IN a move without precedent in modern American governance, U.S. President Donald Trump has transformed the ongoing government shutdown into a sweeping restructuring of the federal state, empowering his budget chief Russell Vought to unilaterally direct funds, terminate thousands of workers, and dismantle longstanding Democratic-backed programmes.
AP reported today that with Congress paralysed and the federal government closed for 14 days, Trump’s administration has seized the opportunity to selectively fund agencies in alignment with its priorities — chiefly military spending and immigration enforcement — while slashing services in health, education and science.
Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has been described by Trump as his “grim reaper”, and is enacting many of the proposals outlined in the conservative blueprint Project 2025. More than 4,100 federal employees received layoff notices over the weekend, while hundreds of thousands more are being furloughed with no guarantee of back pay.
“They’re never going to come back, in many cases,” Trump said Tuesday at a White House event, referring to Democratic-favoured programmes. “We’re being able to do things that we were unable to do before.”
The unprecedented use of a shutdown to achieve ideological restructuring is drawing fierce criticism from Democrats, unions, and legal experts. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said the administration was exploiting the crisis to “terrorise these patriotic federal employees,” calling it “a big fat lie” that the cuts were mandated by the shutdown itself.
Trump’s tax cuts law, dubbed by allies as the “One Big Beautiful Bill”, appears to have enabled the administration to access billions in alternative funding streams outside the traditional appropriations process. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, departments including Defence, Homeland Security, Treasury and the OMB have access to direct appropriations through the 2025 reconciliation act.
The military, for instance, will meet this week’s payroll using $8 billion in unspent research and development funds, while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced an “innovative solution” to ensure the US Coast Guard is also paid, using redirected funds authorised under the tax bill.
Meanwhile, public services deemed non-essential have been decimated. Employees supporting special education and after-school programmes, as well as those tasked with cybersecurity infrastructure, have been laid off or furloughed. Layoffs have commenced in agencies once considered untouchable during shutdowns, such as the Departments of Education, Energy and Health and Human Services.
House Speaker Mike Johnson defended the administration’s approach, saying the White House had “every right to move the funds around.” He challenged Democrats to take the issue to court, saying, “bring it.”
In a stark image circulated online by Trump himself, Vought was depicted in an AI-generated video as a cloaked figure wielding a scythe to the tune of Blue Öyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” The video has since gone viral, reinforcing his image as the enforcer of the president’s agenda.
“Every authoritarian leader has had his grim reaper. Russell Vought is Donald Trump’s,” said Democratic Congressman Steny Hoyer of Maryland. “He swings his scythe through the federal government as thoughtlessly” as Elon Musk did earlier this year with a chainsaw at the Department of Government Efficiency.
Congress remains deadlocked, with Senate Democrats rejecting eight Republican attempts to pass a partial reopening bill. Democrats continue to demand a broader funding deal that protects expiring healthcare subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
With Speaker Johnson refusing to reconvene the House without concessions, and the Senate in legislative limbo, the OMB’s role in reshaping government has only intensified.
The administration insists its actions are within legal bounds, though court challenges are already underway. Legal observers have questioned whether such aggressive restructuring during a shutdown violates federal employee protections and budgetary norms.
As the shutdown drags on with no end in sight, the White House appears committed to using it not merely as a budget standoff, but as an opportunity to enact sweeping, controversial reforms that might otherwise have failed in Congress. - October 15, 2025
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