Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) took a dig at White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought firing of federal employees amid the government shutdown.
“Although few details have been shared about Russell Vought’s latest layoff, there is no doubt that it was poorly timed and is yet another example of this administration’s punitive actions toward the federal workforce,” Murkowski. Posted on social media site X.
Trump administration on Friday 4,100 federal employees were laid offThis includes 1,100 to 1,200 employees of the Department of Health and Human Services, 1,446 employees of the Treasury Department, and about 466 employees of the Department of Education.
“Firing federal employees in the shutdown will further harm the hard-working Americans who have dedicated their lives to public service and jeopardize the agency’s mission after reopening the government,” Murkowski wrote Friday.
senators left Washington, D.C., is expected to return Thursday night and Tuesday due to the federal holiday. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also said All House votes are canceled the following week.
“As soon as Senate Democrats turn the lights back on, we will be back and back in legislative session,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol on Friday. “That’s the truth. That’s where we are.”
As the shutdown continues, military service members are getting closer to October 15, when they are unlikely to receive their next pay check. Federal employees received partial pay checks Friday covering work they did Sept. 21-30.
Those checks should cover two full weeks of work through Oct. 4. Due to the shutdown starting October 1, no money was allocated for October weekdays.
