The Trump administration is doubling down on threats to lay off thousands of federal employees if Congress doesn\u2019t end the government shutdown soon, but has yet to deliver on its ultimatum.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday night that layoffs were \u201ctaking place right now.\u201d But in a press briefing Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was actually referring to the hundreds of thousands of federal employees who have been furloughed since the shutdown began on Oct. 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cMillions of American federal workers are under enormous financial stress as a result, wondering how they will pay their bills and take care of their families. If the Democrats do not vote to open the government tonight, federal workers will not receive their next full paycheck,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n
Leavitt said last week that layoffs \u201cin the thousands\u201d were imminent, and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought told Republican lawmakers that layoffs would happen in the coming days.<\/p>\n
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On Monday, Leavitt said OMB is \u201ccontinuing to work with agencies on who, unfortunately, is going to have to be laid off if this shutdown continues,\u201d and those plans would proceed if Congress didn\u2019t reach a deal to end the shutdown.<\/p>\n
Monday afternoon, the Senate, for a fifth time, failed to pass stopgap funding bills introduced by both Democrats<\/a> and Republicans<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to see people laid off. But unfortunately, if this shutdown continues, layoffs are going to be an unfortunate consequence of that,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Unions representing government employees<\/a> have asked a federal judge to preemptively block the Trump administration from carrying out any mass layoffs during the shutdown.<\/p>\n Despite the threat of more mass layoffs, one agency is doing the opposite: reinstating hundreds of formerly laid-off employees and keeping them on the job during the shutdown.<\/p>\n The General Services Administration on Monday brought hundreds of employees back to work to manage its governmentwide real estate portfolio, after rescinding reduction-in-force notices they had delivered months ago. Several GSA employees told Federal News Network that the shutdown did not hamper plans to bring these reinstated employees back to work, and that many of them will continue to work and be paid on time during the lapse.<\/p>\n GSA employees told\u00a0Federal News Network last month that GSA planned to rescind RIFs for about 400 Public Buildings Service employees<\/a>.<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n An industry official told Federal News Network that about 75% of PBS employees who were given the reinstatement option agreed to come back to work. A GSA spokesperson referred questions to OMB.<\/p>\n GSA\u2019s updated contingency plans<\/a> call for exempting more than 3,000 Public Buildings Service employees during the shutdown \u2014 a majority of the overall PBS workforce. PBS employees make up the vast majority of staff that GSA expects to keep working throughout a shutdown using carryover funds.<\/p>\n According to its latest contingency plan, about 64% of GSA employees are exempt from the current shutdown, because their work is supported by carryover funds and non-appropriated funds. GSA currently has more than 10,700 total employees.<\/p>\n PBS can continue normal operations, including paying its employees and covering its expenses \u2014 at least for now \u2014 due to \u201cno-year\u201d funds that the agency can carry over from one fiscal year to the next.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause GSA is the government\u2019s property manager, GSA personnel will be responsible for maintaining, protecting, and preserving that property to a greater extent than many other agencies that are not responsible for property and asset management governmentwide,\u201d the plan states. \u201cExcepted GSA employees will be responsible for protecting life and\/or federal property and providing necessary support to other government agencies to enable them to perform excepted activities.\u201d<\/p>\n PBS had more than 5,600 employees in September 2024, but has gone through significant downsizing under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n During a shutdown, federal buildings generally remain open for employees, but may not be open to the public, and construction contracts at federally owned facilities that are paid for with carryover funds would continue. The agency expects it will be able to make next month\u2019s rent payments for leased office space on time, but would generally be unable to sign new leases if the project wasn\u2019t already underway before the shutdown.<\/p>\n GSA\u2019s work to sell and dispose of underutilized federal buildings would be put on hold during a shutdown. Under the Trump administration, GSA has made it a goal to offload about 50% of its real estate portfolio.<\/p>\n \u201cGSA\u2019s role as an aggregator of large numbers of government assets and a supplier of critical tools, equipment, and supplies to other federal agencies requires that GSA retain adequate staffing under a lapse in appropriations in order to protect federal property under GSA\u2019s custody and control and to continue to provide critical support to other federal agencies\u2019 exempt and excepted activities necessary for the protection of life and Federal property,\u201d the contingency plan states.<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n