White House orders agencies to plan mass firings if US government shutdown hits

The White House budget office is telling federal agencies to prepare plans for mass firings in the event of a government shutdown, with instructions to target programs they are not legally required to continue.

The directive, outlined in an Office of Management and Budget memo to agencies and obtained by CNN, represents a sharp break from the government’s handling of past shutdown scenarios — and an escalation by the Trump administration amid a standoff with congressional Democrats over federal funding.

“We remain hopeful that Democrats in Congress will not trigger a shutdown and the steps outlined above will not be necessary,” OMB wrote in the memo.

The move would represent a substantial escalation beyond normal shutdown protocols in recent years, under which government workers deemed