On Day 13 of the government shutdown, Speaker Johnson feigned ignorance when asked about the mass layoffs being instituted by Russ Vought, the orchestrator of Project 2025.
CBS News reports thousands of workers at seven federal agencies may receive layoff notices.. The layoffs that the Trump administration ( How about the Trauma administration) is calling RIFs, or a Reduction in Workforce notice, which is also hitting the education department severely.
Q: We know the president moved forward with mass layoffs, so we are also learning there were significant cuts to staff at the special education services.
Are you comfortable with those cuts?
JOHNSON: I haven’t seen the specifics of that and I don’t know.
I do know that each of the cabinet secretaries were asked to assist OMB to determine what the most essential programs are and what the priorities are for the policies and all of that.
And I’ve been so busy on all this, I’ve not had a chance to dig into the details of each division and how it’s how it’s happened.
This is a recurring theme from Speaker Johnson and any pliant Republican who refuses to comment on Trump’s illegal and immoral behavior. They tell the media they either don’t know the issue or haven’t heard about it, but they will look to see the issue.
Johnson then gives a word salad answer to attack the Dems with that doesn’t address the mass layoff question.
JOHNSON:I know that HHS, for example, has cut some some programs, but they were effectively all agencies in a triage situation. Because remember, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats turned off the funding for all these things that everybody cares about. And so the the executive branch, the Office of Management Budget, has to determine what are the most efficient and effective programs.
It’s a difficult task.
It’s not one that they relish. They don’t want to do it.
Listen to the president’s own words and Russ Vought’s own words and everybody who’s involved. They want the government to be opened.
They’re begging Chuck Schumer and the Democrats. That’s how to make all this stop.
They want this to end immediately and they wanted it to end before it started.
It’s Speaker Johnson’s responsibility to know what is happening in D.C. around him, committed by his party.
Never before have federal employees been laid off by a government shutdown.
Trump said this was a way to punish the Democratic party, and like the faux prosecutions of Comey and James, he’s making good on his vendettas.
Johnson is a useful idiot.
Feigning not knowing is not an excuse.
Johnson is in charge of the HOUSE.
Media morons, do your job.