Day 2 of the shutdown is underway with no agreement in sight to reopen the government. We expect the Trump Administration to take additional steps today to increase pressure on Democrats, including possible RIF announcements and other agency actions. Below are several resources for your use:
- Possible Reduction in Force (RIF) action: President Trump will meet with OMB Director Vought today to discuss possible RIFs of agency employees deemed nonessential during a shutdown. At this time, it is not clear which agencies/employees will be impacted by RIFs, or on what timeline. Agency contingency plans (available here) provide a glimpse of which nonessential employees could receive RIF notices, should President Trump decide to move forward today or at a later date.
- Council of Economic Advisers report on shutdown costs: The White House is circulating the linked CEA report (“Economic Consequences of a Government Shutdown“) which forecasts GDP loss of $15 billion per week from a continued shutdown.
- Cancelled DOE awards: The Department of Energy (DOE) announced the termination of 321 financial awards supporting 223 projects worth $7.6 billion from the Offices of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Grid Deployment (GDO), Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC), Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and Fossil Energy (FE). The list of specific terminated awards/projects has not been released, although OMB has said the following states will be impacted: CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IL, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA.
- DOT pausing NY project reimbursements: The Department of Transportation (DOT) announced it is pausing federal reimbursements for the 2nd Avenue Subway and Hudson Tunnel projects in New York, for a total of almost $18 billion. DOT could move to withhold funding for additional projects in the coming days.