A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily ordered the Trump administration to halt the firing of workers during the government shutdown.

Washington

A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from proceeding with layoffs of federal workers during the current government shutdown. The order follows reports that approximately 4,000 federal employees had already received reduction in force notices, with the potential for that number to rise to over 10,000.

The move has sparked debate among lawmakers, with Democrats arguing the layoffs are illegal and have been challenged in court, while Republicans maintain the administration has the authority to manage the workforce during the shutdown. Congressional leaders continue to negotiate over government funding, with no immediate resolution in sight.

Judge temporarily blocks Trump from firing workers during shutdown

Federal judges ordered President Trump's administration to stop firing federal workers during the government shutdown. This temporary restraining order comes as White House Budget Director Russell Vought and court papers filed on that matter already affirmed that roughly 4,000 federal workers have received layoff notice. They're called reduction in force notice, RIFs, and more are expected. So you're saying there's been a snapshot of 4,000 jobs cut. Correct. But it could grow much higher. It could grow higher. I think we'll probably end up being north of 10,000. That's Russell Vought, you heard, saying north of 10,000. He is the director of the Office of Management and Budget. With more on all this, Nicole Killian joins me from Capitol Hill. Nicole? Well, look, you know, as far as lawmakers here on Capitol Hill are concerned, many Democrats have been arguing even prior to this decision coming down that they felt this was an illegal move on the part of the Office of Management and Budget. Furthermore, many Democrats had continued to argue that the administration has been firing federal workers since day one, and many of those firings have since been challenged through litigation, I might add. So they have seen these RIFs that were enacted as of late last week as just another threat on the part of the Trump administration. You know, Republicans, for their part, though, continue to say, look, as long as the shutdown continues, the administration, in their view, does have some authority and leeway here as far as trying to triage this situation. And so if that means reductions in force, if that means having to find pay for workers, whether that's the military or federal law enforcement, ultimately, they believe that that's within the administration's purview. This is a Senate ballgame right now. There was commentary again today from the Senate Republican leader, the Majority Leader John Thune, and the Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer. Let me know what that was all about. Yeah. So obviously, you know, we kind of are still in this holding pattern or groundhog day here on Capitol Hill, where not much has changed in terms of the trajectory of these votes on government funding. You know, time and again, they continue to fail. We're up to eight votes now, potentially nine and even 10 tomorrow. So as far as next steps, you know, I asked Leader Thune kind of what his thinking or strategy is going forward. He continues to insist that Democrats need to sign on to this short-term funding bill. But in the interim, he also wants to try to move forward with more appropriations bills, whether that's defense or other appropriations measures. Leader Schumer, for his part, continues to argue that Republicans are the ones who should come to the table as far as negotiations are concerned, whereas Republican leaders feel that Democrats are just posturing. We know Leader Schumer, for instance, just last week said in an interview, you know, things are getting better for us every day. Republicans have been seizing on those comments ever since then. So I asked Leader Schumer to clarify his comments. And I also asked Leader Schumer about his strategy going forward. Take a listen to what both of them had to say earlier today. We'd like to attach some other appropriations bills to it and do the same thing we did with the first minibus, and that is, you know, package some bills that we can move at the same time and get the government funded in the traditional way, which is through the annual appropriations process. And we'll find out tomorrow whether the Democrats want to proceed to the defense appropriations bill and what other bills we might be able to attach to it. Every day, more and more Americans see how bad this health crisis is as they get their notices, as they hear all about it. And every day, they are seeing more and more that Democrats are on their side fighting for what they believe in. So again, that was Leader Schumer there clarifying his comments from last week, saying that things are getting better for us, which, as I mentioned, Republicans have seized on that comment that he seems to be making light of the shutdown, whereas Leader Schumer there arguing that, you know, this continues to be a fight about health care. Leader Thune, for his part, hoping that Democrats sign on to some of these appropriations bills tomorrow to at least start to get back to the process of regular order here on Capitol Hill. Michael Killian on Capitol Hill, thank you very much. And, you know, we at The Takeout like to translate Washington jargon. A minibus is not a vehicle. It is the putting together of one or two or three pieces of appropriations legislation. When you put them all together, it's an omnibus. When you put two or three together, it's a minibus. That's what John Thune was referring to. Nicole Killian is nodding, because she knows I'm right. Thanks so much, Nicole.

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Sharm El-Sheikh

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Beijing

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