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. More than 4,100 layoff notices went out on 10 October, with Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services accounting for the largest shares; roughly 700 CDC employees were reinstated the following day after the agency said notices had been sent in error. The American Federation of Government 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.