions of their staff. On Thursday afternoon, the website of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency went offline, raising concerns about weakened oversight of waste and fraud across the federal government.
Vice President J.D. Vance and other senior officials have echoed Trump’s calls for workforce reductions, portraying them as necessary to preserve essential services. But the unions’ lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, seeks an injunction to block any layoffs and a ruling declaring that the administration exceeded its authority by even preparing agencies for cuts.
With no funding deal in sight, the standoff has set up a high-stakes legal and political clash over the scope of presidential authority during a government shutdown.