The government shutdown costs taxpayers $400 million every day to pay federal employees who are not actively working, totaling $1.2 billion as of Friday, Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data published by Sen. Joni Ernst’s, R-Iowa, office estimates. 

‘Schumer’s Shutdown Shenanigans mean taxpayers will be on the hook for another $400 million today to pay 750,000 non-essential bureaucrats NOT to work,’ Ernst said in comment to Fox News Digital Friday. 

‘Democrats’ political stunt to fight for taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants has officially become a billion-dollar boondoggle,’ she added. ‘Enough has to be enough for the radical left. We must reopen the government and get Washington back to work serving veterans, families, and hardworking Americans.’ 

A law passed in 2019 requires furloughed employees receive backpay after a funding agreement is reached and a shutdown ends. The CBO found that the furloughed employees’ daily cost of compensation sits at about $400 million, or a total of $1.2 billion as of Friday. 

‘Using information from the agencies’ contingency plans and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), CBO estimates that under a lapse in discretionary funding for fiscal year 2026 about 750,000 employees could be furloughed each day; the total daily cost of their compensation would be roughly $400 million,’ a letter from the Congressional Budget Office to Ernst stated Tuesday. The data was released after the Iowa Republican requested CBO provide a data cost breakdown of the shutdown in September as the deadline clock ran out. 

The CBO data largely was based on statistics from a five-week partial shutdown that ran from Dec. 22, 2018, until Jan. 25, 2019, under the first Trump administration, the office noted in its letter to Ernst.

The letter added that the number of furloughed federal employees, which is currently estimated to sit at about 750,000 staffers, could vary by the day ‘because some agencies might furlough more employees the longer a shutdown persists and others might recall some initially furloughed employees.’ 

The government shut down early Wednesday morning after Senate lawmakers failed to reach a budget agreement. House lawmakers had approved a short-term extension of fiscal year 2025 funding earlier in September that aimed to keep the government funded through Nov. 21. 

The Trump administration and Republicans have since pinned blame for the shutdown on Democrats, claiming they sought taxpayer-funded medical benefits for illegal immigrants. Democrats have denied they want to fund healthcare for illegal immigrants, and instead have blamed Republicans for the shutdown.

Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer’s office for comment on the CBO data and Ernst’s remarks but did not immediately receive a reply. 

White House spokesman Kush Desai slammed Democrats as ‘not serious people’ when asked about the CBO data Friday morning. 

‘Democrats are burning $400 million a day to pay federal workers not to work because they want to spend $200 billion on free health care for illegal aliens,’ Desai told Fox News Digital. ‘These are not serious people.’ 

Trump repeatedly has said he did not want a shutdown to unfold, but noted Tuesday as the clock ran out that some ‘good’ could come from it. 

‘A lot of good can come down from shutdowns,’ he told reporters. ‘We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want, and they’d be Democrat things. But they want open borders. They want men playing in women’s sports. They want transgender for everybody. They never stop. They don’t learn. We won an election in a landslide.’ 

The administration is expected to lay off federal employees across various agencies amid the shutdown, with Trump meeting Office of Management and Budget chief Russell Vought Thursday to map out which departments and programs to target for cuts. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that ‘thousands’ of employees will likely be laid off. 

‘Look, it’s likely going to be in the thousands,’ Leavitt said. ‘It’s a very good question. And that’s something that the Office of Management and Budget and the entire team at the White House here, again, is unfortunately having to work on today.’ 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Republicans are winning the messaging war over the ongoing government shutdown and urged his conference to keep the heat on congressional Democrats during a private call with lawmakers on Saturday.

The call came on the fourth day of the shutdown, a day after Senate Democrats again rejected a GOP-led plan to keep federal agencies funded through Nov. 21.

During the call, Johnson and other House GOP leaders urged fellow Republicans to use this next week in their districts to tell constituents about what the ongoing shutdown means for them, Fox News Digital was told.

The House speaker expressed confidence that the shutdown would end quickly if Republicans ‘hold the line,’ Fox News Digital was told, and praised the House GOP’s unity so far amid the fallout.

