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WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance announced on Sunday that there will be more significant reductions in the federal workforce if the government shutdown continues, heightening the uncertainty for the hundreds of thousands of employees currently furloughed without pay due to the persistent deadlock in Congress.
Vance cautioned that the ongoing federal shutdown would result in “painful” further reductions, although he mentioned efforts by the Trump administration to ensure military personnel receive pay this week and to maintain some services for low-income Americans, including nutritional aid.
Even so, hundreds of thousands of government employees have recently been furloughed, and a court filing on Friday from the Office of Management and Budget indicated that over 4,000 federal workers would soon be dismissed in connection with the shutdown. As of Sunday, the impacts of the shutdown intensified, with the Smithsonian announcing the temporary closure of its museums, research centers, and the National Zoo due to funding shortages.
“The longer this continues, the more severe the cuts will become,” Vance stated on Sunday. “Let me be clear, some of these reductions will be harsh. This is not a situation we desire. This isn’t something we are eager about, but the Democrats have left us with a challenging situation.”
Labor unions have already lodged a lawsuit to challenge the drastic actions by President Donald Trump’s budget office, actions that significantly exceed the typical measures taken during a government shutdown, further escalating tensions between the Republican-controlled Congress and the Democratic minority.
The shutdown began on Oct. 1 after Democrats refused a short-term funding proposal and insisted that the bill must include an extension of federal health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. The end of these subsidies at the year’s close will lead to increased monthly costs for millions of people.
Trump and Republican leaders have said they are open to negotiations on the health subsidies, but insist the government must reopen first.
For now, negotiations are virtually nonexistent. Dug in as ever, House leaders from both parties pointed fingers at each other in rival Sunday appearances on “Fox News Sunday.”
“We have repeatedly made clear that we will sit down with anyone, anytime, anyplace,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. “Republicans control the House, the Senate and the presidency. It’s unfortunate they’ve taken a my-way-or-the-highway approach.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson blamed Democrats and said they “seem not to care” about the pain the shutdown is inflicting.
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“They’re trying their best to distract the American people from the simple fact that they’ve chosen a partisan fight so that they can prove to their Marxist rising base in the Democratic Party that they’re willing to fight Trump and Republicans,” he said.
Progressive activists, meanwhile, expressed new support for the Democratic Party’s position in the shutdown fight.
Ezra Levin, co-founder of the leading progressive protest group Indivisible, said he is “feeling good about the strength of Dem position.” He pointed to fractures in the GOP, noting that Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly warned last week that health care insurance premiums would skyrocket for average Americans – including her own adult children – if nothing is done.
“Trump and GOP are rightfully taking the blame for the shutdown and for looming premium increases,” Levin said. “Their chickens are coming home to roost.”
And yet the Republican administration and its congressional allies are showing no signs of caving to Democratic demands or backing away from threats to use the opportunity to pursue deeper cuts to the federal workforce.
Thousands of employees at the departments of Education, Treasury, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, are set to receive layoff notices, according to spokespeople for the agencies and union representatives for federal workers.
“You hear a lot of Senate Democrats say, well, how can Donald Trump possibly lay off all of these federal workers?” Vance said. “Well, the Democrats have given us a choice between giving low-income women their food benefits and paying our troops on the one hand, and, on the other hand, paying federal bureaucrats.”
Democrats say the firings are illegal and unnecessary.
“They do not have to do this,” said Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “They do not have to punish people that shouldn’t find themselves in this position.”
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