A closed sign is seen on the Washington Monument on Oct. 1, 2025, in Washington, D.C., the first day of the 2025 government shutdown. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The Interior Department announced Monday it will pause efforts to lay off 2,050 employees throughout the country, after a federal judge expanded a temporary restraining order late last week.

The new filing provides more information about how the Trump administration plans to reduce the size and scope of a department that oversees much of the country’s public lands. 

Rachel Borra, chief human capital officer at Interior, wrote in a 35-page document the layoffs would affect employees at the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey, among others. 

The National Park Service layoffs would target several areas of the country, including 63 of 224 workers at the Northeast regional office, 69 of 223 at the Southeast regional office and 57 of 198 at the Pacific West regional office. 

The Northeast region holds 83 sites throughout Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.

The Southeast region “has 73 parks across 4 million acres in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

The Pacific West region encompasses more than “60 national park sites across California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, parts of Arizona and Montana, and the territories of Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.”

The layoffs cannot take place under the temporary restraining order that U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Judge Susan Illston clarified and expanded Friday during an emergency hearing. 

The layoffs would be further blocked if Illston, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, issues a preliminary injunction during a hearing scheduled for later this month. 

Advocates and current and former Interior staff members have told States Newsroom that bare-bones staffing during the government shutdown across the department and the U.S. Forest Service already is leaving America’s treasured natural assets vulnerable to lasting damage.

Hundreds proposed for layoffs at Commerce, HHS

The other briefs filed Monday were from the departments of Commerce and Health and Human Services, which said in earlier court documents officials planned to lay off hundreds of federal workers. 

Commerce’s latest numbers say it would like to lay off 102 workers, while the Health and Human Services Department told the judge officials plan to get rid of 954 people. Both confirmed those efforts are on hold under the temporary restraining order. 

The numbers were different from those included in earlier filings to the court in the lawsuit, which was brought by labor unions representing federal workers. 

Those declarations in the earlier filings detailed the below layoff plans:

• Commerce: Approximately 600 employees
• Education: Remained at 466 employees
• Health and Human Services: 982 employees
• Housing and Urban Development: 442 employees
• Homeland Security: 54 employees
• Treasury: 1,377 employees

Federal attorneys wrote in Monday’s court documents that all other departments “have determined, to the best of their knowledge and based on their investigation to date, that they have no additional information to provide in response to the Court’s October 17, 2025, modified TRO, that was not already provided in their October 17, 2025, declarations.”

Energy Department layoffs protested by Dems

The Energy Department wrote in a filing that it didn’t need to declare any planned layoffs to the court since the Reduction in Force notices it had issued didn’t have an effective date. An earlier court filing said the department sent those notices to 179 employees.

Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., and House Energy-Water Appropriations subcommittee ranking member Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, wrote in a letter that the Energy Department’s planned layoffs were “a clear act of political retribution that will hurt communities across the country.”

“These actions, which reportedly affect 179 employees, appear to be part of a broader effort to implement the administration’s budget request without congressional approval—circumventing the appropriations process and undermining congressional intent,” Murray and Kaptur wrote. “The Department’s actions will raise energy prices for American families by disrupting the implementation of key programs that increase supply and reduce costs for hard-working Americans.”

The layoffs are one of the many ways the Trump administration is approaching the government shutdown differently than it did during the last prolonged funding lapse, which took place from December 2018 through January 2019. 

White House officials have canceled funding approved by Congress for projects in regions of the country that tend to vote for Democrats. And signaled they may not provide back pay for federal workers placed on furlough, which is authorized by a 2019 law that President Donald Trump signed during his first term.

Johnson ties shutdown to No Kings rallies

Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said during a morning press conference he hopes Senate Democrats vote to advance a stopgap spending bill soon, allowing the government to reopen. 

The conclusion of the No Kings protests, he said, could help reduce pressure on Democrats to keep the government shut down. 

“Now that Chuck Schumer has had his spectacle, he’s had his big protest against America, this is our plea: We’re asking, and I think everybody in this room and everybody watching, listening to our voices this morning should be hoping that he is finally now ready to go to work and end this shutdown and stop inflicting pain on the American people,” Johnson said. 

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters outside the White House he believes moderate Democrats, specifically Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, are ready to end the shutdown.

Shaheen told the New Hampshire Bulletin on Friday that no official negotiations to end the shutdown are happening. She also criticized the administration’s multibillion dollar bailout for Argentina that Trump finalized last week as federal agencies remain dark during the funding lapse and as health insurance premiums are set to increase.

But Hassett repeated the argument that Republicans won’t negotiate until Senate Democrats vote to reopen the government. He told CNBC Monday morning he believes that will happen “sometime this week.”

“If they want to have policy disputes, they could do it through regular order, but just shutting down the government and making 750,000 government workers not get their paychecks, it’s just not acceptable,” the White House economic adviser said.

The Senate failed for an 11th time later in the day to advance the House-passed stopgap spending bill that would keep the government up and running through Nov. 21. 

The 50-43 vote followed a familiar pattern, with Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Maine independent Sen. Angus King voting with Republicans to advance the bill. Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who has been voting to advance the bill, didn’t vote. Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul voted no.

Ashley Murray and Shauneen Miranda contributed to this report. 