Johnson also told Republicans toward the end of the call that the House would return only after Senate Democrats voted to reopen the government, a source said.

House and Senate GOP leaders have signaled that they will not budge from their current federal funding proposal, a short-term spending bill called a continuing resolution (CR) that would keep spending levels roughly flat for seven weeks.

That measure passed the House — largely along party lines — on Sept. 19. The House has since been out of session in a bid to put pressure on Senate Democrats to accept the plan.

It is also why Johnson opted on Friday to designate the next week as a district work period, canceling a previously planned legislative session from Tuesday through Friday.

Johnson told House Republicans on the Saturday call that it was the best way to prevent ‘Democrat disruptions,’ Fox News Digital was told. 

No Republicans voiced disagreement with the plan, Fox News Digital was told, signaling the GOP’s unity on the issue.

He told reporters during a press conference Friday morning that the House may not return until Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats agreed with Republicans’ bill.

‘We passed it, and it’s been rejected by the Senate,’ Johnson told reporters during a news conference. ‘So the House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government. That’s plain and simple.’

Democrats, who were infuriated by being sidelined in the federal funding negotiations, have been pushing for an extension of Obamacare subsidies enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those enhancements would expire by the end of 2025 without congressional action.

Democrats have also introduced a counter-proposal for a CR that would keep the government funded through Oct. 31 while reversing the GOP’s cuts to Medicaid made in their ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ (OBBB).

The counter-proposal would have also restored federal funding to NPR and PBS that was cut by the Trump administration earlier this year.

Republicans have panned that plan as a non-starter full of partisan demands, while pointing out that Democrats have voted for a ‘clean’ measure similar to the GOP proposal 13 times during former President Biden’s time in office.

On the Saturday call, House GOP leaders encouraged Republicans to emphasize that Democrats’ counter-proposal would restore funding for illegal immigrants receiving Medicaid dollars that was cut by the so-called Big, Beautiful Bill, Fox News Digital was told.

Democrats have accused Republicans of lying about that line of attack.

GOP leaders also emphasized on the call that military members are not paid during government shutdowns, urging Republicans to make that point in their districts, while also warning that federal flood insurance funding is also in danger of drying up.

Fox News Digital was also told that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said the next important date in the shutdown fight would be Oct. 15, the date of servicemembers’ next paycheck — which they could miss if the shutdown is ongoing.

Senate Democrats have now rejected the GOP’s funding plan four times since Sept. 19. The Senate is expected to next vote on the bill again on Monday.

President Donald Trump on Saturday announced Israel has agreed to the ‘initial withdrawal line’ in Gaza, which the U.S. has shared with Hamas.

Pending Hamas confirmation, the agreement will trigger an immediate ceasefire and exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

‘After negotiations, Israel has agreed to the initial withdrawal line, which we have shown to, and shared with, Hamas. When Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective, the Hostages and Prisoner Exchange will begin, and we will create the conditions for the next phase of withdrawal, which will bring us close to the end of this 3,000 YEAR CATASTROPHE,’ Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Saturday. ‘Thank you for your attention to this matter and, STAY TUNED!’

The announcement comes hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement Saturday morning noting they were ‘on the verge of a very great achievement.’

‘It is not yet final; we are working on it diligently, and I hope, with God’s help, that in the coming days, during the Sukkot holiday, I will be able to inform you about the return of all our hostages, both living and deceased, in one phase, while the IDF remains deep within the Strip and in the controlling areas within it,’ Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu claimed that after intense military and diplomatic pressure, Hamas was pressured into agreeing to Israel’s proposed plan — rejecting the fact that Hamas had previously been ready to release the Israeli hostages without a full withdrawal from Gaza.

In the first stage of the withdrawal plan, he said Hamas will release all Israeli hostages while the IDF redeploys but maintains control over key strategic areas deep inside the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu will send his negotiating team, headed by Minister Ron Dermer, to Egypt to finalize the technical details of the hostage release, which he expects to conclude within a few days. 

