The White House has begun laying off a "substantial" number of government employees, OMB Director Russ Vought announced Friday on X. 

"The RIFs have begun," Vought wrote, referring to reduction-in-force plans. 

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

The news comes on the 10th day of the government shutdown after Senate Democrats insisted on maintaining Obama-era benefits that include illegal immigrants, and both sides of the aisle have repeatedly failed to pass subsequent packages to fund the government. 

According to the report, the layoffs have hit agencies including: Interior, Homeland Security, Treasury, EPA, Commerce, Education, Energy, HHS and HUD.

On Thursday, Trump said his administration would target programs backed by Democrats - saying during a cabinet meeting: "We’re only cutting Democrat programs, I hate to tell you, but we are cutting Democrat programs," adding "We will be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans, frankly."

The move follows an OMB memo leaked two weeks ago which ordered Trump administration officials to prepare to carry out reduction-in-force (RIF) plans during the shutdown, targeting employees that aren't legally required - OR, those which conflict with Trump's priorities. 

Democrats are of course freaking out.

"We believe that they are not only unethical and immoral but illegal for him to be RIFing people in a shutdown," said Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-MD) on Friday. 

The cuts also come hours ahead of a court deadline for the DOJ to file a report detailing any plans to terminate workers during the shutdown - ahead of an Oct. 16 hearing on a request by federal worker unions to block layoffs.

Over 2/3 of civilian federal employees have remained on the job during the shutdown, between essential workers or jobs that receive longer-term funding. The vast majority of employees are going without pay. 

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