The Trump administration started its expected layoffs, and says it plans to ultimately fire at least 4,100 employees across several agencies, per estimates in an administration official's court filing.
Why it matters: The Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought announced the layoffs on X Friday, following threats to use the government shutdown to enact the layoffs.
- President Trump has repeatedly referred to federal employees as members of the "deep state." The "reductions in force," or RIFs, is the latest blow to the federal workforce, which is already down 200,000 employees this year.
The latest: In the court filing responding to a union suit to stop the layoffs, senior OMB adviser Stephen Billy confirmed that RIF notices have either already gone out or would be going out to an estimated 1,100 to 1,200 employees in Health and Human Services, 1,446 in Treasury and 466 in Education.
- He also listed 315 employees in Commerce, 187 in Energy, 442 in HUD, 176 in Homeland Security and 10 to 30 in the Environmental Protection Agency to receive RIF notices.
- "The situation involving the lapse in appropriations is fluid and rapidly evolving," Billy wrote. "'As such, these numbers reflect the most current information made available to me at this time and are subject to change."
What they're saying: President Trump said Thursday at the White House: "We'll be cutting very popular Democrat programs that aren't popular with Republicans."
- Spokespeople for the Departments of Health and Human Services, HUD, the EPA, and the Treasury confirmed to Axios that layoff notices have been sent out.
The other side: The American Federation of Government Employees — the largest federal employee union, representing roughly 800,000 workers — has sued the administration and won't stop fighting until every layoff notice is rescinded.
- "Federal workers are tired of being used as pawns for the political and personal gains of the elected and un-elected leaders. It's time for Congress to do their jobs and negotiate an end to this shutdown immediately," the union said.
- Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, denounced the planned cuts as unnecessary and out of step even with Trump's own party.
- "No one is making Trump and Vought hurt American workers—they just want to," Murray said in a statement.
Zoom in: Reduction in Force notices are typically go out at least 30 days — up to 60 days — before an individual actually loses their job.
- It's not clear if these firings were already in motion before the shutdown. Those familiar with the layoff process say it typically takes weeks or longer to plan these kinds of changes.
Between the lines: Lawyers who represent federal workers believe conducting firings during a shutdown is illegal, and some inside the administration reportedly agree.
- Using the shutdown as an excuse to layoff workers, as the White House is attempting, would lead to "confusion and litigation," economists at Evercore ISI, a Wall Street research firm, warned earlier this month. Even Trump's cabinet secretaries are wary, they said.
Catch up quick: The Trump administration has been pursuing permanent layoffs all year with mixed success. They've run into roadblocks in the courts; other cases are still hanging out there.
- Some firings have been reversed, and some agencies have asked fired workers to come back.
- "I don't think agency leadership actually wants to lose all these people," one employee at IRS told Axios recently.
Go deeper: Scoop: White House memo says furloughed federal workers aren't entitled to backpay
Editors note: This story has been updated throughout with additional details.
Axios' Lauren Floyd contributed reporting to this piece.
