Heart & Soul Conversation #15……A Beautiful and Fun Friday in the Neighborhood

MSNBC and CNBC reported Friday afternoon that President Donald Trump intends to usher in "lay-offs" for "thousands" of federal workers.

The government has been shut down for the past ten days as officials in Washington debate a funding measure. Trump had made the threat previously, but now has reportedly made good on the pledge.

The Office of Management and Budget Director, Russell Vought called the job cuts "substantial."

“The RIFs have begun,” Vought wrote on X. The acronym means “Reductions in Force.”

There have already been significant government funding cuts over the past eight months under the Trump administration's efforts to eliminate "waste, fraud, and abuse" in government.

“We expect thousands of people to unfortunately be laid off due to the government shutdown," MSNBC's Vaughn Hillyard said, citing a senior White House official.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) was accused of embarrassing himself after causing chaos in a congressional hallway by confronting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

Instead of meeting with Jeffries in private on Wednesday, Lawler stopped the Democratic leader in front of a crowd of people to ask him to sign on to a temporary extension of subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. Democrats have said that they would not accept only one year of subsidies for the health care program.

"Did your boss, Donald Trump, give you permission?" Jeffries asked.

"He's not my boss!" Lawler insisted. "And by the way, why did you vote to shut the government?"

"You're making a show of this to make yourself relevant," Jeffries charged. "You're embarrassing yourself right now. You're chasing a crowd."

"You have to sign on to the bill," Lawler demanded.

"Let me ask you a question," Jeffries said. "You voted for the 'One Big Ugly Bill,' correct?"

"I voted for a tax cut bill that gave the largest tax cut to Americans in history," Lawler countered. "Are you against that?"

"You're embarrassing yourself right now," Jeffries noted as Lawler talked over him.

"You're not going to talk to me and talk over me because you don't want to hear what I have to say," the Democrat said. "So why don't you just keep your mouth shut?"

"And so you voted for this 'One Big Ugly Bill, a permanent extension of massive tax breaks for your billionaire donors," he added.

A number of Federal Emergency Management Agency staff that openly criticized President Donald Trump are under intense investigation from FEMA leadership, and under threats of termination should they refuse to reveal the names of their colleagues who criticized Trump anonymously, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

Nearly 200 FEMA employees signed onto a letter in August pushing back against the Trump administration’s cuts to FEMA, warning that the cuts could jeopardize the agency’s ability to adequately respond to disasters.

More than a dozen FEMA employees – all of whom signed onto the letter – were soon placed on leave. Now, remaining staff that had signed onto the letter using their name are being investigated by agency leadership, being threatened to reveal the names of their colleagues who signed the letter anonymously, according to insiders who spoke with Bloomberg and documents reviewed by the outlet.

“The interviews with FEMA workers have been carried out by the agency's division that investigates employee misconduct, and those interviewed have been told they risk being fired for failure to cooperate,” Bloomberg writes in its report. “The employees have been instructed not to bring counsel, according to people familiar with the process.”

The revelation that FEMA staff under investigation were being instructed not to bring legal counsel was revealed, in part, by Colette Delawalla, the founder of the nonprofit organization Stand Up for Science, the same organization that helped FEMA staff publish its letter of dissent.

“They are not really given an option not to comply,” Delawalla told Bloomberg. “They don’t have guidance while they’re in there.”

Trump has previously said he wanted to phase out FEMA and “bring it down to the state level,” with the agency struggling to respond to emergencies such as the deadly Texas flood in July following new Trump administration policies that led to funding lapses for the agency.

A previous batch of FEMA employees – 140 of them – were placed on leave back in July for signing onto a different letter of dissent, which itself followed a number of FEMA employees being forcibly reassigned to work for Immigrations Customs and Enforcement amid Trump’s mass deportation push.