Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said government layoffs could reach over 10,000 as the government shutdown drags into its third week.

That figure is more than double what the White House said it was cutting in court filings last week.

“We want to be very aggressive where we can be in shuttering the bureaucracy, not just the funding,” Mr. Vought said Wednesday on “The Charlie Kirk Show” live from the White House. “We now have an opportunity to do that, and that’s where we’re going to be looking for our opportunities.”

He said the reductions in force will keep rolling throughout the shutdown.

A court filing showed last week that over 4,000 employees were receiving notices at the departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security and Treasury.

“I think we’ll probably end up being north of 10,000,” Mr. Vought said. “If I can only work on saving money, then I’m going to do everything I can to look for opportunities to downsize in areas where this administration has thought, well, this is our way towards a balanced budget.”

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.