WHITE HOUSE — PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S Office of Management and Budget will move to permanently reduce the government workforce through mass firings if there is a shutdown next week, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO. The shutdown will trigger if Congress and the White House can’t reach a budget deal by midnight on Tuesday, Sept. 30.

Trump has refused to meet with Democratic leaders, however, as they look to extend current health care subsidies and reverse Medicaid cuts affecting millions of Americans, set to expire this year as part of the president’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” according to the New York Times. Top Congressional Democrats said they would not be intimidated by the Trump administration’s threats, the Times reported in a live update at noon Thursday.

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