White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that federal government layoffs during the shutdown will likely be in the thousands, ahead of President Trump’s meeting with Office and Management Budget Director Russell Vought.
“It’s likely going to be in the thousands. It’s a very good question, and that’s something that the Office of Management and Budget and the entire team at the White House here again, is unfortunately having to work on today,” Leavitt told reporters.
“These discussions and these conversations, these meetings, would not be happening if the Democrats had voted to keep the government open,” she added.
Trump on Thursday called the meeting with Vought an “unprecedented opportunity” to consider recommendations for cuts and firings across federal agencies.
He said he will meet with his budget director “to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”
When asked what the president meant by Democrat agencies, Leavitt said that the administration will be looking to make cuts from agencies that don’t align with the values of the president.
“We’re going to look at agencies that don’t align the administration’s values that we feel are a waste of the taxpayer dollars,” Leavitt said.
She added that Democrats should be blamed for the layoffs because they are at fault for the shutdown.
“And look, unfortunately, these conversations are happening because we don’t have any money coming into the federal government right now, and so the president wants to be a good steward of the American taxpayer dollar during a time when our balance sheet is looking very grim because the Democrats chose to shut the government down,” the press secretary said.
Trump suggested Tuesday that his administration could make cuts to programs during a government shutdown, and his budget office last week directed agencies in a memo to prepare for mass firings.
The president also told One America News, “there could be firings, and that’s their fault,” blaming the Democrats.
“And it could also be other things. I mean, we could cut projects that they wanted, favorite projects, and they’d be permanently cut,” Trump said. “I’m allowed to cut things that should have never been approved in the first place, and I will probably do that.”
In a first public step, Vought announced Wednesday plans to cut billions in funding in transportation projects in New York City and energy projects in 16 mostly Democratic-led states.