Trump threatens federal job cuts as shutdown begins
Democrat-led filibuster blocks temporary funding bill in Senate
Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for October 1, 2025:
Senate to vote again today on government funding.
Federal workers worry about what’s next.
Trump withdraws pick for jobs report chief .
SHUT IT DOWN. Welcome to the shutdown. For the first time since 2018, the federal government has run out of money, as Congress on Tuesday failed to approve a short-term funding bill to keep the lights on. And now, President Trump is threatening to use the shutdown to slash federal government jobs and programs backed by Democrats.
TRUMP. “We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for (Democrats) and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that (Democrats) like, cutting programs that they like,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
DEMOCRAT THINGS. Trump repeated his threat a few hours later. “The last thing we want to do is shut it down, but if good can come from shutdowns, we can get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want, and they’d be Democrat things.”
RIFS. Usually when a shutdown hits, we talk about how many federal workers get furloughed. But this time may be different. Last week, the White House told federal agencies to get their plans ready for mass firings during a shutdown, what are known as RIF’s - Reductions In Force.
FEDS. Is Trump just making idle threats? Or does White House budget chief Russell Vought have plans ready to go for mass firings? “There are many options,” Vought told Fox Business yesterday about RIF’s. “We will be looking for our opportunities to do that.”
FIRINGS. Republicans say this wouldn’t be happening if not for Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, who has been itching for a showdown. “Schumer will be responsible for the largest firing of public sector workers in the history of the United States,” said Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI).
BLUF. I still believe that this shutdown gives the President all sorts of options. In my view, Trump has much more leeway to dismantle the government and fire workers - simply because the Congress has chosen not to fund the government and its operations.
END GAME. When I walked up to the Capitol on Monday, I ran into three veteran Senate staffers. All of them have been through extended shutdown fights. As we discussed this latest battle, we all agreed that getting into a shutdown is easy. Finding an off-ramp - and ending the shutdown - is not as simple.
OFF RAMP. And if Trump starts firing all sorts of people at various federal agencies, that will make this situation even more political. “I think Trump is going to play hardball here,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told CNN.
SENATE. The shutdown became official last night after Senate Democrats led a second filibuster against a 7-week funding bill approved by the House. 60 votes were needed, as the GOP mustered 55 votes. “There isn’t any substantive reason why there ought to be a government shutdown,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, as he blamed Democrats.
SWITCHES. Three on the Democratic side voted to keep the government funded: Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), and Sen. Angus King (I-ME). One Republican also joined the Democratic-led filibuster, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). 55 votes wasn’t enough.
CRACKS. GOP Senators were heartened by the outcome, believing that Democrats are not fully behind the idea of a government shutdown. “The cracks in the Democrats are already showing,” said Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY), as Republicans will force another vote on the same temporary funding bill this morning in the Senate.
BIG MO. In the hallways, you could really sense that Republicans think they have the high ground right now. “I think it’s grossly irresponsible for Chuck Schumer to say, hey, we’re going to shut down the government because we can’t get our way,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH).
VOTES. Senate Republicans promised that they would force Democrats to vote again and again on the House-passed CR, until it passes. “What does Senator Schumer have against regular order?” asked Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND).
HOUSE. While the Senate was at work, the House wasn’t doing much of anything. Even with no legislative business, dozens and dozens of Democrats showed up for Tuesday’s ‘pro forma’ session, but their efforts to be recognized were ignored by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA), who quickly gaveled the House out until Friday afternoon.
JAMMED. In other words, there will be no votes this week in the House on anything related to this funding dispute and shutdown. Democrats were furious. “House Democrats are here in D.C. while our Republican colleagues are missing in action,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA).
ACTION. Democrats rallied inside and outside the Capitol, demanding that Republicans immediately extend expiring subsidies for the Obama health law. “Democrats are in Washington, ready to keep government open and lower health care costs,” said former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
SHUTDOWN TIMELINE. Here’s your handy guide to the shutdown.
SEPT. 19 - House passes GOP’s 7-week CR.
SEPT. 19 - Dem-led filibuster blocks CR in Senate.
SEPT. 30 - Dem-led filibuster blocks CR in Senate.
OCT. 1 - Funding lapse and government shutdown.
BLAME GAME. Who is responsible for the shutdown? Your answer may well be determined by your personal politics. From my vantage point here in the Capitol, there is no question that the Democrats are responsible for this shutdown. When you filibuster a bill to fund the government, that is the very definition of forcing a shutdown.
HISTORY. This impasse really reminds me of the 2013 shutdown, when Republicans refused to fund the government unless the Obama health law was repealed. That’s not how a temporary funding situation works.
HEALTH CARE. Democrats can certainly demand changes in health care policy. But you can’t make must-pass government funding bills into a hostage-taking exercise involving a shutdown.
OPEN MIC. I’m sure some of you see it differently. Tell me which side is to blame for the shutdown and why!
LAWMAKER PAY. One of the oddities of a government shutdown is that while federal workers and members of the military don’t get paid - the Congress does. That usually leads to dozens of lawmakers asking not to get their paycheck.
GARDEN STATE. “Today, I formally requested that my salary be withheld,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ). “If our service members and federal workers won’t get paid because of Trump and far-right extremists, Members of Congress shouldn’t either.”
FUNDING. Why do lawmakers still get paid? Because their salaries are not funded in the regular government spending bills passed by Congress. Instead, that money comes through a mandatory appropriation.
