Trump Plans to Use Shutdown to Fire Federal Workers

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Transcript

00:00Yeah, let's get you the latest on the U.S. government shutdown and the Trump administration

00:04moving quickly to capitalize on the situation by shrinking the size of the federal workforce.

00:11There are unfortunate consequences to a government shutdown and the federal government

00:16is not receiving any cash at the moment. And so the Office of Management and Budget has been tasked

00:21with looking over the receipts and looking over the budget of the entire federal bureaucracy.

00:26And as the vice president said, determining what needs to continue to go out the door and what can

00:31we continue to keep running and what unfortunately is going to have to come to an end. So those

00:35decisions are being made. And unfortunately, layoffs are very likely, as the vice president

00:39just said, going to be a part of that. For more, let's bring in our Congress

00:44reporter Caitlin Riley in Washington. So Caitlin, day one of the shutdown, we look like we're headed

00:50towards mass firings. Yes, that's correct. As you heard the press secretary say earlier today,

00:57the administration is moving forward with firings. We knew that was a threat heading into this. We had

01:05seen agencies shut down plans in the days leading up to this and they hadn't included any firings. But

01:11now we know that those are in fact coming, which we heard from the press secretary. And you're seeing

01:18kind of an escalation of tactics from the Trump administration as this shutdown drags on beyond the

01:25first day. We also heard about President Trump freezing federal funding for New York, not to mention

01:34also withdrawing some projects when it comes to those states of voter for Kamala Harris. We are hearing

01:40about criticisms of using the government shutdown as a pretext for culture wars at this point.

01:46Yeah, absolutely. And what's notable about the funding that was slated for New York is the top

01:53Democrat in the Senate and the top Democrat in the House who have both been leading the shutdown fight

01:58are both from New York. And so I know Democrats are seeing this as retaliation. The administration

02:06has said it's part of a review of that funding related to kind of cultural war issues, sort of diversity,

02:14equity, inclusion funding. And so that's we're seeing we're seeing things ramp up.

02:23It looks like both sides are digging in, as you alluded to. Talk to us about the Democrats policy

02:29demands and how the Republicans have responded so far. Yeah, absolutely. Democrats are asking for

02:36Republicans to agree to roll back Medicaid cuts that they enacted earlier this year. That's a health

02:43care program that primarily serves the very poor. Democrats also want to see an extension of health

02:50care subsidies that are due to expire at the end of this year. Republicans have said that they will not

02:56negotiate on these demands until the government opens. But we are seeing some bipartisan talks among

03:05rank and file senators where you might see some overlap, particularly on the health care subsidies that

03:13are that are due to expire at the end of this year. There seems to be the possibility for some bipartisan

03:21agreement there, though, of course, nothing, nothing has been forthcoming yet. And leadership has insisted

03:28that they will not be entertaining these negotiations while the government is shut down.