By Bo Erickson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –

President Donald Trump’s administration fired almost all 60 staff at a college-preparation program for low-income students in a wave of shutdown layoffs, two people familiar with the cuts told Reuters, targeting a service Republican lawmakers defended earlier this year.

Trump promised last week to cut “some very popular Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans,” during a federal government shutdown in its 14th day on Tuesday. The permanent layoffs disclosed on Friday also targeted education programs supported by Republicans, including the federal Education Department’s TRIO programs that assist around 900,000 students across all 50 states from middle school onward to prepare for college.

Almost all of the approximately 60-person staff

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