Layoffs will start if shutdown talks ‘going nowhere’, says White House

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration will start mass layoffs of federal workers if President Donald Trump decides negotiations with congressional Democrats to end a partial government shutdown are “absolutely going nowhere,” White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said.

As the shutdown entered its fifth day, Hassett told CNN’s “State of the Union” program that he still saw a chance that Democrats would back down, averting a costly shutdown and federal employee layoffs that have been threatened by White House budget director Russell Vought.

“President Trump and Russ Vought are lining things up and getting ready to act if they have to, but hoping that they don’t,” he said. “If the president decides that the negotiations are absolutely going nowhere, then there will start to be layoffs. But I think that everybody is still hopeful that when we get a fresh start at the beginning of the week, that we can get the Democrats to see that it’s just common sense to avoid layoffs like that.”

But there were no tangible signs of negotiations to end the standoff since Trump met with top congressional leaders last week. The shutdown began on Oct. 1, the start of fiscal year 2026, after Senate Democrats rejected a short-term funding measure that would keep federal agencies open through Nov. 21.

Democrats are demanding a permanent extension of enhanced premium tax credits to help Americans purchase private health insurance through the Affordable Care Act and written assurances that the White House will not try to unilaterally cancel spending agreed to in any deal. “What we’ve seen is negotiation through deep fake videos, the House canceling votes and, of course, President Trump spending yesterday on the golf course. That’s not responsible behavior,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”