Democrats feign outrage as Trump administration shutdown layoffs hit: ‘They seem to be enjoying it’

With no end in sight to the government shutdown, President Donald Trump’s administration is putting Democrats in an unenviable position.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought announced Friday that the administration has officially begun issuing reduction in force notices, laying off over 4,200 government workers across several key departments, like Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security. As the government approaches its third week of the shutdown, Democrats are left weighing their options.

‘The easiest way to stop this is for five [Democrats] to come to their senses.’

These layoffs come as no surprise. Vought previously threatened Democrats with mass layoffs just days before the September 30 funding deadline. Still, Democrats are feigning surprise.

“Here’s what’s worse: Republicans would rather see thousands of Americans lose their jobs than sit down and negotiate with Democrats to reopen the government,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “The way forward is simple: Stop the attacks, come to the table, negotiate, and reopen the government. Until Republicans get serious, they own this — every job lost, every family hurt, every service gutted is because of their decisions.”

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Democrats blocked the Republican-led funding bill that would have kept the government open and operating at virtually the same funding levels. The GOP’s bill was a simple, clean, 90-page continuing resolution with no partisan anomalies, save a bipartisan line item that would boost security funds for lawmakers following Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Rather than voting alongside Republicans to keep the government open, Democrats decided to introduce their own $1.5 trillion spending bill that would reverse major legislative accomplishments achieved in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Democrats also insisted on immediately renegotiating health care subsidies from the Affordable Care Act, though these aren’t set to expire until the end of the year.

Democrats are in the minority in both the House and the Senate.

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Senate Democrats have stubbornly voted no over a half-dozen times on reopening the government. One senior Democrat aide told CNN that the party will not concede short of “planes falling out of the sky.”

“The pressure thus far hasn’t moved them at all,” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) told Blaze News during a press call hosted by the Republican Study Committee. “They seem to be enjoying it.”

“I don’t think anybody in the White House takes any pleasure in this at all,” Johnson told Blaze News. “I’ve spoken to the president about this myself. Of course, I’ve spoken to Russell Vought as well. They’re in an unenviable position.”

“The easiest way to stop this is for five [Democrats] to come to their senses in the Senate and join Republicans to reopen the government.”

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