The prime minister emphasized that both Israel and the U.S. intend to prevent any stalling or delay tactics by Hamas. 

In the second stage of the plan, Netanyahu said Hamas will be disarmed and the Gaza strip demilitarized—either through diplomatic means under the Trump Plan or, if necessary, by military force. 

‘I also said this in Washington: Either it will be achieved the easy way, or it will be achieved the hard way—but it will be achieved,’ he said. 

‘Together, we pushed back our enemies’ plans of destruction. From Gaza to Rafah, from Beirut to Damascus, from Yemen to Tehran, together we have achieved great things,’ Netanyahu added. ‘From victory to victory—we are changing the face of the Middle East together. Together we will continue to act to ensure the eternity of Israel.’

Netanyahu thanked Trump for his assistance in dispatching the B2 planes to bomb the nuclear facility in Fordo, and for his ‘steadfast support.’

Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., revealed to Fox News Digital that he is one of three Republicans in Congress who was surveilled by the Biden administration’s ‘Quiet Skies’ program, a program that has been shut down due to overreach concerns.

Earlier this week, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Rand Paul, R-Ky., convened a hearing examining alleged Biden administration abuse of the program, which was terminated by DHS in June, and revealed that three current Republican members of Congress were surveilled or monitored either as a sitting member or while seeking elected office.

GOP Rep. Abe Hamadeh tells Fox News Digital he was informed that he was one of those members of Congress and was surveilled in December 2022.

‘It sadly doesn’t surprise me,’ Hamadeh explained. ‘At the time, if you remember, I mean banks were shutting down accounts if they promoted conservative viewpoints, if they were selling ammo or guns and the banks were being pressured by the Biden administration. You had social media companies censoring political voices that they didn’t agree with. So it shows you the depths that the federal government, how much sway they have, not just within the bureaucracy of the government, but also with private organizations and private actors as well.‘

Hamadeh called the timing of his surveillance ‘interesting’ because ‘during the time period that I was challenging the results of my election in 2022 when I was running for attorney general, where that race was decided by 280 votes out of 2.5 million.’

Hamadeh continued, ‘You know, this is a very legitimate challenge. This is something that both sides of the aisle have done routinely. So you don’t know if that was a factor. And I would assume so, because at the time it was such a hostile environment with President Biden when he was in power. I mean, my God, they were calling MAGA fascists. They were calling us threats to democracy constantly.’

Hamadeh also called it ‘peculiar’ that he is a former U.S. Army Reserve intelligence officer with top secret clearance who traveled overseas both on deployment and in his personal capacity. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in June it would be ending the Quiet Skies program, which left some Americans subject to additional screenings at airport security.

The department says the agency was overly politicized to either benefit or hurt specific people and ran a bill of roughly $200 million annually. According to DHS, the program kept a watchlist as well as a list of people exempted. The department says Quiet Skies has not prevented any terrorist attacks but will continue to use other methods to assure safe air travel.

‘It is clear that the Quiet Skies program was used as a political rolodex of the Biden Administration — weaponized against its political foes and exploited to benefit their well-heeled friends. I am calling for a Congressional investigation to unearth further corruption at the expense of the American people and the undermining of US national security,’ DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.

The TSA’s ‘Quiet Skies’ program was established in 2010 to identify passengers for enhanced screening on some domestic and outbound international flights.

Paul said earlier this year that he received records confirming that federal air marshals surveilled now-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard during domestic flights last year, ‘reporting back information related to her appearance and even how many electronics she was observed using.’ 

‘I’m glad to see that the Senate, Senator Rand Paul got to the bottom of it and also that Department of Homeland Security has now effectively terminated the Quiet Skies program as well,’ Hamadeh told Fox News Digital. 

‘Also, it’s odd that there’s only three Republican members of Congress that were targeted. I mean, I’m assuming, there’s Democrats who have a lot of interesting travel here that I serve with as well. I’m sure that there are things that would flag them. So it makes you question what the Biden administration, who they were focusing on, who they were targeting specifically. I mean look at Tulsi Gabbard. I mean what? What a complete 180 for now to have her be running the intelligence agencies as the director of national intelligence. And it goes to show you what we were fighting.’