CONSTITUTION. Also, it would be unconstitutional to *not* pay members of Congress. The 27th Amendment (which was actually the Second Amendment in the original Bill of Rights presented to the states) does not allow lawmaker pay to be changed before an election.
GRIJALVA. House Republicans refused on Tuesday to swear in the newest member of the House, Democrat Adelita Grijalva. She won her seat last week in a special election to replace her father, the late Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ).
IN LIMBO. “Do I know when I’m going to get sworn in?” Grijalva asked in a video statement she made out on the Capitol steps. “No. Speaker Johnson has left the building.”
SWEARING IN. Back in April, Speaker Johnson quickly gave the oath to two Republicans from Florida - even though the House was not conducting legislative business. But Grijalva is not getting that same courtesy.
TV MONITOR. Speaking of the Speaker, his aides set up a television screen in the entrance to the Johnson’s suite of offices just off the Capitol Rotunda. That TV was playing a loop of past comments from Democrats - where they opposed a government shutdown.
POLITICAL. The Trump Administration has dramatically changed how federal agencies get out their message - and that was obvious yesterday about the shutdown. This message on the website of the Department of Housing and Urban Development stirred a lot of concern.
EMAIL. It wasn’t just that message on hud.gov - as some federal workers received much the same via email. “Democrats are blocking this Continuing Resolution in the U.S. Senate due to unrelated policy demands,” State Department workers were told.
NARA. At the agency responsible for preserving official government records, there was a similar email. One employee called it ‘posturing and propaganda.’ (Narrator: These internal messages are highly unusual. This is not normal.)
WAITING. Other federal workers told me last night that they were still in the dark on their agency’s shutdown plans. Some were obviously concerned about their jobs as well - and worried they may suffer more than a temporary layoff.
FURLOUGH. “The functions performed by the position you encumber have been determined to be ‘non-excepted,’ read an email to one worker who expected to be furloughed. “Non-excepted functions may not continue should there be a lapse in appropriations.”
NOMINATIONS. While most federal government agencies are now in shutdown mode, the work of the Congress continues. Two Senate panels will hold hearings today on various nominations from President Trump. That comes as Senate Republicans are setting up a vote to approve over 100 different nominees.
NUCLEAR. In September, GOP Senators changed the rules with the nuclear option, allowing them to roll multiple nominations into one vote. 48 nominees were approved that way last month; this latest en bloc resolution would confirm another 108 nominees.
S. RES. 412. Those 108 include everything from an Under Secretary of Commerce to an Assistant Secretary of State, as well as 16 different federal prosecutors. Under the old rules, those 108 nominations would have taken about two months to get through the Senate.
BLS. Speaking of nominations, the White House is withdrawing President Trump’s pick to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Remember - Trump fired the BLS chief because he was mad about the July jobs report. Trump’s choice, E.J. Antoni, was a disaster, and would never have been approved by the Senate.
REASONS. I can’t make up all the reasons why Antoni was a bad pick. He was outside the Capitol on Jan. 6. He tweeted sexually crude things about Kamala Harris. He had a Nazi battleship as his Zoom background.
JOBS REPORT. Speaking of the jobs report, the next one is due out on Friday. But the White House has indicated that the release will be delayed - because of the government shutdown.
SURPRISE. Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) surprised many in his own party on Tuesday by announcing a bid for Governor in Arizona. Schweikert will be going up against Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and others in what’s already a crowded GOP field.
SWING SEAT. Schweikert’s decision will give hope to Democrats to pick up his seat in Arizona. The district includes much of the northeast side of Phoenix, including Scottsdale. Schweikert won in 2024 by just 17,000 votes - but that was much improved from his 3,000 vote victory in 2022.
OTHER OFFICE. Schweikert’s move continues a trend in the 2026 election cycle, where more lawmakers are running for another office than just retiring from Congress (the last time that happened was back in 2006). 21 House members are going for another job - to just 7 lawmakers who are retiring.
GOP TILT. The other thing that’s notable is the partisan tilt of the departures from the House. Of the 28 members who won’t be back after the 2026 midterms, 19 are Republicans, and 9 are Democrats. In the Senate, it is divided evenly, four Senators from each party.
MUSE OF HISTORY. October 1, 1888. The War of 1812 was long over - but on this date, a California man asked Congress for compensation from that conflict. Robert S. Day wanted ‘relief for losses suffered by his father in the war of 1812 by the confiscation of certain timber and lumber in the province of Quebec.’ The petition was forwarded to the Senate Committee on Claims.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House has no votes scheduled this week.
The Senate meets at 10 am.
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...and one more thing. Mike Johnson is a little chicken. Don't want to take a vote on Epstein? Adjourn and run home. Don't want to negotiate this CR? Adjourn and run home? Don't want to get to 218 signatures on that petition to force a vote on Epstein? Don't swear in a duly new member of Congress. Can he be any more of a little weasel? He thinks he's a big bully, but he's a scared little man.
I'm not a Democrat, and I'm sure as hell not a Republican. They are completely unhinged, now. That said, I think the Democrats completely screwed this one up by filibustering the CR. I get it; they want to "look strong" and show they are fighting for the average American. This is not the time nor the vehicle to do so.
Will Trump use this shutdown for mass Federal worker firings? C'mon, you KNOW he will. Will the Democrats get ACA subsidies extended? Nope.