Karoline Leavitt Predicts ‘Thousands’ Of Federal Workers Will Be Laid Off

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt estimated on Thursday that “thousands” of federal workers will be laid off during the government shutdown.

Leavitt said on Wednesday that the government shutdown will lead to “imminent” layoffs in the coming days. Following up on that announcement, the press secretary told NewsNation’s Libbey Dean that “thousands” are expected to lose their jobs.

“Look, it’s likely going to be in the thousands. It’s a very good question, and that’s something that the Office of Management and Budget and the entire team at the White House here, again, is unfortunately having to work on today,” Leavitt said. “These discussions and these conversations, these meetings would not be happening if the Democrats had voted to keep the government open.”

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Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, along with independent Maine Sen. Angus King, were the only members of the Democratic caucus to support keeping the government open. The remainder of the Democrats voted to shut down the government because the Republicans’ continuing resolution did not include an extension of tax credits in the Affordable Care Act.

The Congressional Budget Office previously estimated that such a permanent extension of the tax credit would expand the deficit by $350 billion between 2026 and 2035. Republicans have argued that government funding should be dealt with first before considering the tax credits.

Office of Management and Budget (OBM) Russell Vought told Republican congressional members that layoffs and reductions would kick off in a “day or two.”