--- title: Vance Warns Layoffs May Be Imminent If Shutdown Drags On description: Laying off scores of federal workers may be part of "extraordinary steps" that will be taken soon, Vance said on the first day of the shutdown canonical: https://time.com/7322455/jd-vance-government-shutdown-layoffs/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-10-01T20:04:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T08:11:41.742Z article:section: Politics og:title: Vance Warns Layoffs May Be Imminent If Shutdown Drags On og:description: Laying off scores of federal workers may be part of "extraordinary steps" that will be taken soon, Vance said on the first day of the shutdown og:url: https://time.com/7322455/jd-vance-government-shutdown-layoffs/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3c8296cd76a6441/6998ca53e1ba00861e98df7c/GettyImages-2238594589.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Holds White House Media Briefing og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vance Warns Layoffs May Be Imminent If Shutdown Drags On twitter:description: Laying off scores of federal workers may be part of "extraordinary steps" that will be taken soon, Vance said on the first day of the shutdown twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3c8296cd76a6441/6998ca53e1ba00861e98df7c/GettyImages-2238594589.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Vance Warns Federal Layoffs Could Come Soon If Shutdown Drags On > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ea630c10-2822-4743-b625-1881952073bf&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Vance Warns Federal Layoffs Could Come Soon If Shutdown Drags On [Watch (HLS stream): Vance Warns Federal Layoffs Could Come Soon If Shutdown Drags On](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fViCpLiM.m3u8) (2:01)  _Published 2025-10-01. Vice President J.D. Vance on Wednesday ratcheted up the Trump administration’s threat to lay off federal workers if Congress can’t pass a federal spending bill to end the first government shutdown in nearly seven years._  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Oct 1, 2025 8:04 PM UTC Vice President J.D. Vance on Wednesday ratcheted up the Trump administration’s threat to lay off federal workers if Congress can’t pass a federal spending bill to end the first government shutdown in nearly seven years.  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Oct 1, 2025 8:04 PM UTC Vice President J.D. Vance on Wednesday ratcheted up the Trump administration’s threat to lay off federal workers if Congress can’t pass a federal spending bill to end the first government shutdown in nearly [seven years](https://time.com/7321870/when-was-the-last-government-shutdown-united-states/). During a rare appearance in the White House press briefing room, Vance said this shutdown may be different from previous ones, in which federal workers that were furloughed eventually returned to their jobs and received back pay. “We haven’t made any final decisions about what we’re going to do with certain workers,” Vance said. “What we’re saying is that we might have to take extraordinary steps, especially the longer this goes on.” Cuts to the federal government are “unfortunate consequences” of a shutdown as the Office of Management and Budget looks at what “can we continue to keep running and what unfortunately is going to have to come to an end,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “Unfortunately layoffs are very likely, as the Vice President just said.” Unions representing federal employees say that threatening to fire federal workers during a shutdown is illegal. The American Federation of Government Employees joined other unions in filing a lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday, alleging that the Administration’s threat of mass layoffs are “unlawful.” “Announcing plans to fire potentially tens of thousands of federal employees simply because Congress and the administration are at odds on funding the government past the end of the fiscal year is not only illegal – it’s immoral and unconscionable,” said AFGE’s national president Everett Kelley. Vance repeatedly castDemocrats as atfault for the shutdown. While Republicans control both chambers of Congress, about eight Democrats are needed for Senators to reach the 60 votes they need to reopen the government. Vance [falsely](https://time.com/7322340/government-shutdown-immigrants-healthcare/) claimed the talks broke down because Democrats are fighting to extend healthcare coverage for people in the country illegally. People in the country without authorization are not eligible for Affordable Care Act health care subsidies, according to the Health and Human Services website. Vance also defended President Trump’s sharing of a meme showing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a sombrero with a mustache, saying it was “funny” and showed that President Trump was “having a little bit of fun.”When a reporter noted that Jeffries himself had called the video racist, Vance replied: "Hakeem Jeffries said it was racist, and I know that he said that—and I honestly don't even know what that means. Like, is, is he a Mexican-American that is offended by having a sombrero meme?" ## Transcript [00:00] To the American people who are watching. [00:01] The reason your government is shut down at [00:03] this very minute is because despite the fact that [00:06] the overwhelming majority of congressional Republicans and [00:09] even a few moderate Democrats supported opening the government, [00:12] the Chuck Schumer AOC wing of [00:14] the Democratic Party shut down the government because they said to us, [00:18] we will open the government, [00:19] but only if you give billions of dollars of funding for health care for illegal aliens. [00:24] That's a ridiculous proposition. [00:25] You guys say illegal illegal immigrants are getting taxpayer funded health care. [00:30] Democrats say you're lying. [00:31] That makes it feel like it could be a really long shutdown. [00:35] Is this going to be a long shutdown? [00:36] You know, I don't know. I can't predict what congressional Democrats are going to do, [00:40] Peter, but I actually don't think it's going to be that long of a shutdown. [00:43] This is a pure guess from the vice president of United States, [00:46] because I think you already saw [00:47] some evidence that moderate Democrats are cracking a little bit. [00:50] They understand the fundamental illogic of this. [00:53] Yesterday, President Trump said as a result of the shutdown, [00:56] will be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected. [01:00] And the Democrats, they are going to be Democrats. [01:03] Has the administration asked agencies to target [01:07] federal workers who they believe to be Democrats in these reductions of forces? [01:11] We're not targeting federal agencies based on politics. [01:15] We're targeting the people's government so that as much as [01:18] possible of the essential services can continue to function. [01:21] That is the question the president has asked. [01:23] The entire government is fundamentally okay. [01:26] We're in a shutdown that causes some problems. The troops aren't getting paid. [01:29] There's nothing that we can do about that while the government is shut down. [01:32] But there are essential services that we want to make sure as much as possible, [01:36] they still continue to function. [01:38] That is the principle that's driving us forward during the shutdown. [01:41] It's going to continue to be the principle that drives us forward. [01:44] But let's be honest, [01:45] if this thing drags on for another few days or God forbid, [01:47] another few weeks, we are going to have to lay people off. [01:50] We're going to have to save money in some places so that [01:53] essential services don't get turned off in other places. [01:56] That is the reality of the government shutdown that Chuck Schumer [01:58] and the Democrats have foisted upon the administration. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7322455/jd-vance-government-shutdown-layoffs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7322455/jd-vance-government-shutdown-layoffs/"},"headline":"Vance Warns Federal Layoffs Could Come Soon If Shutdown Drags On","datePublished":"2025-10-01T20:04:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T08:11:41.742Z","description":"\"We might have to take extraordinary steps,\" Vance said.","url":"https://time.com/7322455/jd-vance-government-shutdown-layoffs/","keywords":["Trump Administration"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3c8296cd76a6441/6998ca53e1ba00861e98df7c/GettyImages-2238594589.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brian Bennett","jobTitle":"Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3c8296cd76a6441/6998ca53e1ba00861e98df7c/GettyImages-2238594589.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Holds White House Media Briefing","caption":"Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Holds White House Media Briefing","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/trump-administration/","name":"Trump Administration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7322455/jd-vance-government-shutdown-layoffs/","name":"Vance Warns Federal Layoffs Could Come Soon If Shutdown Drags On"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Vance Warns Federal Layoffs Could Come Soon If Shutdown Drags On","description":"Vice President J.D. 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