(AURN News) — President Donald Trump defended his plan to permanently cut federal jobs and programs during the government shutdown, saying his administration would focus on supporting some Americans while scaling back assistance for others.
“The Democrats have put a lot of people at great risk, 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.
Trump offered that response at the White House when asked whether furloughed workers should receive back pay once the shutdown ends. However, under federal law, the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 requires retroactive pay for furloughed and excepted workers once funding is restored.
“I’ll be able to tell you that in four or five days. If this keeps going on, it’ll be substantial — and a lot of those jobs will never come back,” Trump said.
When asked what programs he intends to eliminate during the shutdown, Trump said, “I’m not going to tell you, but we’ll be announcing it pretty soon. We have a lot of things that we’re going to eliminate — and permanently eliminate.”
More than 600,000 federal employees remain without pay as the shutdown stretches into its second week.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
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