Trump embraces Project 2025 during government shutdown
Event Reviewed Automatically reviewed for factual accuracy, tone, and neutrality. Review does not check claims against cited sources. Last reviewed 23 September 2026.President Trump reverses 2024 campaign stance on Project 2025, announcing meeting with OMB Director Russ Vought, 'he of PROJECT 2025 Fame,' to determine agency cuts during government shutdown.
On 2 October 2025, during the government shutdown, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would meet with OMB Director Russ Vought, “he of PROJECT 2025 Fame,” to determine “which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM” to cut. Trump had distanced himself from Project 2025 during the 2024 campaign; Vought wrote its chapter on the executive office.
OMB had directed agencies in late September to prepare reduction-in-force plans. An OMB senior adviser told the court in this litigation that more than 4,000 reduction-in-force notices went out on 10 October across eight of the defendant agencies. The Department of Health and Human Services issued about 1,760 of them, later telling the court that “data discrepancies and processing errors” meant notices had gone to roughly twice the intended number; after rescissions its shutdown total came to 954. Roughly 700 CDC employees were reinstated the day after the notices went out. The American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees sued the OMB in the Northern District of California, arguing that carrying out layoffs during a funding lapse was unlawful, and won a temporary restraining order on 15 October.
The shutdown ran 43 days and ended on 12 November 2025. The act that reopened the government voided the layoffs outright: any reduction in force taken since 1 October was given no force or effect, affected employees were returned to their 30 September status with backpay, and new reductions in force were defunded through the end of January 2026.
Sources
- 01.
United States Congress. Public Law 119-37, section 120. (2025). The act ending the shutdown, signed 12 November 2025. Section 120 provides that any reduction in force taken between 1 October 2025 and enactment shall have no force or effect, requires reinstatement as of 30 September 2025 with backpay, and bars funding for new RIFs through 30 January 2026.
- 02.
United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Order Granting Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Enjoining Shutdown-Related Reductions in Force, American Federation of Government Employees v. Office of Management and Budget, No. 3:25-cv-08302-SI (N.D. Cal.). (2025). Judge Susan Illston's 47-page order of 28 October 2025 (docket entry 94). It recounts the OMB senior adviser's 10 October declaration that 'more than 4,000 RIF notices had gone out across eight defendant agencies'; the HHS declaration that, 'as a result of data discrepancies and processing errors,' notices went to approximately 1,760 employees instead of the 982 intended; and a later filing bringing the HHS shutdown total to 954. It also records Vought calling the roughly 4,000 figure a 'snapshot.' This order, not the earlier temporary restraining order of 15 October, is the source for the layoff counts given here.
- 03.
Popli, N. (2025). Trump's Early Actions Mirror Project 2025, the Blueprint He Once Dismissed. TIME. Published 24 January 2025. States that nearly two-thirds of Trump's executive actions to that date mirror or partially mirror Project 2025 proposals. The piece gives no numerator, denominator or matching criteria, so this is a characterization rather than a measurement.
- 04.
Office of Management and Budget. OMB Memoranda. Index of numbered OMB memoranda, including M-25-35 on the status of agency operations (30 September 2025) and M-26-01 on reopening agencies (12 November 2025). The September RIF-planning direction does not appear as a numbered memorandum.
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