US Govt shutdown: Trump threatens mass layoffs

The United States federal government officially shut down early Tuesday morning after lawmakers failed to pass a funding bill, leaving hundreds of thousands of workers without pay and disrupting essential services nationwide.

Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow in business and economics at the Pacific Research Institute, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that federal employees will be the first to feel the impact.

“If you work for the federal government, you’re not going to go to work, you’re not going to get paid,” Winegarden said. “If you’re a contractor, again, you’re not going to get your payments.”

The consequences are expected to grow the longer the shutdown continues. Social security payments could be delayed, national parks and other federal lands risk reduced maintenance or closures, and programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) may rapidly run out of funds.

Some services, however, will continue. Medicare and Medicaid programs will operate, border protection and law enforcement will remain active, and air-traffic controllers are expected to work, though delays could occur if staff refuse to work without pay.

Kristi Noem, head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), confirmed that over 200,000 law enforcement officers and nearly 50,000 members of the military will continue working without pay. In a post on X, she blamed Democrats for the shutdown, stating it is “forcing” frontline workers to continue protecting the nation without compensation.

Ahead of the shutdown, President Donald Trump warned that “vast numbers of people” could be laid off, calling such firings potentially “irreversible.” Political analyst Eric Ham told BBC News that such threats are often used as leverage to pressure Democrats, but now with the shutdown in effect, mass layoffs “certainly could be on the table.”

Trump has previously pursued cost-cutting initiatives in the federal workforce and, according to a White House memo circulated last Thursday, agencies were instructed to prepare for potential mass firings if a shutdown occurs.

The shutdown follows the Republican-controlled Senate’s failure to pass a last-minute government spending bill, despite pushing for a “clean” continuing resolution. With 53 Republican seats in the Senate, 60 votes were needed to pass the bill, forcing reliance on Democratic support.

Democrats sought to use the leverage to advance health care policies, including ensuring subsidies for low-income health insurance recipients and reversing Medicaid cuts implemented under the Trump administration. Both parties have blamed each other for the impasse.

Congressman Bill Foster said Republicans, who control the House, Senate, and White House, “bear responsibility for the shutdown,” warning that American families would continue paying the price. Representative Joe Morelle described the shutdown as the result of “a brutal and incompetent administration,” while California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized President Trump personally, calling him “a very weak man who can’t even do stairs” on X.

Meanwhile, the White House has launched a countdown timer tracking the length of the shutdown on its website, now displaying the message: “Democrats have shutdown the government.”

The shutdown is expected to continue until Congress passes a funding bill, leaving federal employees, contractors, and millions of Americans relying on government programs in limbo.