fe-fi-fo-furlough (12. 758)

After cancelling a meeting with Democrat leadership from the house and senate, saying there was nothing to discuss with the opposition party over the impending shut-down of the federal government, making the lapse in appropriations seem inevitable—though the drama has become almost an annual occurrence. A memo circulated by the Office of Management and Budget, however, seems to raise the stakes and change the calculus significantly: directing federal agencies to not only prepare furlough notices for non-essential employees but also prepare reduction-in-force (layoff) plans for those discretionary programmes not deemed consistent with Trump’s priorities, thus eliminating more of the federal workforce in the event of closure, leveraging the Democrats to vote to keep the government open without entertaining any concessions to the other party. For their part, the Democrats in congress recognise this new intimidation tactic, having averted a shutdown in March arguing at the time that that would have unleashed the administration to do even greater damage to the civil service, but after rescissions and clawing back funds already obligated and voted on—realising that the GOP will do whatever it is ordered—seem to have come to the conclusion that closure is only way forward. We’ll see how this standoff plays out in the next few days.