WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is orchestrating a unique government shutdown, granting his budget office unusual power to determine which sectors thrive or suffer—essentially deciding who receives paychecks and who faces unemployment. This unprecedented shake-up is reshaping the federal workforce landscape.

As the shutdown stretches into its third week, the Office of Management and Budget announced on Tuesday its plans to “prepare for the worst” with further workforce reductions looming. Trump has dubbed budget director Russ Vought the “grim reaper,” as Vought capitalizes on this opportunity to prioritize funding for Trump’s agenda—allocating resources to the military while significantly reducing positions in health, education, and science sectors. These actions have sparked accusations of illegality and have prompted legal challenges.

Trump has acknowledged targeting programs favored by Democrats, warning that many “are never going to come back.”

During a White House event, Trump remarked, “We’re achieving things now that were previously out of reach.”

With Congress deadlocked—the Republican-controlled House abstaining from reconvening and the Senate caught in a cycle of unsuccessful votes to end the shutdown as Democrats insist on health care funding—the budget office has swiftly stepped in to fill the leadership vacuum.

From Project 2025 to the White House

Vought, a chief architect of the conservative Project 2025 policy book, is reshaping the size and scope of federal government in ways similar to those envisioned in the blueprint. It is exactly what certain lawmakers, particularly Democrats, feared if Congress failed to fund the government.

Trump’s priorities — supporting the military and pursuing his mass deportation agenda — have been largely uninterrupted, despite the closures. The administration found leftover tariff revenues to ensure the Women, Infants and Children food aid program did not shutter.

But the Trump administration is shuttering scores of other programs, firing workers handling special education and after-school programs and those guarding the nation’s infrastructure from cyber attacks. More than 4,100 federal workers received layoff notices over the weekend.

“This shutdown is different from earlier ones because Donald Trump and Russ Vought and all of their cronies are using this moment to terrorize these patriotic federal employees,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., standing with federal workers Tuesday outside the White House budget office.

Van Hollen said it’s “a big fat lie” when Trump and his budget director say the shutdown is making them fire federal workers. “It is also illegal and we will see them in court,” he said.

Shutdown grinds into a third week

Now on its 14th day, the federal closure is quickly becoming one of the longest government shutdowns. Congress failed to meet the Oct. 1 deadline to pass the annual appropriations bills needed to fund the government as the Democrats demanded a deal to preserve expiring health care funds that provide subsidies for people to purchase insurance through the Affordable Care Act.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he has nothing to negotiate with the Democrats until they vote to reopen the government.

The Republican speaker welcomed OMB’s latest actions to pay some workers and fire others.

“They have every right to move the funds around,” Johnson said at a press conference at the Capitol. If the Democrats want to challenge the Trump administration in court, Johnson said, “bring it.”

Typically, federal workers are furloughed during a lapse in funding, traditionally with back pay once government funding is restored. But Vought’s budget office announced late last week that the reductions in forces had begun. Some 750,000 employees are being furloughed.

Military pay, deportations on track

At the same time, Trump instructed the military to find money to ensure service personnel wouldn’t miss paychecks this week. The Pentagon said over the weekend it was able to tap $8 billion in unused research and development funds to make payroll.

On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said her agency was relying on Trump’s big tax cuts law for funding to make sure members of the Coast Guard are also paid.

“We at DHS worked out an innovative solution,” Noem said in a statement. Thanks to Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” she said, “the brave men and women of the US Coast Guard will not miss a paycheck this week.”

In past shutdowns, the OMB has overseen agency plans during the lapse in federal fundings, ensuring which workers are essential and remain on the job. Vought, however, has taken his role further by speaking openly about his plans to go after the federal workforce.

As agencies started making their shutdown plans, Vought’s OMB encouraged department heads to consider reductions in force, an unheard-of action. The budget office’s general counsel, Mark Paoletta, suggested in a draft memo that the workforce may not be automatically eligible for back pay once government reopens.

‘Grim reaper’ replaces Elon Musk’s chainsaw

Trump posted an AI-generated video last week that portrayed Vought wearing a cloak and carrying a scythe, against the backdrop of the classic rock staple “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.”

“Every authoritarian leader has had his grim reaper. Russell Vought is Donald Trump’s,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer, the senior Democrat from Maryland.

Hoyer compared the budget chief to billionaire Elon Musk wielding a chainsaw earlier this year during the Department of Government Efficiency’s slashing of the workforce. “Vought swings his scythe through the federal government as thoughtlessly,” he said.

In many ways, Trump’s tax cuts law gave the White House a vast new allotment of federal funding for its priority projects, separate from the regular appropriations process in Congress.

The package unleashed some $175 billion for the Pentagon, including for the “Golden Dome” missile shield and other priority projects, and another $175 million for Homeland Security, largely for Trump’s mass deportation agenda. It also included extra funds for Vought’s work at OMB.

Certain funds from the bill are available to be used during the shutdown, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

“The Administration also could decide to use mandatory funding provided in the 2025 reconciliation act or other sources of mandatory funding to continue activities financed by those direct appropriations at various agencies,” according to CBO.

The CBO cited the departments of Defense, Treasury and Homeland Security and the Office of Management and Budget as among those that received funds under the law.

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