The White House said Wednesday that federal worker layoffs as a result of the government shutdown are “imminent” and will target nonessential civil servants.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that President Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought are working with agencies “across the board” to identify where cuts could be made.

“We believe layoffs are imminent. They are, unfortunately, a consequence of this government shutdown,” she said.

Ms. Leavitt said Mr. Vought will discuss the layoffs with members of the House Republican Conference so they can inform their constituents back home. She added that more details about the plan would be made public soon.

“It would be irresponsible of us not to take a look at each and every agency and get an understanding of what we’re going to have to do moving forward to do the best we can in the midst of this government shutdown,” she said.

Ms. Leavitt portrayed Democrats, whom the White House has blamed for the shutdown, as the villains behind the layoffs.

“Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do and it’s because the Democrats have put us in this position. If the Democrats did not vote to shut down the government, we would not be talking about layoffs today,” she said.

Congressional Democrats are demanding that a short-term spending bill undo the One Big Beautiful Bill’s provisions that bar illegal immigrants and some able-bodied adults from Medicaid.

They also demand a continuation of Obamacare subsidies that were expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic and are set to expire at the end of this year.

Vice President J.D. Vance, who joined Ms. Leavitt for the daily White House press briefing, said workers who’ve been deemed “nonessential” will be the first to be laid off if the government shutdown continues.

“We’re not targeting federal agencies based on politics,” Mr. Vance told reporters. “We’re targeting the people’s government so that as much as possible of the essential workers can continue to function.”

The comments from Ms. Leavitt and Mr. Vance came after the president said Tuesday that he would capitalize on the shutdown to fire “a lot” of federal civil servants and slash multiple federal programs and benefits he doesn’t like.

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget last week sent a memo to federal agencies telling them to put together “reduction in force” plans, signaling that the administration is planning to go beyond the traditional furloughing of federal employees and firing them.

Nonessential workers are typically those whose jobs are not considered critical to national security or public health. They include administrative staff, workers at national parks and museums, non-critical research jobs, and many Internal Revenue Service employees.

Each agency determines which positions are nonessential, subject to approval from the White House budget office.

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.