Trump says there may be ‘a lot’ of federal workers laid off in government shutdown

President Trump said on Tuesday there may be a lot of layoffs in the federal government if Congress doesn’t act to prevent a shutdown by the end of day, blaming the Democrats for a potential lapse in funding.

“Well, we may do a lot and that’s only because of the Democrats,” Trump said when asked how many federal workers he plans to lay off in the event of a shutdown.

Trump also blamed Democrats for illegal immigration, repeating his arguments that Democrats want to give health care benefits to migrants. Trump has sought to make this debate central to the shutdown fight, though the only demands from Democrats have been centered on an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act benefits to U.S. citizens that are set to expire at year's end.

“As you know, they want to be able to take care of people that are coming to our country illegally and no system can handle that,” Trump said. “Our country can’t handle people who come into our country illegally and they want to give them full health care benefits. They want to open the wall again, can you believe it? I can’t even believe it.”

The White House on Monday also warned that government layoffs are coming if Democrats don’t prevent a shutdown, days after Trump’s budget office directed agencies to prepare for mass firings.

The president met later on Monday with the four top congressional leaders at the White House, after which Vice President Vance warned that the government is heading for a shutdown because of Democrats while Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) said Trump appeared completely oblivious to the demands for funding from his side of the aisle.

The Democratic stopgap measure includes a permanent extension of the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, overturning the GOP’s Medicaid cuts via the “big, beautiful bill” and a restoration of rescissions cuts.

Schumer said he warned Trump that some families could see their health insurance premiums increase by as much as $400 a month if the enhanced insurance premium subsidies are allowed to expire at the end of the year and that dozens of smaller hospitals around the country could close as the result of Medicaid cuts.