President Trump is signing a handful of executive orders on Thursday afternoon, including one approving a deal to allow TikTok to continue operating in the U.S.
Earlier in the day, he raised the stakes on Capitol Hill after the White House budget office directed federal agencies to plan for mass layoffs, rather than traditional workforce furloughs, if Democrats don’t agree to a short-term stopgap funding measure ahead of next week’s shutdown deadline.
“This is all caused by the Democrats,” he said ahead of a Thursday huddle with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the White House. “”They asked us to do something that’s totally unreasonable.”
A memo from the Office of Management and Budget reviewed by The Hill on Wednesday night indicated that agencies are directed to consider reducing their workforce if funding is unavailable as of Oct. 1 — and if the programs, projects, or activities are not “consistent with the president’s priorities.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) called the warning “an attempt at intimidation.”
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summoned top generals to Virginia for a mystery meeting next week, creating confusion and alarm across the Pentagon.
Later on Thursday, Trump will meet with the Pakistani prime minister.
And in Dallas, a Wednesday shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility marked the second fatal instance of political violence this month. Authorities have not yet revealed a motive in the attack.
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