By Jack Phillips
A top White House economy official, Kevin Hassett, said Sunday that layoffs to the federal workforce could occur quickly if negotiations with Democrats to reopen the government don’t lead to any progress.
Hassett, who is the head of the National Economic Council, said that the administration and Republicans will negotiate their position to end the government shutdown but said he hopes Democrats come to a compromise soon. If not, the layoffs will start, he said.
“I think that if the president decides that the negotiations are absolutely going nowhere, then there will start to be layoffs,” Hassett told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
“But I think that everybody’s still hopeful that when we get a fresh start at the beginning of the week that we can get the Democrats to see that it’s just common sense to avoid layoffs like that, to avoid the $15 billion a week that the Council of Economic Advisers says will harm GDP if we have a shutdown” as well as other financial losses that are incurred as it continues, he added.
Hassett said that the White House believes that Democrats will “be reasonable once they get back into town on Monday, and if they are, then I think there’s no reason for those layoffs.”
Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that federal layoffs, or reduction-in-force plans, are coming “very soon,” while Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought also said that the administration is looking at the government shutdown as a means to reduce the size of the federal government and workforce.
Starting in the early morning of Oct. 1, federal agencies ordered hundreds of thousands of federal employees who are not essential to protecting people and property to stop work.
Democrats are blaming Trump and the Republican members of Congress for the shutdown.
Democratic lawmakers are demanding that Congress extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of 2025 in exchange for their vote for any stopgap spending bills, while Republicans are refusing to allow conditions for the reopening of the government. Republicans have said that any measures on health care should be brought up separately.
“Everyone is about to experience dramatically increased premiums, co-pays and deductibles because of the Republican health care crisis. Everyone,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) during a news conference Friday.
“The cruelty that they might unleash on everyday Americans using the pretense of a shutdown is only going to backfire against them,” Jeffries added during an interview with The Associated Press and other outlets at the Capitol on Oct. 2.
Although Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, the Senate’s filibuster rules make it necessary for the government funding legislation to gain support from at least 60 of the 100 senators. That has given Democrats, and independents who caucus with them, a rare opportunity to use their 47 Senate seats to hold out in exchange for policy concessions. The party has chosen to rally on the issue of health care, believing it could be key to their path back to power in Washington.
While speaking to reporters Sunday, President Donald Trump blamed Democrats for any layoffs that occur because of the shutdown.
“It’s up to them,” Trump told reporters on Sunday morning before boarding the presidential helicopter. “Anybody laid off that’s because of the Democrats.”
On Oct. 3, a Senate vote to advance a Republican bill that would reopen the government failed to notch the necessary 60 votes to end a filibuster. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the House would close for legislative business next week, a strategy that could obligate the Senate to work with the government funding bill that was passed by House Republicans.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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