Federal Agencies Plan For Mass Firings As Shutdown Looms: What To Know In CA

With the midnight deadline looming to reach a spending deal and avert a government shutdown, President Donald Trump renewed threats to use the shutdown to make federal worker cuts permanent.

A memo from the White House telling federal agencies to draft mass firing plans ahead of a potential government shutdown at midnight could mean an untold number of federal workers in California could be fired. Hundreds of thousands of government workers would be furloughed, and the president warned that the jobs losses would be made permanent if a shutdown occurs.

“We’re doing well as a country, so the last thing we want to do is shut it down, but a lot of good can come down from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want,” Trump said on Tuesday, according to the New York Times.

The government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, if Congress fails to pass a temporary spending bill to fund the government through Nov. 21. It passed the House, but in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed for approval, both GOP and Democratic proposals were rejected.

The partisan standoff over health care and spending is threatening to trigger the first U.S. government shutdown in almost seven years. To avoid it, the Senate would have to pass a House measure that would extend federal funding for seven weeks while lawmakers finish their work on annual spending bills.

The Senate was voting on that legislation Tuesday evening after rejecting a Democratic alternative that would keep the government open and extend health care benefits that expire at the end of the year. If the House measure does not pass, the nation will be on a path to a near certain shutdown.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans are trying to “bully” Democrats by refusing to negotiate on an extension of health care benefits and other priorities.

“It’s only the president who can do this. We know he runs the show here,” Schumer said Tuesday morning, after a bipartisan White House meeting the day before yielded little progress.

“Republicans have until midnight tonight to get serious with us,” Schumer said.

President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans say they won’t entertain any changes to the legislation, arguing that it’s a stripped-down, “clean” bill that should be noncontroversial.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune. R-S.D., said Republicans “are not going to be held hostage" by the Democrats' demands. The GOP-led House was on a weeklong recess, unavailable for immediate votes even if the Senate did find bipartisan agreement. And far from entering into negotiations, Trump instead posted a fake, mocking video of Democrats on Monday evening after the White House meeting.

On Tuesday, Trump threatened retribution, saying a shutdown could include “cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like.”

An Office of Management and Budget’s memo, first reported by Politico, said agencies should consider a reduction in force for federal programs whose funding would lapse next week, is not otherwise funded and is “not consistent with the President's priorities.”

The memo means the affected federal workers would not only be laid off, but also lose their jobs. That’s a more aggressive approach than in previous shutdowns, when federal workers not deemed essential were furloughed but returned to their jobs once Congress approved spending.

It’s unclear what agencies would be affected, but Politico said its source from the OMB said programs that will continue regardless of a shutdown include Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits, military operations, law enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and air traffic control.

Once any potential government shutdown ends, agencies are asked to revise their reduction-in-force plans “as needed to retain the minimal number of employees necessary to carry out statutory functions,” according to the memo.

It was still unclear if either side would blink before the deadline.

Associated Press Reporters MARY CLARE JALONICK, LISA MASCARO and STEPHEN GROVES contributed to this report.