U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration for now must stop firing workers during the government shutdown, a federal judge in San Francisco ordered on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston issued the emergency order after federal agencies on Friday started issuing layoff notices aimed at reducing the size of the federal government. The layoff notices are part of an effort by Trump’s Republican administration to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
Illston said the administration was acting without thinking through its decisions.
“It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost,” she said. “It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.”
At the same time, Trump will extend his ban on hiring new federal workers, with some exceptions, according to an executive order released by the White House on Wednesday. The ban had been set to expire on Oct. 15.
Trump signed an order on Wednesday directing Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to ensure active-duty U.S. military personnel receive pay on Oct. 15 despite the shutdown, the White House said.
Trump directed Hegseth “to use for the purpose of pay and allowances any funds appropriated by the Congress that remain available for expenditure in Fiscal Year 2026 to accomplish the scheduled disbursement of military pay and allowances for active duty military personnel,” according to text of the executive order shared by the White House on social media.
More cuts planned: budget director
Meanwhile, the ongoing government shutdown is delaying the announcement of the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for tens of millions of beneficiaries. Originally scheduled for Wednesday, the 2024 Social Security COLA announcement will now be Oct. 24. It is timed to the September Consumer Price Index, which also has not yet been released.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said in an interview Wednesday on “The Charlie Kirk Show” that many more workforce cuts, known was RIFS or reductions-in-force plans, are planned as long as the shutdown continues.
He said court filings last week that showed at least 4,000 people were being fired are “just a snapshot and I think it will get much higher. We’re going to keep those RIFS rolling throughout this shutdown because we think it’s important to stay on offence for the American taxpayer and the American people.”
Vought also said: “We want to be very aggressive where we can be in shuttering the bureaucracy. Not just the funding, but the bureaucracy, that we now have an opportunity to do that.”
WATCH | Trump renews firing threats:
In a social media post, U.S. President Donald Trump said Republicans must use the government shutdown ‘to clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud,’ while also blaming the closure on Democrats in Congress.
Airline group cites aviation risks
The head of a U.S. airline trade group urged an end to the shutdown, citing concerns about rising pressure faced by air traffic controllers who are working without pay.
“It’s got to stop like now, because every day that goes by, the pressures get higher, the risks get higher,” Chris Sununu, the CEO of Airlines for America, a major trade group representing carriers American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, said in an interview.
“You’re getting closer and closer to those air traffic controllers just feeling financial pressures.”
Aviation groups are growing more worried about the potential impact of a longer government shutdown after mounting sick calls by controllers have resulted in thousands of delays since the shutdown began. The Air Line Pilots Association and National Air Traffic Controllers Association have both called for a quick end to the shutdown.
More than 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers received a partial paycheck in recent days and will not get paid later this month if the standoff is not resolved.
