OMB Director Vought: "The RIFs (Reductions in Force) Have Begun"

The mass layoffs of Democrat Deep Staters begins.

President Donald Trump's administration on Friday afternoon announced that it has begun firing federal workers, OMB Director Russ Vought wrote on X.

"The RIFs have begun," Vought posted, on day 10 of the government shutdown, referring to reduction-in-force plans that the White House has long contemplated.

"Can confirm RIFs have begun and they are substantial," an OMB spokesperson told POLITICO. "These are RIFs not furloughs."

It's unclear how many people were laid off, and Vought provided no further details.

But an administration official granted anonymity to discuss the layoffs said they hit agencies including: Interior, Homeland Security, Treasury, EPA, Commerce, Education, Energy, HHS and HUD.

And Vought's post appears to follow through on a threat to inflict more political pain on Democrats.

Trump on Thursday said his administration would target programs backed by Democrats.

"We're only cutting Democrat programs, I hate to tell you, but we are cutting Democrat programs," the president said during a Cabinet meeting. "We will be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren't popular with Republicans, frankly."

...

In a memo to agencies two weeks ago, OMB instructed Trump administration officials to prepare to carry out reduction-in-force -- or RIF -- plans during the shutdown, targeting employees who work for programs that are not legally required to continue or clash with Trump's policy priorities.

I don't know if this is the bargaining chip we've imagined it is. The Democrats will just demand that the layoffs be undone as their payment for ending the shutdown.

Active duty military personnel deployed in war zones will begin missing their paychecks this week.

Or, as Charles Schumer says, "Every day (of the shutdown) gets better for us."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is drawing fire from Republicans after declaring that "every day gets better for us" Democrats during the government shutdown, which dragged into its ninth day Thursday.

"Democrats couldn't care less whether military families miss a paycheck tomorrow. In an interview posted this morning, the Democratic leader said, 'Every day gets better for us,'" Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) fumed on the Senate floor.

"This isn't a political game. Democrats might feel that way, but I don't know of anybody else that does," he declared. "The longer this goes on, the more the American people realize that Democrats own this shutdown."

Thune cited a new Morning Consult poll that showed Democrats are getting more blame for the shutdown. The poll showed 43 percent of voters blamed Republicans for the shutdown while 38 percent blamed Democrats, but the number of respondents who blamed Democrats was up 6 points compared with an earlier poll.

Thune made his comments in response to Schumer's comments in an interview with Punchbowl in which he asserted: "Every day gets better for us."

Stop all welfare payments and pay the military instead.

posted by Ace at 03:37 PM

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