The president called on the GOP to use it as an ‘opportunity’ to ‘clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud’ in the federal government.
President Donald Trump on Thursday touted the ongoing government shutdown as an opportunity to target various federal agencies, while saying that he will meet with the head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to determine the next steps.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he will soon meet with OMB Director Russ Vought to determine which agencies “he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” adding that Democrats had given him “this unprecedented opportunity” by not voting in favor of a stopgap measure to fund the government.
The shutdown started in the early morning on Oct. 1, causing a number of federal employees to be furloughed.
In another post on the platform, the president urged his fellow Republicans to “use this opportunity” during the shutdown “to clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud,” adding that “billions of dollars can be saved” as a result.
The president’s remarks appear to build on an announcement from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt a day earlier to reporters about layoffs amid the shutdown.
On Wednesday, Leavitt said that Trump has told his Cabinet and OMB “to identify where cuts can be made,” adding that “we believe that layoffs are imminent.”
The White House’s key policy priorities, including the administration’s deportation agenda, may continue with few disruptions. It’s possible that some education, environmental, and other services may eventually sputter. There also could be economic fallout due to the shutdown, with the United States’ gross domestic product (GDP) taking a hit, warned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“This isn’t the way to have a discussion, shutting down the government and lowering the GDP,” Bessent said in a CNBC “Squawk Box” interview on Thursday. “We could see a hit to the GDP, a hit to growth, and a hit to working America.”
When asked whether Trump would permanently lay off 750,000 federal workers, the secretary said it was a “talking point” amid negotiations. He then blamed the Democratic leadership in Congress for not taking action to avert the shutdown, a strategy that Trump and other White House officials have employed.
