Unions representing scores of federal workers have asked a judge to intervene and halt the government shutdown-related layoffs that the Trump administration announced Friday.
According to Bloomberg, the emergency request was filed with U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco after Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, posted about the firings on social media.
"The RIFs have begun," Vought wrote Friday afternoon on X, using the abbreviation for reductions in force.
The unions are reportedly asking the judge to immediately bar the OMB from ordering federal agencies to carry out the layoffs and halt the issuance of termination notices before she holds a hearing on Thursday.
Vought's announcement follows President Donald Trump's warning that failure to end the government shutdown would trigger layoffs and government spending cuts.
"We'll be making cuts that will be permanent," Trump said in Thursday's Cabinet meeting. "And we're only going to cut Democrat programs, I hate to tell you."
The president said the administration would do away with "some very popular Democrat programs that aren't popular with Republicans," emphasizing that the minority party in Congress "wanted to do this" by voting to keep the government shut down.
"So, we'll give them a little taste of their own medicine," Trump said.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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