White House: thousands of layoffs due to shutdown, especially in agencies 'not aligned' with Trump

The layoffs of federal employees caused by the shutdown 'are likely to be in the thousands'. This was said by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, responding to reporters' questions about the meeting Donald Trump will have today to determine the cuts. "And this is something that the Budget Office and the entire White House team has to work on, unfortunately, today," she added, without giving any indication as to which agencies might be involved. "That will be talked about today, I don't want to anticipate anything," he said, indicating clearly, however, that the cuts will have an ideological and political orientation. "We are looking at agencies that are not aligned with the president's values and we see it as a waste of taxpayers' money," he said.

Several federal unions have filed a lawsuit to prevent the layoffs, and there are those in the administration who oppose this line. Some officials, the Washington Post revealed, have secretly suggested that the move might violate appropriations laws. The Antideficiency Act, for example, prohibits the federal government from committing or spending money not appropriated by Congress. It also prohibits new spending during the shutdown and this could also affect severance pay. But The Donald doesn't seem to be hearing reason and has warned that he is assessing with Russell Vought, one of the most powerful men in the administration and head of the government's budget office, 'which of the many Democratic agencies, most of which are political shenanigans, he recommends cutting and whether those cuts will be temporary or permanent'.

Meanwhile, the president blocked 8 billion in funding for climate-related projects in Democratic states. At the moment, the 15th shutdown since 1981 has caused the suspension of scientific research, economic data reports and a wide range of other activities including museums, monuments and national parks. The ;;main social assistance programmes, such as social security, will continue to make payments, however. The US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, warned that the US GDP could take a hard hit because of the freeze. "We could see a severe blow to GDP, to growth and to American workers," he said. Government shutdowns usually have a limited economic impact but many commentators pointed out that this time could be different precisely because of the massive layoffs.

Trump himself has threatened to permanently oust thousands of the people who will be suspended during the shutdown and warned 'the radical left' that he will especially target the centres of his power. "I can't believe the radical left Democrats offered me this unprecedented opportunity," the tycoon wrote in a post on Truth announcing he was working with Vought. "It's the one famous for Project 2025," The Donald pointed out, referring to the platform created by the conservative Heritage Foundation that envisions a drastic downsizing of the federal government.

The Trump administration has already pursued many aspects of the plan, such as the dismantling of the Department of Education and drastic cuts in the fight against pollution. And the tycoon is on track to oust a total of 300,000 federal employees by the end of the year.