Shutdown pain may not be evenly spread as OMB readies hatchet

Source: Roll Call

Posted September 26, 2025 at 4:33pm


Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought’s new partial government shutdown guidance implies the executive branch will use a hatchet in some areas and go easy elsewhere — with Democratic priorities likely first on the chopping block.

A February memo to agencies from Vought and the Office of Personnel Management on how to plan mass layoffs said the process would be based on past shutdown procedures as a “starting point.” That prior guidance said reductions-in-force, or RIFs, wouldn’t affect military and other uniformed personnel or positions “necessary to meet law enforcement, border security, national security, immigration enforcement, or public safety responsibilities.”

It also exempted “agencies or components that provide direct services to citizens,” naming Social Security, Medicare and veterans health care as examples, unless it’s determined that RIFs in those areas “will have a positive effect on the delivery of such services.” The president tipped off his potential shutdown strategy on Sept. 19, the day competing partisan stopgap funding bills were rejected in the Senate.

“I think you could very well end up with a . . . closed country for a period of time. And we’ll take care of the military. We’ll take care of Social Security. We’ll take care of the things that we have to take care of,” Trump said. “A lot of the things that Democrats fight for, which in many cases aren’t very good, things will not be able to be paid.”

Read more: https://rollcall.com/2025/09/26/shutdown-pain-may-not-be-evenly-spread-as-omb-readies-hatchet/