Litigation Task Force Leaders Raskin, Neguse, DeLauro, and Garcia Slam Russell Vought for Exploiting Republican Shutdown to Implement Unlawful Purge of Federal Workforce

Washington, D.C. (October 22, 2025)—The leaders of the House Litigation Task Force, Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, Assistant Democratic Leader Joe Neguse, Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro, and Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia sent a letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought demanding that he immediately cease using the Republican shutdown as a pretext to fire thousands more federal employees through flagrantly illegal “reductions in force” (RIFs).

“You are deliberately misrepresenting the law and cynically abusing the ongoing shutdown to inflict arbitrary punishment on our federal workforce,” wrote the Members.

As OMB Director, Vought has issued directives to federal agencies instructing them to use the temporary shutdown to justify permanent firings. His September 24, 2025, memorandum explicitly directed agencies to use the shutdown as an “opportunity” to eliminate programs “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”

These directives are plainly illegal. A government shutdown does not give Vought or anyone else the power to dismantle entire federal programs or eliminate the legal requirements that Congress has imposed on agencies. In fact, administering RIFs during a shutdown itself violates the Antideficiency Act, which allows only specific, narrow categories of work to continue during a shutdown. Planning and implementing RIFs fits none of those categories. 

Recognizing this blatant illegality, a court has already issued a temporary restraining order blocking Vought from moving forward with his RIFs. 

In the first eight months of this Administration, Vought has fired or pushed out more than 200,000 career civil servants in a haphazard and chaotic manner that has endangered the health, safety, and welfare of the American people. Even President Trump has referred to Vought as his “Grim Reaper.” 

Vought has expressed his disdain for federal workers and his plans to dismantle the nonpartisan civil service before and during his leadership of OMB. Before joining the Trump Administration, he declared that he wanted federal employees “to be traumatically affected.”  He emphasized that his goal was to inflict maximum pain on federal workers and their families: “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains . . .  We want to put them in trauma.”

“Your unprofessional, arbitrary, and unlawful RIFs have already resulted in chaos and embarrassing mistakes at affected agencies. You are inflicting harm not only on the federal workforce but also on the American public. […] Federal employees serve the American people with dedication and professionalism. They deserve better than to be your political punching bag. Congress will not stand idly by while you abuse your authority,” concluded the Members.

Click here to read the letter.