In a press release earlier this week, Paul commended Noem for ending the program but said the work is ‘not done.’

‘We must make sure that this program does not come back under another name. Every official who directed or approved surveillance of Americans for protected speech must be removed from office. Full transparency must become the rule rather than requiring a year of investigation,’ Paul said. ‘The result will be a process that respects the Constitution, ends real life shadow bans against Americans and gives all of us the assurance that our government is focused on protecting us, not on chasing political ghosts.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Cameron Arcand contributed to this report

The federal government entered its third day of a shutdown without a clear off-ramp in sight as the Senate gears up to once again vote on a short-term funding extension Friday.

Lawmakers will again vote on the GOP’s continuing resolution (CR) and congressional Democrats’ counter-proposal on Friday. There’s been little movement on Capitol Hill since the last failed vote, given that some either left Washington, D.C., or did not come to the Hill, in observance of Yom Kippur.

In fact, the Senate floor was open for less than three hours on Thursday, with only a handful of lawmakers giving remarks to a mostly empty chamber.

Republicans hope that more Senate Democrats will peel off and vote for their bill, but it’s unlikely. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and most of his caucus are firmly rooted in their position that expiring Obamacare tax credits must be dealt with now.

And Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he isn’t planning on keeping lawmakers in town over the weekend if the House GOP’s bill fails for a fourth time. Still, bipartisan talks are happening among the rank-and-file members to find some way to reopen the government.

‘I’m glad that people are talking,’ Thune said. ‘I think there are a lot of Democrats who want out of this, you know, grapple that Schumer is running now, so I’m hoping that perhaps that will lead somewhere. But it all starts with what I’ve said before, reopen the government, and I think that’s what we got to have … happen first.’

There are some ideas being tossed back and forth among Senate Republicans and Democrats, like agreeing to work on the subsidies until Nov. 21 under the GOP plan, or compromising on a shorter CR that lasts until Nov. 1 to coincide with the beginning of open-enrollment for Obamacare.

‘We’re not asking for a full repair of a broken system,’ Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said. ‘We understand how badly the healthcare system is working, but it’s going to be so much worse if the Republicans continue on this path of cutting healthcare for millions of Americans.’

Thune threw cold water on the latter idea.

‘Well, and what’s the House going to come back and vote on, a one-month as opposed to seven weeks? I mean, think about this right now. We’re really kind of quibbling over pretty, pretty small stuff,’ he said.

Schumer made clear over the last several days that he wants bipartisan negotiations to craft a funding extension with Democratic and Republican input, but the GOP argues that their bill, which is backed by President Donald Trump, would unlock future bipartisan negotiations on spending bills.

But Republicans argue that his insistence on negotiating is more about political optics than actually finding a path out of the shutdown.

‘This Democrat shutdown is nothing but a cynical political shutdown, with Senator Schumer kowtowing to his radical left-wing extremists,’ Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said on the Senate floor. ‘He’s desperately recoiling, fighting to stave off a primary and to save his party from the piranhas in their own midst.’

And while talks at the lower level are ongoing, some contend that ultimately it will be Trump’s decision on what happens next.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said on the Senate floor, ‘Unfortunately, right now, our Republican colleagues are not working with us to find a bipartisan agreement to prevent the government shutdown and address the healthcare crisis.’

‘We know that even when they float ideas, which we surely do appreciate, in the end, the president appears to make the call,’ Klobuchar said. 

A Senate Republican wants to ensure that lawmakers feel the pain in their wallets as the federal government shutdown drags on.

Members of Congress, unlike other federal employees, are guaranteed to get paid during a government shutdown. But Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, wants to impose a tax on lawmakers that would eat away at their paychecks.

Moreno plans to introduce the Stop Holding Up Taxpayers, Deny Wages On Washington’s Negligence (SHUTDOWN) Act, which would create a new tax specifically for lawmakers.

