Federal workforce is targeted

HOUSE Speaker Mike Johnson, center, said the shutdown gives Trump vast power over the government.

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“There could be firings and that’s their fault,” the president said in an interview with One America News, which was set to air Thursday.

“I mean, we could cut projects that they wanted, favorite projects, and they'd be permanently cut.”

The Truth Social post was notable in its explicit embrace of Project 2025, a policy blueprint drafted by the Heritage Foundation that Trump distanced himself from during his reelection campaign. The effort aimed to reshape the federal government around right-wing policies, and Democrats repeatedly pointed to its goals to warn of the consequences of a second Trump administration.

Vought on Wednesday offered an opening salvo of the pressure he hoped to put on Democrats. He announced he was withholding $18 billion for the Hudson River rail tunnel and 2nd Avenue subway line in New York City, which have been championed by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in their home state. Vought is also canceling $8 billion in green energy projects in states with Democratic senators.

“Trump’s so-called ‘maximum pain’ plan isn’t hurting Democrats — it’s hurting American families,” Schumer said in a statement. “He’s snatching paychecks, threatening jobs, and deliberately inflicting suffering on working people just to score petty political points.”

Meanwhile, the White House is preparing for mass firings of federal workers, rather than simply furloughing them as is the usual practice during a shutdown. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said this week that layoffs were imminent.

“If they don’t want further harm on their constituents back home, then they need to reopen the government,” Leavitt said of Democrats Thursday.