Mike Johnson sidesteps whether he supports Trump’s threat of mass layoffs during the shutdown
House Speaker Mike Johnson declined to say Thursday whether he supports President Donald Trump’s threat to fire federal employees if the government shutdown continues.
Johnson, Republican of Los Angeles, avoided answering a question about his position on Trump’s attempt to permanently shrink the government workforce in an interview with NBC News’ Tom Llamas on “Top Story.”
“I’m for — look, we’re limited-government Conservatives, and there’s a lot of inefficiency in the federal government. It’s too big. It does too many things,” Johnson said, before defending civil servants.
He added: “There are programs that probably should be cancelled, but we want to protect federal employees.”
Johnson then focused on the issue of furloughed workers getting their paychecks after the shutdown ends, saying the law guarantees federal employees will be paid.
“I think that’s what’s going to happen here. The president doesn’t want any American employee to be harmed,” he said.
Trump indicated otherwise during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
He added: “We will make cuts that will be permanent.” “And we’re only going to cut Democrats’ platforms, I hate to break it to you. I think that makes sense, but we’re only going to cut Democrats’ platforms.”
Two days earlier, he said that if the shutdown continued, there would be “significant” cuts, and “a lot of these jobs will never come back.”
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Asked to provide additional information about whom Trump might consider firing as the shutdown continues, Johnson told NBC News “I don’t know” and said he had not spoken with Trump about the details.
The Senate on Thursday again failed to vote to approve a short-term government funding bill for the seventh time, extending the government shutdown for a ninth day.
Lamas pressed Johnson about the possibility of mass layoffs, specifically asking him about the Wall Street Journal The article has been published He said Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader John Thune urged the White House not to initiate widespread layoffs or make deep cuts to federal aid programs during the shutdown.
Asked if he agreed with Thune, Johnson said they had not talked about it.
Thune’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NBC News has not verified the magazine’s reporting.
NBC News reported that Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told House Republicans on the first day of the shutdown, Oct. 1, that the administration would begin firing federal employees in the next “day or two,” according to two GOP sources on the conference call.