The Trump administration’s strategy to quickly deploy mass layoffs of federal workers when the government has closed in recent days, according to officials from the familiar administration with talks, such as an increasing number of republican legislators and Trump administration officials recognize the potential political risks of the decision.
Democrats have not shown any signs of a move in their opposition to a Stopgap financing measure which does not respond to their requests for health care and to an increasing number of republican legislators warning potential return meat, the White House now plans to retain at least a little more references to opinions of reduction of the threat.
“There is growing recognition within the West wing that rifs policy, at a time when we know that our message on closure is the best, would be better later,” said one of the officials. It is “the idea that if we give it more time, it will be because the Democrats have really forced our hand and left us no choice.”
“And we don’t want to seem happy about people who lose their jobs, of course,” they added.
The White House initially planned layoffs the day after the closure, the officials said, with the Budget and Management Office – led by Russell Vought – having made recommendations for agencies that should face the most steep cuts last week.
On social networks, President Donald Trump himself described the closure of “the unprecedented opportunity” to carry out one of his key priorities: reduce the federal workforce.
A large part of this rhetoric has been largely considered within the administration as a threat to try to introduce democrats to the table and force their votes to reopen the government. A few Sources have noted that the Democrats have spent a large part of the first months of the presidency of Trump scandalized by the dismissals of federal workers through the Ministry of Government efficiency, then led by Elon Musk.
The president had also been serious to use this opening to target what he and many conservatives qualified the nascent federal bureaucracy, officials said.
However, there is a large agreement among the best aid of the president who, ultimately, will have to behave on the threat if the negotiations on the end of the closure remain in the dead end.
“There will be a time when we will have to face reality. We must be good guards of dollars of taxpayers. But we hope that it will not happen,” said a White House official.
The White House pointed out from the CNN to the remarks of the press secretary of the press secretary Karoline Leavitt, during which she declared: “This conversation on the layoffs would not occur at the moment if the Democrats were not voting to close the government.”
Trump said on Tuesday that he would be able to say “in four or five days” what government programs, he intends to constantly eliminate “if that continues”.
“We have a lot,” he told journalists at the Oval Office. “I’m not going to tell you, but we will announce it very soon. But we have a lot that we are going to eliminate and eliminate constantly. ”
The speed change strategy occurs while several republican legislators have distinguished themselves that the use of the judgment to dismiss the federal workers in mass could ultimately turn against him.
“It is a rhetoric that excites the base, but we are in a messaging battle to win the environment. ‘Slash and burn’ deactivate them and reduces our lever effect,” a republican of the house told CNN.
Another said it this way: “We have the high terrain now, but we could lose it with mass shots.”
Some legislators have made concerns directly to the White House, two republican sources said with knowledge of conversations, said CNN. A White House official did not dispute that there have been such discussions.
The administration also seemed to deploy another threat to try to force the democrats’ hand on Tuesday after the media reported a white house memo project suggesting that federal employees on leave may not be returned when the government closed, exacerbating the problem more. Trump was quick to seize the new threat, while refusing to commit to doing so.
“I would say that it depends on who we are talking about. I can tell you this, the Democrats have put a lot of people at great risk and in danger, but it really depends on who you are talking about,” said Trump at a oval office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Such a decision would be a major break in the previous one.
The president of the room, Mike Johnson, said on Tuesday that he and the president both wanted the federal workers on leave to receive a return salary once the closure is over. Trump, on the other hand, argued that “it depends” on the individual.
“For the most part, we are going to take care of our people. There are people who really do not deserve to be taken care of, and we will take care of them in a different way,” he told journalists.
On the first day of the government closure, Vought warned the House Republicans during a private call that a massive wave of federal layoffs was going quickly, providing for them to be deployed in a few days.
The next day, Trump boasted that he met Vought to discuss the necessary discounts and hosted his heads of his head of the budget with the 2025 project – a conservative plan which had recommended major reductions in government spending, dismantling the independence of government agencies and expanding the president’s executive authority.
“I cannot believe that the radical left democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” Trump posted on his social platform of truth on the second day of the closure.
Since then, the White House, in coordination with the OMB, has compiled a list of agencies which it plans to target and discuss it with the leaders of the firm which supervise them.
But while the White House officials said the cuts could be announced on October 3, the layoffs had not yet concluded. This is a new welcome for certain legislators worried about the impact – such as the GOP representative Austin Scott of Georgia, which represents a large Air Force base where workers are on leave and have many voters who no longer receive background funds in the event of a disaster.
The dismissal of federal workers, argued the Republican of Georgia, could play directly in the hands of the Democrats. “I have not heard a single republican in the House Express the desire to have mass layoffs of federal employees,” said Scott.
Senator Thom Tillis also warned that not guaranteeing the salary for federal leaves on leave would be a bad political strategy.
“I believe it is a strategic error to make these people now knowing or making them think that they could potentially not recover. If I were them, I will start looking for another job. And there are a lot of good people who work hard,” he said.
When asked if there was a viable outing ramp with the Democrats to end the closure this week, the North Carolina Republican was not optimistic.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said.
