Some House Democrats, led by Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, sent a sharply worded letter Monday night to the Trump administration, demanding it “immediately cease” efforts to use the government shutdown to fire thousands of federal workers.
In the letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, the lawmakers called his actions “both dangerous and flagrantly illegal,” and they blamed Republicans for “exploiting the shutdown to implement the lawless purges you have long dreamed of.”
The Democrats demanded that OMB rescind its September 24 memorandum instructing agencies to use the government shutdown to issue RIF (reduction in force) notices. They also requested all documents and communications regarding internal administration discussions about carrying out mass layoffs during a shutdown.
Remember: The Trump administration initiated mass layoffs across federal agencies, including those involved in public health and special education programs, claiming the shutdown has forced them to reduce the size of the federal workforce. No statute requires federal employees to be laid off during a funding lapse, and it has never been done before.
Labor unions filed a lawsuit to stop the shutdown layoffs, and last week a federal judge in San Francisco paused many of them while the case makes its way through the court.
The lawmakers who signed the letter are members of the House Democrats’ Litigation and Response Taskforce, established to develop legal strategies to push back on Trump policies they say are a violation of the Constitution and the rights of the American people.
CNN reached out to OMB for comment.