The shutdown has trudged on to a third day with no clear off-ramp in sight. The Senate is again set to vote on the GOP’s short-term funding extension on Friday, but Senate Democrats are again expected to block it.

‘Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries want to get paid for shutting the government down,’ Moreno said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘That’s ridiculous. If Congress can’t do the bare minimum, we don’t deserve a paycheck.’

Members of Congress on average make $174,000 a year. That number can fluctuate depending on whether a lawmaker is in a leadership position. Preventing lawmakers from getting paid during a shutdown is tricky, however, given that the U.S. Constitution requires them to receive a paycheck even if the government is closed.

Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution requires that ‘Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.’

Then there is the 27th Amendment, which was ratified in the 1992, that prevents Congress from passing a law affecting its pay during the current congressional term.

Moreno’s bill could circumvent those guardrails by imposing a daily tax on lawmakers that would rise each day that members are in session and that a shutdown continues.

Meanwhile, the likelihood that the shutdown ends this week is low. Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are firmly rooted in their position that unless a deal is struck on expiring Obamacare tax credits, they’ll continue to block the GOP’s continuing resolution (CR).

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., plans to keep bringing the same bill, which the House passed last week, in a bid to chip away at Senate Democrats. So far, only three members of the Democratic caucus — Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, joined Republicans to vote for the bill. 

Top Republican officials appear to be at odds with each other over how to portray the fallout from the ongoing government shutdown.

Senate Democrats are still refusing to budge from their demands for Obamacare subsidy extensions to be included in a short-term federal funding bill, so it is likely the government will stay shut down at least until next week.

It has given President Donald Trump and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) wide discretion over what agencies and project operations will look like, as well as the federal workforce.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has sought to portray those decisions as difficult tasks for Trump and OMB Director Russ Vought, particularly the administration’s push to permanently lay off federal workers the longer the shutdown goes on.

Johnson told Fox News Digital in an interview earlier this week that Trump is ‘very bothered’ by the position Democrats have put the government in and is concerned about its lasting impact on Americans. 

He also told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow on Thursday that Vought is in an ‘unenviable’ position, and while there ‘could be some good that comes out of it, if we limit the size and scope of government’ that ‘it is not a job that he relishes.’

And while Trump has heaped blame on Democrats for the shutdown’s impact on Americans, he’s struck a different tone when discussing its political fallout in recent days.

Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday that he would meet with Vought ‘to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut.’

‘I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,’ Trump continued. ‘They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’

Johnson also gave an emphatic defense of Vought during House Republicans’ lawmaker-only call with the OMB director Wednesday, Fox News Digital was told.

The speaker cast the impending federal layoffs as a difficult position for Vought to be in, and one that Democrats placed him in by refusing the GOP’s funding plan.

‘Russ is not the grim reaper,’ Johnson said, Fox News Digital was told.

On Thursday evening, however, Trump shared an AI-generated video on Truth Social featuring Vought as a grim reaper-like character set against a parody version of Blue Oyster Cult’s song ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper.’

The video showed Vought walking through an office full of workers and through a hall of portraits featuring top Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

‘Russ Vought is the reaper. He wields the pen, the funds and the brain,’ the voiceover sings. ‘Dems, you babies, here comes the reaper.’

Johnson broached the different signals during a press conference on Friday, telling reporters that Trump does not take ‘great pleasure’ in the shutdown’s disruptions but is ‘trolling the Democrats,’ because ‘that’s what President Trump does.’

Asked to square those two points, Johnson said the mockery was exclusively aimed at Democrats.

‘The effects are very serious on real people, real Americans. We support federal employees who do a great job in all these different areas. But what they’re having, trying to have fun with, trying to make light of, is to point out the absurdity of the Democrats’ position,’ Johnson said.

‘They’re using memes and all the tools of social media to do that. Some people find that entertaining. But at the end of the day, the decisions are hard ones. And I’m telling you, they’re not taking any pleasure in that.’

While Trump’s messaging can appear to undercut that of House GOP leaders’, it could also be a strategy to squeeze Democrats on two separate planes as they continue to resist Republicans’ federal funding strategy.

