Trump says federal worker firings target ‘Democrat-oriented’ individuals amid shutdown

WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump said Friday that layoffs of federal employees are being calibrated to hit Democrats as he seeks to pressure the party into agreeing to his demands to end a government shutdown.

“It will be Democrat-oriented, because we figure, you know, they started this thing, so they should be Democrat-oriented. It’ll be a lot, and we’ll announce the numbers over the next couple of days, but it’ll be a lot of people all because of the Democrats,” the president told reporters at the White House.

Trump did not specify how many terminations he authorized, but they began earlier Friday, prompting a lawsuit from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing more than 800,000 federal and District of Columbia government employees.

AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement that it is “disgraceful” that the Trump administration has used the shutdown “as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country.”

“AFGE is currently challenging President Trump’s illegal, unprecedented, abuse of power and we will not stop fighting until every reduction-in-force notice is rescinded,” Kelly added.

Republicans and Democrats continue to accuse each other of obstructing progress on reopening the government. Trump and his political allies are demanding that Democrats sign on to a bill devoid of additional provisions that will fund the government through late November. Democrats insist that major health care proposals also be included.

While a government shutdown does not automatically result in a full-blown economic crisis, it creates major disruptions for many aspects of American life, also adding to uncertainty around the state of the world’s biggest economy.

Many federal employees have been furloughed, or forced to work without pay, while others will be placed on mandatory leave until a new budget is approved. Each federal agency has its own shutdown plan, determining which government employees are essential.

In previous shutdowns, employees were furloughed, not fired, and no government programs were ended. Democrats say those moves are likely illegal.

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