Overview

• OMB Director Russ Vought said workforce cuts have started and described them as significant, with notifications reported at Health and Human Services, Treasury, Education, Commerce, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
• Court documents filed in a unions’ case in California show more than 4,200 federal employees have received layoff notices across at least seven departments, with unions citing 60‑day notice requirements that can be shortened to 30 days and a judge set to rule on Oct. 15.
• Core services are slowing or pausing as the IRS trims roughly half its staff, the FDA suspends some activities, national parks and Smithsonian museums close or scale back, and the FAA reports delays at about a dozen airports including hours without a controller at one California field.
• Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are furloughed or working without pay as early paychecks reflect the first 10 days of the stoppage, assistance programs face uncertainty, and CBS News reports 1,100 to 1,200 HHS employees could be laid off within 60 days.
• Talks remain stalled as Republicans push a straight extension of current spending and Democrats seek to continue health subsidies; Republicans control both chambers but still need 60 Senate votes, only three Democrats have signed on, and Oct. 15 military pay looms with Trump saying he directed the Pentagon to use available funds to pay troops.