Republicans are pushing a relatively flat extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 federal funding levels through Nov. 21 in order to give lawmakers more time to hash out a longer-term deal for FY 2026.

They’ve pointed out that it’s a similar measure to what Democrats have approved 13 separate times under former President Joe Biden.

But Democrats, infuriated by being sidelined in the federal funding discussions, are withholding support unless Republicans include language extending Obamacare subsidies that were temporarily enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Republican leaders have signaled openness to discussing the credits, which expire at the end of 2025 without congressional action, but have said those talks are better kept separate from federal funding.

The White House did not immediately respond when reached for comment on Trump and Johnson’s messaging, but Fox News Digital did receive an automated reply that stated, ‘Due to staff shortages resulting from the Democrat Shutdown, the typical 24/7 monitoring of this press inbox may experience delays. We ask for your patience as our staff work to field your requests in a timely manner.’

‘As you await a response, please remember this could have been avoided if the Democrats voted for the clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government open. The press office also cannot accommodate waves requests or escorts at this time. Thank you for your attention to this matter,’ the message said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was pressed about President Donald Trump seemingly changing his campaign position on Project 2025 amid the government shutdown Friday.

‘During the campaign, President Trump said that he did not know anything about Project 2025. Now, he knows about it. Is that the blueprint for shrinking the government?’ Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Leavitt during the press briefing Friday afternoon. 

Project 2025 is a roughly thousand-page policy proposal crafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank during the 2024 election cycle. 

Leavitt made no mention of the policy proposal in her response, arguing any decisions on layoffs of federal government employees or cuts to federal programs are up to what the ‘president and his team and his Cabinet secretaries ultimately decide.’ 

‘And the president trusts his Cabinet secretaries to identify where there is waste, fraud and abuse. We pointed out this morning — or Russ Vought tweeted about this morning — a Chicago rail project that was canceled,’ Leavitt said. ‘We paused $2.1 billion in Chicago infrastructure projects, specifically the Red line extension and the Red and Purple modernization projects, and it’s because the administration is concerned that the Biden administration was handing out taxpayer dollars to pay for this construction based on DEI.’ 

The Department of Transportation ‘is reviewing the race-based contracting on unconstitutional grounds,’ she said. ‘And in the meantime, the Department of Transportation funds for these projects are on hold. So I guess this answers both of your questions. This would be an example of that.’

Project 2025 became a lightening rod of criticism among Democrats during the 2024 election, as the Harris–Walz campaign claimed it was rife with ‘dangerous’ policies stretching from abortion to the economy. 

Trump denied knowing details about the policy blueprint from the campaign trail. 

‘I know nothing about Project 2025,’ Trump said in July 2024. ‘I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.’

On Thursday, after the government shutdown, Trump posted to Truth Social that he was set to meet with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) chief Russell Vought, describing him as the man of ‘PROJECT 2025 Fame.’ 

Vought was one of the architects behind the Project 2025 policy proposal. 

‘I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,’ Trump posted on Thursday, setting of renwewd criticsms of Project 2025. 

Leavitt’s comments come as Trump and OMB map out a plan to roll out layoffs and cut government programs amid the government shutdown. 

A Senate Republican has a list of more than a ‘trillion dollars worth of ideas ripe for a trim’ as the federal government shutdown continues. 

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has so far announced his plans to withhold nearly $30 billion in federal funding to blue states and cities, while Senate Democrats continue to block Republicans’ efforts to reopen the government.

And Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has some ideas for even deeper cuts. In a letter to Vought, first obtained by Fox News Digital, Ernst laid out a plan that could result in over $2 trillion in cuts to federal spending.

Her letter comes as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and most Senate Democrats have remained steadfast in their opposition to the GOP’s short-term funding extension.

‘Schumer’s Shutdown has provided a golden opportunity to slash waste, fraud and abuse in Washington,’ Ernst said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘There is no one more fitting to lead the charge than Russ Vought.’

‘I have compiled a comprehensive list of more than $2 trillion of nonessential government expenditures that should be put on the chopping block to put taxpayers first, make Washington squeal and deliver a more efficient government,’ she continued.

