As the Donald Trump administration moved to fire federal employees amid a federal government shutdown, a White House official said the number of layoffs would exceed 10,000.
According to Bloomberg and others on the 15th (local time), White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought appeared on the Charlie Kirk Show, which was filmed at the White House, and said, "We want to be very aggressive where we can shut down not just the funding but the bureaucracy itself."
Earlier, the White House said in a response filed with the court on the 10th that it would lay off more than 4,000 federal employees during the shutdown. But Vought said the number of layoffs "could be higher. Ultimately it will be more than 10,000."
Vought said the administration plans to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which no longer protects consumers, within a few months, adding, "We will continue the reduction in force (RIF) process throughout the shutdown."
The remarks are seen as an attempt to pressure the Democratic Party. As the Democratic Party continues to block passage of the Republican stopgap spending bill, the shutdown has stretched beyond two weeks.
Meanwhile, a court put the brakes on the government's layoff move. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco granted a request for a temporary restraining order filed by federal employee unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), against the government's layoffs.