White House defends layoff considerations in name of 'fiscal sanity'
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, in Washington. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon
WASHINGTON — White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday defended President Trump weighing widespread layoffs during the current shutdown.
"We have an administration and we have a president who are wholeheartedly focused on restoring fiscal sanity to our government and doing the right thing by the American taxpayer, " Leavitt said when asked at the White House press briefing why Trump was looking to lay off federal workers during this shutdown when he had not during the three shutdowns of his first term.
Leavitt, who previously said the layoffs could be in the thousands, did not indicate when the White House would roll out a list of proposed layoffs.
"The Office of Management and Budget is in constant communication right now with our cabinet secretaries and agencies across the board to identify, unfortunately, where layoffs have to be made and where cuts have to happen," Leavitt said.
She called on congressional Democrats to vote in favor of a short-term spending bill to reopen the government. Democrats are withholding their support as they seek concessions, including the extension of soon-to-expire health care subsidies aimed at reducing insurance premiums.
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.
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