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The Trump administration has exempted personnel working in the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Government Efficiency from government shutdown furloughs even as many other federal workers and White House staff are sent home with no pay.
A contingency plan released online showed that one-third of White House staff will be furloughed during the government shutdown. Politico first reported the story.
The plan says that 554 of the 1,733 staffers for the Executive Office of the President would be placed on furlough status and 1,179 of the staff would continue to report for duty.
But the plan says that the 49 staffers at the Office of Management and Budget and 46 staffers at DOGE, the government-slashing agency that generated headlines for cutting personnel at agencies like the U.S. Institute of Peace and the U.S. Agency for International Development, would be exempt. This comes because these agencies receive money other than from Congress.
OMB is led by Russell Vought, the intellectual architect of Project 2025. On Thursday, President Donald Trump met with Vought and threatened that “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.”
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought has paused numerous federal projects amid a government shutdown. (AP)
Trump added that he could not believe that Democrats gave him an “unprecedented opportunity.” Vought has become a symbol of anger for many Democrats for his desire to slash government agencies and his work on Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for the Trump administration.
In total, only 93 officials will be furloughed from the Vought’s office and 437 officials will be retained during the government shutdown.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 despite the fact many officials from his first administration helped craft it.
Other offices will not be as fortunate. The Office of the National Cyber Director will 17 of its 32 employees furloughed during the shutdown. The Council of Economic Advisers will see 16 of its 25 staff furloughed. The Council of Environmental Quality will see 10 of its 21 staff furloughed.
The government into shutdown mode on the Tuesday evening after Senate Democrats voted down a stopgap bill known as a continuing resolution that would keep the government open. The House of Representatives had passed the legislation last month and left town. It hasn’t returned since then.
Democrats are demanding an extension of the enhanced subsidies for the health insurance marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act that passed during the Biden administration.