Updated October 10, 2025 at 6:12 PM EDT
The Trump administration says "substantial" layoffs of federal workers have begun, appearing to follow through on threats to slash the size of government during the shutdown.
The announcement first came from Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought in a social media post on X that said, "The RIFs have begun."
An OMB spokesperson confirmed to NPR that the reduction-in-force, or "RIF" process was underway and was "substantial" but declined to provide details of how many people are affected.
The administration has offered few details on the scope of the layoffs. Some federal employees have received actual layoff notices, while union leaders at other agencies say they have been notified merely of an intent to cut their workforce.
At least one federal agency confirmed that reduction-in-force (RIF) notices are being sent out to federal employees.
"HHS employees across multiple divisions have received reduction-in-force notices as a direct consequence of the Democrat-led government shutdown," Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said shortly after Vought's post. "All HHS employees receiving reduction-in-force notices were designated non-essential by their respective divisions."
The spokesperson blamed the Biden administration for creating a "bloated bureaucracy," although HHS has already cut more workers — 20,000 workers through an earlier RIF and through voluntary resignations and retirements — than were added during the Biden administration.
A union representing Education Department employees said in a statement that "multiple union members" confirmed that at least two offices would be affected by RIFs, the Office of Communications and Outreach as well as the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.
"This administration continues to use every opportunity to illegally dismantle the Department of Education (ED) against congressional intent," AFGE Local 252 President Rachel Gittleman said in a statement on Friday. "They are using the same playbook to cut staff without regard for the impacts to students and families in communities across the country."
Antonio Gaines, president of AFGE Council 222, representing employees of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) across the country, confirmed to NPR that the union had received notice from HUD of its "intent to fire a number of employees."
"We are in the process of reviewing the notice, assessing the impact and magnitude of the agency's decision, while acquiring legal guidance from the National office," Gaines wrote.
Separately, NPR has reviewed a screenshot of a memo to the National Federation of Federal Employees, notifying the union of RIFs at many of HUD's regional offices.
AFGE Council 238 president Justin Chen confirmed that Environmental Protection Agency employees overseeing recycling and composting initiatives, plastics reduction and other programs, were among those targeted for layoffs.
"Weakening the EPA workforce is a direct threat to the health and safety of Americans," wrote Chen in a statement. "If Trump thinks he is only hurting federal workers with this decision, he is sorely mistaken."
It's unclear if individual employees at the EPA or HUD have received official layoff notices. An EPA spokesperson blamed Democrats and the government shutdown for the layoffs. A HUD spokesperson said the reduction in force was "to align our programs with the Administration's priorities and the appropriations available to the department."
On Reddit, IRS employees posted screenshots of actual RIF notices they had received, informing them that their last day will be Dec. 9.
"The Internal Revenue Service has determined it is necessary to abolish some positions in INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY to further workforce shaping efforts," read one such notice.
Federal law is specific about the process that RIFs must follow, including a minimum 60 days' notice of their end date, or 30 days if a waiver is granted by the Office of Personnel Management.
Some agencies may need to notify unions or Congress, and then draft official notices to send to affected employees. The notices are required to include information like the reasons for the RIF and the effective date.
Unions seek legal recourse, again
Several unions already filed suit over the threat of RIFs ahead of the shutdown, arguing "the Trump administration has made unlawful threats to dismantle essential federal services and functions provided by federal personnel, deviating from historic practice and violating applicable laws."
The RIF announcement came hours before a court-ordered deadline for the federal government to detail the status of "any currently planned or in-progress RIF notices to be issued during/because of the government shutdown."
In a statement Friday, American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley slammed the announcement.
"It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country," he said.
Since the shutdown began, the Trump administration has made several threats to cut spending, fire workers and not pay some furloughed employees, arguing that the reductions are the fault of Democrats who won't drop their demands for extended health care subsidies in exchange for reopening the government.
The White House has also said its decision to freeze transportation funding in Chicago and New York and cancel billions of dollars in Biden-era energy project grants are a continuation of their push to shrink the size and scope of the federal bureaucracy.
Mass layoffs were a hallmark policy of the Department of Government Efficiency effort that began when Trump returned to office in January.
In February, a memo from the Office of Personnel Management and OMB asked federal agencies to prepare multi-phase plans to implement Trump's "workforce optimization initiative" that includes layoffs and what the workforce would look like when the new fiscal year started Oct. 1.
As NPR has previously reported, many agencies that implemented layoffs at the pressure and direction of DOGE have hired back workers in recent weeks, citing the inability to perform basic tasks and carry out Trump's policy priorities.
While the Trump administration has argued that cuts to the federal government need to happen because of the lapse in funding, some experts say a shutdown does not mean layoffs are necessary.
"There is no statute requiring them to lay off a substantial share of federal employees during a temporary government shutdown," Jessica Riedl with the center-right Manhattan Institute said. "That statute doesn't exist, and such practice has not occurred during previous shutdowns."
Layoffs dampen chance of funding compromise
Top Republicans on Capitol Hill are pinning blame for the mass layoffs on Democrats, who have refused to support a Republican-backed measure to reopen the government because it does not extend health insurance subsidies that are expiring later this year.
GOP leaders also hoped the threat of mass layoffs would compel Democrats to relent. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the Trump administration was left with no choice.
"I think they held off as long as they could," Thune told reporters Friday.
But Democrats say Republicans are taking advantage of the shutdown to continue their ongoing effort to slash the footprint of the federal government.
"Let's be blunt: nobody's forcing Trump and Vought to do this," Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement Friday. "They don't have to do it; they want to. They're callously choosing to hurt people—the workers who protect our country, inspect our food, respond when disasters strike. This is deliberate chaos."
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine., told reporters on Thursday that a bipartisan group was making progress on a possible path to end the shutdown that would include a vote on health insurance subsidies after the government reopens.
But hope of a compromise may be fading again, as the layoffs inflame tensions in Congress even more.
Collins was among the few Republicans to criticize the layoffs on Friday.
"I strongly oppose OMB Director Russ Vought's attempt to permanently lay off federal workers who have been furloughed due to a completely unnecessary government shutdown caused by Senator Schumer," Collins wrote. "Regardless of whether federal employees have been working without pay or have been furloughed, their work is incredibly important to serving the public."
NPR's Cory Turner, Jennifer Ludden and Michael Copley contributed to this report.
Have information you want to share about agency reduction-in-force plans and other changes to the federal government? Reach out to this author through encrypted communications on Signal: Stephen Fowler is at stphnfwlr.25.
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