Ernst, who chairs the Senate DOGE Caucus, which borrowed its moniker from tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), wants to target tens of billions in expired and unexpired COVID-19 pandemic funding, consolidate unused federal office space and prevent taxpayers from ‘subsidizing’ the roughly $400 million per day in backpay owed to furloughed nonessential federal workers.

She also wants to go after nearly $1.6 trillion in unspent funding ‘stashed away in secret slush funds,’ clawback billions in the Biden-era electric vehicle charging station program, railroad projects in blue states, end research into ‘silly science projects’ like shrimp on treadmills, and streamline ‘duplication and unnecessary overlap within’ the Department of War, among many others.

‘This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I will be providing many more recommendations soon,’ Ernst wrote in the letter. ‘My team and I stand ready to help you make some prime cuts during this Schumer Shutdown.’

Meanwhile, there appeared to be no off-ramp in sight to end the now three-day government shutdown.

Senate Democrats are also unfazed by Vought and President Donald Trump’s desire to target their states and cities with cuts, with many arguing that the administration was already carrying out those tactics.

Still, Senate Republicans hope that enough Democrats peel off and vote to reopen the government. So far, three members of the Democratic caucus have done so — Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Angus King, I-Maine. 

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is sending a pointed signal to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as the 2025 government shutdown is poised to enter a second week.

The leader of the House of Representatives canceled chamber activities for next week, effectively directing lawmakers to remain in their home districts until at least Oct. 14.

Johnson appears to be raising the stakes on Senate Democrats, who keep refusing the GOP’s plan to fund government agencies on a short-term basis in favor of making demands on healthcare that Republicans are calling unreasonable.

Originally, the House had been slated to return to a regular legislative schedule on Oct. 7. The full House was last in session on Sept. 19.

Johnson warned earlier on Friday that the House may not return until Schumer and Democrats agreed with Republicans’ bill.

‘We passed it, and it’s been rejected by the Senate,’ the House speaker told reporters during a news conference. ‘So the House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government. That’s plain and simple.’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told Fox News Digital during his own Friday news conference that he would summon his Democratic caucus back into D.C. next week whether Republicans were there or not.

Meanwhile, two sources told Fox News Digital earlier on Friday that it was one of several strategies that House GOP leaders were considering, but were waiting to see how the Senate’s Friday afternoon vote played out.

It was the fourth time Senate Democrats rejected the GOP’s funding plan, a mostly flat extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 government funding levels. The measure, called a continuing resolution (CR), would also include $88 million in security funding for lawmakers, the White House and the judicial branch — which has bipartisan support.

But Democrats in the House and Senate were infuriated by being sidelined in federal funding talks. 

They have been pushing for an extension of Obamacare subsidies enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those enhancements would expire by the end of 2025 without congressional action.

Democrats have also introduced a counter-proposal for a CR that would keep the government funded through Oct. 31 while reversing the GOP’s cuts to Medicaid made in their ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill.’

The counter-proposal would have also restored federal funding to NPR and PBS that was cut by the Trump administration earlier this year.

Republicans have panned that plan as a non-starter full of partisan demands, while pointing out that Democrats have voted for a ‘clean’ measure similar to the GOP proposal 13 times during former President Joe Biden’s time in office.

Canceling next week’s House votes also puts off the probability that lawmakers would have to vote on making the Department of Justice release even more files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., needed just one more person to sign onto a petition aimed at forcing a vote on the Epstein files — a signature they would have gotten if Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was sworn in next week following her special election victory.

House GOP leaders have panned that petition as unserious and superfluous, having already directed the House Oversight Committee to investigate the DOJ’s handling of Epstein’s case.

Johnson told Fox News Digital earlier this week that he was concerned the bipartisan measure was written in a way that it would not protect sensitive information regarding Epstein’s victims.

When asked about Johnson’s move during his own Friday news conference, Schumer told reporters, ‘Johnson and the House Republicans care more about protecting the Epstein files than protecting the American people.’