Layoffs 'likely' and 'imminent,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says

Vice President JD Vance joined White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at Wednesday’s White House press briefing where both placed the blame on the partial government shutdown squarely on congressional Democrats.

Vance and Leavitt continued to relay misleading claims that congressional Democrats were withholding their support for a temporary funding bill in a push to provide free health care to undocumented immigrants. Democrats are seeking an extension of enhanced health care subsidies set to expire at the end of the year that if not renewed will increase costs for Affordable Care Act coverage.

“It's one thing to say that we can solve the health care crisis for Americans, it's another thing to say that we're going to shut down the government unless we give the Democrats every single thing,” Vance said.

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal healthcare programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, but prior to the passage of the Trump-backed tax and spend bill this summer, certain groups of immigrants with temporary legal status such as refugees and asylees were eligible for some programs. The Democratic plan would restore the eligibility for such “authorized” immigrants that was stripped in the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” signed into law by Trump in July.

Leavitt noted that “unfortunately, layoffs are very likely” and “imminent” to result from the shutdown. Typically federal employees are furloughed until a spending bill is passed, but Trump and his top budget aide, Russell Vought, have long signaled that they would likely use a shutdown to determine which government agencies and jobs are essential and which could be further downsized.

“If this thing drags on for another few days, or, God forbid, another few weeks, we are going to have to lay people off,” Vance said. “We're going to have to save money in some places so that essential services don't get turned off in other places.”

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.