A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from firing workers during the government shutdown on Wednesday.
The move comes after President Donald Trump and his budget director, Russell Vought, promised Reduction In Forces or RIFs during the shutdown. In a court filing, the administration stated that it plans to eliminate more than 4,100 employees across eight federal agencies.
“Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue the RIFs, and wait,” OMB posted Tuesday.
Trump is ensuring military troops remain paid during the shutdown through an executive order he signed on Wednesday.
The judge’s ruling, which is a temporary restraining order, however, is a setback in their plan.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said the cuts are politically motivated. She granted a temporary restraining order against the firings.
“It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost,” Illston said. “It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.”
The American Federation of Government Employees and federal labor unions were behind the block, arguing that the firings were an overreach of power by the administration.
On top of firing employees, Trump said he would get rid of federal government programs. He plans to release a list of these programs on Oct. 17. He threatened that these programs are “never going to come back, in many cases.”
Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
