ICYMI: Op-Ed by Rep. James Walkinshaw: Russ Vought's Directive to Fire Federal Workers During a Shutdown is Unconstitutional

In an op-ed published by MSNBC on September 30, 2025, Congressman James Walkinshaw (VA-11) underscored how Russ Vought’s directive to fire federal workers during a shutdown is political intimidation, unconstitutional, and not valid administrative guidance. 

Read the op-ed below or online at Vought’s vindictive memo, directing agencies to consider reductions in force (RIFs) for employees in programs whose funding would lapse under a shutdown, reads like a coercive power trip. But it isn’t authority. It’s told Federal News Network earlier this week.

“Leveraging the possibility of a shutdown to inject new life into the Trump administration’s massive workforce reduction agenda is yet another stunt at the expense of the civil service,” says Rob Shriver, former acting director at the Office of Personnel Management. Shriver, who now leads the Civil Service Strong program at the Internal Revenue Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These chaotic episodes underscores the dangers of politicizing federal workforce decisions and highlights the instability such actions can create in critical sectors. Threatening similar mass layoffs during a shutdown would not only disrupt essential services but also erode the trust and morale of the dedicated public servants who keep our nation secure.

So let me be clear. Russ Vought’s directive is an unconstitutional power grab. A federal shutdown does not unlock a secret sledgehammer that he can take to the federal workforce. And while a government shutdown is terrible for federal workers in that they will not get paid until the government is reopened, federal law prevents the Trump administration from mass firings during a shutdown.

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