President Donald Trump on Thursday preemptively blamed Democrats for a government shutdown, implying that any pain that results should be laid at their feet.
The president did not directly address a POLITICO report that the Office of Management and Budget instructed agencies to prepare reduction-in-force plans to further gut the federal workforce in the event of a shutdown, but did repeat one of his favorite talking points: It’s the Democrats’ fault.
“This is all caused by the Democrats, they asked us to do something unreasonable,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding: “This is what [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer wants, this is what the Democrats want.”
Congress has until Tuesday night to pass a funding agreement to keep the government open, but Democrats and Republicans are at an impasse. Trump on Tuesday canceleda planned meeting with Democratic congressional leaders, calling their demands “unserious and ridiculous.”
If neither side budges, the government will shut down on Oct. 1.
The Office of Management and Budget late Wednesday instructed federal agencies to prepare for the increasingly likely shutdown by drafting RIF plans that would go beyond standard furloughs, permanently eliminating jobs in programs not consistent with Trump’s priorities.
Schumer in a post on X suggested the threat was a negotiating ploy and called the move “an attempt at intimidation,” adding that Trump “has been firing federal workers since day one—not to govern, but to scare.”
