Shutdown Day 15: Another Senate vote fails, administration vows more layoffs
The National Gallery of Art in Washington is among the buildings closed during the government shutdown. Credit: AP/Jose Luis Magana
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate tried and failed for a ninth time Wednesday to pass a short-term spending bill as the federal government shutdown entered its third week.
On Day 15 of the shutdown, President Donald Trump’s top budget adviser vowed to continue laying off thousands of furloughed federal workers, even as a federal court judge ordered the Trump Administration to temporarily pause layoffs it launched over the past few days.
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, appearing on "The Charlie Kirk Show" podcast, said layoffs will "probably end up being north of 10,000” federal workers.
"We’re going to keep those [reductions in force] rolling throughout the shutdown, because we think it’s important to stay on offense for the American taxpayer," Vought said.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, a Clinton appointee, ordered the temporary suspension of layoffs initiated by the administration during the second week of the shutdown.
Illston, presiding over a lawsuit filed by a coalition of federal employee unions, said she believed the unions will likely prove that the administration’s push to layoff furloughed workers during a shutdown is "both illegal and in excess of authority and is arbitrary and capricious," according to media reports.
Trump signed an order directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to divert Pentagon funds from other projects to ensure military service members are paid this week despite the funding lapse.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined a group of Democratic lawmakers in urging the administration to guarantee back pay for furloughed workers and those essential employees currently working without pay.
"The law is clear: all impacted government employees, regardless of excepted or furloughed status, are entitled to back pay after a government shutdown ends," reads the letter signed by more than 150 congressional Democrats including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove),
Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.
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