A sign advising that the Capitol Visitors Center in the U.S. Capitol is closed, in Washington, D.C., is pictured on Oct. 1, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

This report has been updated.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration may try to interpret a law enacted during his first term in office differently than it did following the last government shutdown, potentially denying back pay to hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal workers. 

The change in stance, outlined in a memo from the Office of Management and Budget that was first reported by Axios on Tuesday and confirmed to States Newsroom by a White House official, would drastically change the stakes of the ongoing funding lapse, which began Oct. 1. 

President Donald Trump didn’t clearly say how he personally views the law during an afternoon press conference in the Oval Office, though he indicated he doesn’t intend to provide back pay to all federal workers. 

“I would say it depends on who we’re talking about,” Trump said. “I can tell you this: the Democrats have put a lot of people in great risk and jeopardy. But it really depends on who you’re talking about. But for the most part we’re going to take care of our people. There are some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of and we’ll take care of them in a different way.”

Trump said he will likely announce mass layoffs of federal employees in the next week and opened the door to canceling funding approved by Congress if the shutdown persists. 

“I’ll be able to tell you that in four or five days if this keeps going on,” Trump said. “If this keeps going on it’ll be substantial and a lot of those jobs will never come back.”

OPM earlier said workers would receive back pay

Reinterpreting the law would go against guidance the Office of Personnel Management released in late September, which stated that after “the lapse in appropriations has ended, employees who were furloughed as the result of the lapse will receive retroactive pay for those furlough periods.”

During the 35-day shutdown during Trump’s first term, Congress approved a bill titled the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 that guaranteed back pay for both exempt and furloughed federal workers. Trump signed the legislation into law himself. 

Before the law, Congress typically voted following each funding lapse to ensure back pay for all federal employees. 

The Congressional Budget Office projected 750,000 federal workers would be furloughed in the current shutdown. 

Democrats on Capitol Hill rebuffed the memo on Tuesday, arguing it is another example of Trump attempting to circumvent the law. 

“The letter of the law is as plain as can be—federal workers, including furloughed workers, are entitled to their backpay following a shutdown,” Senate Appropriations ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote on social media. “Another baseless attempt to try and scare & intimidate workers by an administration run by crooks and cowards.”

Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who represents a considerable number of federal workers, said during a brief interview he doesn’t believe lawmakers need to clarify the law in any way, calling it “crystal clear.” 

“This is a bill that (former) Senator (Ben) Cardin and I introduced back during that shutdown,” Van Hollen said. “And I looked at it again today after the White House comments, and they’re blowing smoke. This is part of their effort to scare. So this is all part of their fearmongering. That’s what it’s about.” 

‘That should turn up the urgency’

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., asked about the memo during a morning press conference, said he hadn’t seen it or spoken with anyone in the White House, but he didn’t seem to take issue with its change of course. 

“I’m sure there will be a lot of discussion about that. But there are legal analysts who think that is not something that government should do,” Johnson said. “If that is true, that should turn up the urgency and the necessity of the Democrats doing the right thing here.” 

Pressed by another reporter about the principle involved with possibly not adhering to the law, Johnson said he hopes that furloughed federal workers do receive their back pay.

“I can tell you the president believes that as well. He and I have talked about this personally. He doesn’t want people to go without back pay,” Johnson said. “And that’s why he pleaded with Chuck Schumer to do the right thing and vote to keep the government open. We don’t want this to happen.” 

Johnson didn’t clarify why — if Trump believes furloughed workers should receive back pay consistent with the 2019 law — the White House budget office prepared a memo stating the opposite.

Johnson’s official House website explains that during a shutdown “federal employees will either be furloughed, or in some cases required to work without pay. Under federal law, employees are entitled to back pay upon the government reopening.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said during an afternoon press conference he expects furloughed workers will receive their back pay once the shutdown ends. 

“I haven’t looked at the memo specifically yet. My assumption is that furloughed workers will get back pay,” Thune said. “But that being said, this is very simple — open up the government and this is a nonissue.”

The Senate has deadlocked five times on a stopgap government funding bill that passed the House in mid-September. The upper chamber is expected to vote at least one more time this week.

Democrats call for negotiations on shutdown

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said during a morning floor speech that Johnson “has become a massive roadblock to progress,” though he didn’t address the possibility of no back pay for furloughed workers. 

“Ending this shutdown will require Donald Trump to step in and push Speaker Johnson to negotiate because without the president’s involvement, Speaker Johnson and MAGA Republicans in the House are increasingly dug in,” Schumer said. 

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries,  a New York Democrat, said during a morning press conference the White House was incorrect in its new interpretation. 

“The law is clear — every single furloughed employee is entitled to pay back. Period. Full stop,” Jeffries said. “The law is clear and we will make sure that that law is followed.”

American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley wrote in a statement the “frivolous argument that federal employees are not guaranteed backpay under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act is an obvious misinterpretation of the law. 

“It is also inconsistent with the Trump administration’s own guidance from mere days ago, which clearly and correctly states that furloughed employees will receive retroactive pay for the time they were out of work as quickly as possible once the shutdown is over.”

 Shauneen Miranda and Ariana Figueroa contributed to this report.