White House: Mass layoffs will start if shutdown talks ‘going nowhere’

The Trump administration will start mass layoffs of federal workers if President Donald Trump decides negotiations with congressional Democrats to end a partial government shutdown are “absolutely going nowhere,” a senior White House official said.

As the shutdown entered its fifth day, White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNN’s “State of the Union” program he still saw a chance that Democrats would back down, averting a costly shutdown and federal employee layoffs that have been threatened by White House budget director Russell Vought.

“President Trump and Russ Vought are lining things up and getting ready to act if they have to, but hoping that they don’t,” Hassett said.

Later on Sunday, Trump was asked by reporters when the administration would begin laying off federal workers. Trump responded, without elaborating: “It’s taking place right now.”

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget, which has played a key role in Trump’s campaign to sharply scale back the size of the federal government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NO SIGN OF TALKS

No tangible signs of negotiations have emerged between congressional leaders since Trump met with them last week. The shutdown began on October 1, the start of federal fiscal 2026, after Senate Democrats rejected a short-term funding measure that would keep federal agencies open through November 21.

“They’ve refused to talk with us,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told CBS’ “Face the Nation” program, saying the impasse could be solved only by further talks between Trump and the four congressional leaders.

Democrats are demanding a permanent extension of enhanced premium tax credits to help Americans purchase private health insurance through the Affordable Care Act and assurances that the White House will not try to unilaterally cancel spending agreed to in any deal.

How it affects key economic data publishing

The closure has shut off the flow of key economic data at a moment of uncertainty among policymakers and investors about the health of the U.S. job market, the trajectory of inflation and the strength of consumer spending and business investment.

The federal agencies responsible for indicators of U.S. economic activity, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau, have said they will suspend the collection and distribution of data in the event of a government shutdown. Those operations will resume once funding is restored.

Much of the data from private-sector sources, however, will continue to be issued, although some of those series rely in part on earlier government reports and will also cease publication during the shutdown.

Following is calendar of economic reports that had been scheduled to be issued in the coming days, noting which releases will be suspended should the shutdown still be in effect and which will continue to be issued.

Release date	Release time (U.S. ET)	Indicator	Indicator source	Will publish?
October 6	1000	Employment Trends Index	Conference Board	No
October 7	0830	International trade	Bureau of Economic Analysis/Census Bureau	No
October 7	0855	Redbook Index	Redbook Research	Yes
October 7	1500	Consumer Credit	Federal Reserve	Yes
October 8	0700	MBA mortgage market index	Mortgage Bankers Association	Yes
October 8	1400	Minutes of Federal Open Market Committee meeting	Federal Reserve	Yes
October 9	0830	Jobless benefits claims	Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration	No
October 9	1000	Wholesale sales and revision to wholesale inventories	Census Bureau	No
October 10	1000	Consumer sentiment index	University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers	Yes
October 10-17 (TBD)	1400	Monthly budget statement	Treasury Department’s Fiscal Service	TBD
October 14	0600	NFIB Business Optimism index	National Federation for Independent Business	Yes
October 14	0855	Redbook Index	Redbook Research	Yes
October 15	0700	MBA mortgage market index	Mortgage Bankers Association	Yes
October 15	0830	New York Fed Empire State manufacturing index	New York Fed	Yes
October 15	0830	Real earnings	Bureau of Labor Statistics	No
October 15	0830	Consumer Price Index	Bureau of Labor Statistics	No
October 15	1100	Cleveland Fed median CPI	Cleveland Fed	No
October 16	0830	Jobless benefits claims	Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration	No
October 16	0830	Producer Price Index	Bureau of Labor Statistics	No
October 16	0830	Retail sales	Census Bureau	No
October 16	0830	Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing index	Philadelphia Fed	Yes
October 16	1000	Business inventories	Census Bureau	No
October 16	1000	Home builder sentiment index	National Association of Home Builders	Yes
October 17	0830	Housing starts and building permits	Census Bureau	No
October 17	0830	Import and export prices	Bureau of Labor Statistics	No
October 17	0915	Industrial production	Federal Reserve	Yes
October 17	1600	Treasury International Capital System flows	Treasury Department	TBD

October 20	1000	Leading indicators	Conference Board	No
October 21	0855	Redbook index	Redbook Research	Yes
October 22	0700	MBA mortgage market index	Mortgage Bankers Association	Yes
October 23	0830	Jobless benefits claims	Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration	No
October 23	0830	National Activity Index	Chicago Fed	Yes
October 23	1000	Existing home sales	National Association of Realtors	Yes
October 23	1100	Tenth District Manufacturing Survey	Kansas City Fed	Yes
October 24	Approx. 0800	Building Permit Revisions	Census Bureau	No
October 24	0945	S&P Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index	S&P Global	Yes
October 24	1000	Consumer Sentiment Index	University of Michigan Survey of Consumers	Yes
October 24	1000	New single-family home sales	Census Bureau	No

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said he is willing to address Democrats’ concerns but that they must first agree to reopen the federal government.

Trump also expressed an interest in the healthcare question while emphasizing Republican interests in reforming the ACA, also known as Obamacare.

“We want to fix it so it works. Obamacare has been a disaster for the people, so we want to have it fixed so it works,” the president said.

SENATE VOTE MONDAY

Rank-and-file Senate Democrats and Republicans have held informal talks aimed at finding common ground on healthcare and other issues in hopes of reaching a deal to reopen the government.

Asked if the lawmakers are any closer to a deal, Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego told CNN: “At this point, no.”

On Monday, the Senate is due to vote for a fifth time on the stopgap funding bill that has already passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and on a Democratic alternative. Neither measure is expected to receive the 60 votes needed to advance.

With a 53-47-seat majority and one Republican opposed to the House funding bill, Republican leaders need at least eight Democrats to support the measure but have seen only three cross the aisle so far.

“It’s open up the government or else,” John Thune told the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“That’s really the choice that’s in front of them right now,” the South Dakota Republican said.