The federal government is headed toward a shutdown Wednesday morning: Congress failed to pass any funding to kick off fiscal 2026, which will cause hundreds of thousands of federal employees to be furloughed and the rest of the civil service to continue working without immediate pay.
In a 55-45 tally, the Senate on Tuesday once again rejected a seven-week stopgap funding bill that would have kept agencies afloat through Nov. 21 after all but a few Democrats voted to block the measure. All Republicans supported the House-backed bill, but it failed to reach the 60-vote threshold necessary to pass it and keep government open.
Agencies will shutter for the first time since 2019 amid President Trump’s continued threat to lay off large portions of the federal workforce. The Office of Management and Budget has directed agencies to consider issuing reduction-in-force notices to all employees whose salaries are funded by annual appropriations and who work on issues that are not Trump priorities. The president reiterated that threat on Tuesday.
“The Democrats want to shut it down, so when you shut it down, you have to do layoffs,” Trump said at the White House hours before funding lapsed. “So we’d be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected.”
There is no connection between shutdowns and RIFs and the two have never been previously connected. Instead, agencies have placed portions of their workforces on unpaid furlough during a shutdown and brought them back when the government reopened. Employees funded through mechanisms other than annual appropriations, as well as those necessary to protect life and property, are considered either “exempted” or “excepted” and work throughout shutdowns on only the promise of backpay.
As employees nervously await the administration’s plans on layoffs, about 550,000 of them will be sent home on furlough. Those employees are also guaranteed backpay when the government reopens. Another 1.57 million employees will remain at work while facing delayed paychecks. The 23% furlough rate is unusually low for modern shutdowns.
Already Tuesday evening, agencies began sending early notices to employees to notify them of whether they would be furloughed, according to copies viewed by Government Executive. Those messages reminded furloughed employees not to work during the shutdown, to monitor the news to stay apprised of when to return to work and that their back pay was guaranteed. Official notices were expected later Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.
All federal employees will still report to their jobs Wednesday morning. Those who are leaving due to their furlough status will have a few hours to conduct any “closeout” work necessary for an “orderly shutdown” before they leave indefinitely.
Congress currently has no clear path to reopen government. Democrats continue to insist that Republicans address end-of-year premium increases set to hit those who receive health insurance through the Affordable Care Act as part of any funding deal. They are also looking to roll back Trump’s ability to rescind federal funds through impoundments. Republicans have remained steadfast that they will not negotiate over those issues until the government is reopened.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said his caucus was “not going to be held hostage.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, there isn’t anything here to negotiate,” Thune said Tuesday afternoon. “This is a routine funding resolution so that we can continue our routine appropriations work.”
House Republicans, meanwhile, did not return to the Capitol this week after passing their continuing resolution last week.
Democrats throughout the day Tuesday said the ball was in Trump and Republicans’ court, while suggesting any layoffs that result from the shutdown were bound to occur anyway.
“The bottom line is he’s doing it anyway,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “It will fall on [Trump], as I said. He’s the one doing the firings, not Democrats.”
Most federal agencies sent a message to employees Tuesday afternoon with nearly identical language blaming congressional Democrats for the impasse for holding up a stopgap funding bill “due to unrelated policy demands.”
“A funding lapse will result in certain government activities ceasing due to a lack of appropriated funding,” agency leaders said to their workforces. “In addition, designated pre-notified employees of this agency would be temporarily furloughed.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Trump “just seems to be on that path” toward slashing federal jobs, regardless of whether a shutdown had occurred.
“This president is incredibly cruel and mean spirited, so he may well engage in some totally unnecessary and punitive layoffs that save no money,” Blumenthal said. “I think the record shows that he is firing people regardless of the shutdown.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said the shutdown would not materially change the current operations of government.
“Donald Trump has been shutting down the government,” said Van Hollen, whose state houses among the highest number of federal workers. “He’s been shutting down the parts that he doesn’t like, he’s been super charging the parts that he likes. So we want to keep the government open, but no more blank check for Donald Trump.”
Just before the shutdown, the American Federation of Government Employees and Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit against the administration’s plans, suggesting Trump and OMB Director Russ Vought had overstepped their legal authorities in recommending the RIFs.
“Announcing plans to fire potentially tens of thousands of federal employees simply because Congress and the administration are at odds on funding the government past the end of the fiscal year is not only illegal—it’s immoral and unconscionable,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said.
The Office of Personnel Management instructed agencies to prepare a “decisional memorandum” that documents the need for the layoffs. The Trump administration previously ran into legal trouble when courts determined that OPM and OMB did not have the authority to mandate workforce decisions within agencies, though the Supreme Court has since cleared a path for such directives.
Any layoff notice sent at the outset of a shutdown is likely to have not yet taken effect by the time the government reopens. Agencies generally must provide 60-days notice to all impacted workers. OMB instructed agencies that they can update their layoff plans once the government reopens.
Thune said the Senate will take additional votes on Wednesday before adjourning on Thursday in observance of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. Lawmakers would then return on Friday and potentially stay through the weekend.
The post As government spirals toward a shutdown, Trump promises mass layoffs appeared first on Defense One.
